St Joseph’s Deanery Young People’s Congress

St Joseph’s Deanery Young People’s Congress

By Prosper Ngwenya (St Partrick's Parish)

With the year of children and young people making its progress, St Joseph’s Deanery held its Young People’s congress from April 21 to April 23.

The congress, running under this year's theme “Children and Youth, a blessing to the church and family”  was held at St Joseph’s Mission, with a huge attendance by Catholic Youth Association(CYA), Catholic Young Adults Association(CYAA) and Missionary Childhood Association(MCA) from Brunapeg and Minda.

Rev Fr Innocent Ndlovu the Dean priest of St Joseph’s in his homily during the congress challenged young people to take responsibility by playing a vital role in the church just like Christ did in his formative years as a 12 year old boy.

Issues discussed during the course of the congress included such health matters as hygiene, cleanliness next to Godliness, drugs and substance abuse and courtship and marriage as recognized by the church.

Addressing CYA and CYAA members on hygiene, an Environmental Health Technician, Ms Sabina Ncube, said there is need to preserve our environment so as to eradicate such diseases as cholera amongst others that remain a threat to humanity.

“Some young people are not well equipped with knowledge on the importance of hygiene and cleanliness hence they succumb to infectious diseases,” she said.

Mr Ndlovu, a pastoral worker, spoke about marriage choices and preparedness-a subject that attracted the attention of all participants.

He spoke on the types of marriages recognized in the country and urged young people to make use of priests and church elders so as to make informed decisions.

“Marriage is a sanctified gift from God and if one chooses to marry, they should pray about it so that God grants them a blessed union,” he said.

Rev Fr Batsirai Ruswa, Rev Fr Thomas Kutwa, Rev Fr Bothwell Nkomo, Rev Fr Eugene Marizane, Youth Office Coordinator, Mrs Florence Makhaza – Ngwenya, Advisors and Animators and CYAA leadership were also in attendance.