The decision some years ago within the Chinese Province to set up a youth ministry in Taiwan is bearing fruit. What began with a monthly youth mass at the Magis Youth Centre in Taipei has grown into a full-blown program with workshops in Ignatian spirituality, counselling, recollections and retreats, movie nights, and exposure trips.
Within months of the first youth mass in September 2013, the numbers increased to the point that a new venue had to be found. On average, more than 120 youth now attend the monthly youth mass at the Tien Centre, and with each Mass there are a great number of newcomers.
The monthly Mass and gathering is organized by the youth for the youth, with the liturgy adjusted to better engage the young people. During the Mass, participants also act out the Gospel as inspired by the challenges of their daily lives, and there are group reflections.
“As a platform, the youth gathering is the gate which leads to some further training programs that may follow,” said Scholastic Barnabé Hounguevou SJ, who is doing his regency at the Magis Youth Centre.
A formation program guided by the principles of Ignatian spirituality complements the monthly gatherings. Through it, the centre helps the young people encounter God in their daily lives and learn to be a witness to the Gospel. It is now in the midst of organising workshops on Ignatian spirituality, and plans to organize youth recollections or retreats in the future.
Another formation program, Emmaus, teaches young leaders how to walk in the footsteps of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. When they finish the program, the participants are sent on a mission trip.
Learning is also fostered through fun activities such as the “Wednesday movie’’ or sports competitions, which are attended by many youth.
The centre is mindful of the need for on-going formation for its staff, and holds a bi-monthly recollection and some training courses for them. Each staff member also meets with a spiritual director monthly. This helps them in their ministry to the youth as well.
Each staff member is asked to give at least two hours a week to help the youth who come to the centre, to be with them, to listen to their joys and struggles and to offer counselling. Some scholastics take turns to do this as well on the weekends, and some young priests offer their time to hear confession and to accompany the youth. The hope is that by having someone to walk with them in their life journey, the youth will learn to discern in their daily life and to find God in any situation they face.
The Magis Youth Centre also provides opportunities for the youth to serve. Exposure trips are made in Taiwan as well as overseas. Two are already planned for 2015. In February, some Catholic youth students will be sent to serve people in need, such as persistent-vegetative-state (PVS) patients and the elderly, in Taiwan. In July, a great number of young people will go to Cambodia on a mission trip.
Already the centre has moved towards new frontiers – working with senior high school student and the migrant community, and extending its reach beyond Taipei.
Three leadership training courses were conducted for senior high school students, many of whom were non-Catholic students from Catholic schools. Sch. Barnabé says that this is one of the ways in which the youth centre reaches out to non-Catholics.
The centre has also begun helping migrant children. It is collaborating with the Good Shepherd Sisters’ social service centre on formation for the children of migrants, to help them integrate well into Taiwan.
Finally, the Centre has begun holding activities in other parts of Taiwan, such as Chutung and Taichung. With God’s blessing, Sch Barnabé says, the youth ministry in Taiwan hopes to one day extend to other parts of the Chinese Province.