The
Working Youth Committee has taken up the challenge of organising the annual "Shine
Jesus Shine" rally this year, which it also did in 1997. The event is to be held on
the 4th and 5th of July, from 7:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at the Kallang
Theatre. The programme will be the same for both nights.
The "Shine Jesus Shine" rally started in 1995 at the Singapore Conference Hall, and in 1996 and 1997, it was held at the Singapore Labour Foundation building. For last year’s rally, about 2000 youths came on the 2 nights the rally was held. This year, the rally has been moved to a bigger location, as the WYC hopes to reach out to more than 3500 youths. The rally aims to re-evangelise our Catholic youth by giving them a sense of fraternity and identity, and to fire them up to be better witnesses of Christ. It also aims to evangelise non-Christian youths who are looking for a meaning in life or ‘life in abundance’, who may have heard of Jesus but don’t dare to ask more questions, and whom the Holy Spirit had already touched but require us Catholic Christians to bring them to Jesus.
This year being the ‘Year of the Holy Spirit’, "Blaze Spirit Blaze" will be the theme for the rally. The message will be to call all non-Christians to accept Jesus and for all non-Catholics to be filled with the ‘fire of the Holy Spirit’. Youths aged 22 and below are strongly encouraged to come. The programme will include praise and worship, a mime, skits, sharings, ant the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, all presented in a lively multimedia format.
As individuals or as a youth group, one can play a part in this year’s rally. WYC needs ushers, stage crew, logistics personnel and publicity distributors. Otherwise, one can play the most important role of telling one’s friends about the faith and get them to come for the rally. Please contact Olivia Khoo at 92391617 if you want to help in this exciting rally.
TOWARDS THE ADOLESCENTS
…After the confirmation classes, some adolescents join the youth group, choir, St Vincent de Paul, etc, to further seek and serve GOD, But there are some join groups for companionship. What about those who decided not to be involve with church activities in order not to be named as "holy" or do not find GOD "real" in their lives.
"I did not make the choice to be catholic, my parents did!", "Catholic s are old-fashioned", "I don’t find Catholicism real, they memorised the parts of mass and repeat them every week", "I do not wished to be named ‘square’ or ‘holy’ ", "my friend will laugh at me and think that I am un-happening", these are some of the reasons we often hear from born Catholics who no longer attends church. Why does this happen? Is it that the Sunday school has not provided sufficient teaching on Catholicism? Is it true that the church has been too systematic and ritual based? Or Is it that these adolescents do not understand Catholicism well enough that they find the parts of mass meaningless?
After leaving school, these youth finally sense the breath of "independence". Everything is new to them again. They also begin to face the pressure of wanting to become successful and begin to pursue their dreams. More time demanded on job and less time given to church activities. Eventually some of these youth begin to stray away from God. To the extent, these youth do not attend Sunday mass because of work or tiredness.
This worldly anxiety has overtaken the desire for spiritual need. Has the fast moving society forced these youth to become less interested with spiritual need? Are these youth so weak in their faith? Do church activities really take up too much of their time?
For 3 years, the spirit of the Lord has been guiding and guarding the members of SJS. They re-evangelised to the Catholics and evangelised to the non-Christians . . .
SJS is about putting the talents that GOD has given us into good use. We have put up Praise & Worship, Song, video segments, skit, etc.
SJS is not about "Hey! I like him, he is a dynamic speaker!" SJS is about "We want you, Jesus! Let us hear your holy word Through your people."THE BEAUTY OF BECOMING CHRISTIAN!
AND THE ROLE OF CHRISTIANS!
We will "re-introduced" you who is Jesus. We will "re-educate" on the Holy Eucharistic. We will let you experience the beauty of Eucharistic Healing.
We, like you, have experienced the beauty of God and want others to know! We, like you, want to be touched again!
So my dear friends, Come join us and bring your Christian and non-Christian friends along! No age limit! Free admission!
BLAZE! SPIRIT BLAZE! ’98
The annual Shine! Jesus Shine Rally!
3rd and 4th July 1998
(same programme both nights)
Kallang Theatre, 7:30pm
The unity of Catholics: Christus Voce, celebrities & World Youth Day choir.
The Tonight With God 'talk-show' in which a devil (Zachary Mosalle, centre) tries
to upset the discussion between `host' Gregory Teo and Fr Michael Sitaram on what the life
of a Catholic should be. Right: altar call.
THE "talk show" was called Tonight With God. And appearing in it were "host" Gregory Teo (star of sitcoms Happy Belly and Three Rooms) and "special guest", Archdiocesan Youth Chaplain, Fr Michael Sitaram.
In between the questions and answers, a "devil", played by TCS artiste Zachary Mosalle, prompted Teo to ask Fr Michael difficult questions which the latter fielded with a deftness which ultimately led to the "devil's" failure.
This sketch, which aimed at showing the challenges faced by Christians as disciples of Christ, was one highlight of the annual Shine Jesus Shine ! rally held at the Kallang Theatre on July 4 and 5.
Entitled Blaze Spirit Blaze, the two-night event featured similar programmes each night and saw short skits performed by media celebrities like Anna Belle Francis and Pierre Png (Forever Fever), Steven Lim (Growing Up), and Kevin Verghese and Adrian Lim (Army Daze). Dressed as devils and modern day people, they further highlighted the ways people turn away from belief in Christ and their preoccupation with things of the world.
The speakers for the first and second nights, Frs. Michael and John Joseph Fenelon respectively, then shared on what it meant to be a Christian. The rally was further enhanced by the use of video segments high lighting Jesus' great love for people and showing how indifferent people are to this love. A segment explaining the Eucharist was also shown for non-Catholic participants.
The adoration of the Blessed Sacrament which followed revealed who the real "star" of the rally was.
More than 3,000 participants knelt in silent prayer before the presence of Jesus each night. During the altar call, many who wished to be prayed over came forward to the stage area to receive prayers and blessings.
Other inspiring moments during the rally were the songs provided by Christus Voce, a children's choir from Church of the Risen Christ, and the choir formed from the Singapore delegation who attended World Youth Day 1997 in France. The youth rally ended with a rousing praise and worship finale.
One participant, John Fernandez, 20, commented, "The rally has given me a sense of fraternity and identity, and has fired me up to be a better witness for Christ." A non-Catholic, Josephine Tan, 19, said she has now come to know the "person of Jesus a bit better". The Shine Jesus Shine! committee also gave away a booklet containing testimonies from people on how God has touched them.
The rally was organised by the Working Youth Committee.