Youth and the Brothers of Saint John
The Ethiopian Catholic Church is one of the leading faith-based institutions in the country and it is working towards acquiring the integral development of the person. This consciousness has led the Church to believe that among the faithful, the youth are more in need of attention in this process of integral development. Bearing in mind the effects of globalization strongly in the youth and the entire country. It is a strong belief of the Church that education will bring the desired change and development in the young people of the country.
That is why the Church has assigned the Brothers of Saint John, …
…which is an international Catholic community of priests and brothers, inspired by the person and teaching of St. John the Evangelist, which follows that it believes in the development of the human and spiritual part of the person, to nurture and care for the needs of the young people of the Archdiocese.
It is with this mission that we the brothers have planned to prepare trainings and teachings, seminars and publishing books for the different groups of the Church and society. By focusing in a special way on the young people, the brothers will help them to learn to grow to be a responsible citizen.
Our Targets
Our targets are the different movements and groups that we are engaged with at the moment. We hope that these trainings and teachings, seminars and published books will help and guide the target groups to:
- Be aware of their responsibilities as persons and Christians,
- Be spiritually formed,
- Be able to better understand the teachings of the Church, and become practicing Christians,
- Be active participants in the endeavors of the church,
- Have a good basic formation.
Activities
Some activities that have already been started by the Brothers of Saint John are:
- Spiritual retreats for Christmas and Easter
- Missions and programs for all parishes of the Archdiocese in the zonally areas and for Catholic students.
- Workshops and formation: on liturgy, on drama and music, on youth leadership, on Catechism, on Education on Sexuality.
- Diocesan events: (each year) Palm Sunday, Pentecost, Vocation Sunday, and Thanksgiving Day
- Concerts of Music
- Charity Service for orphans.
- Different Pastoral Tools: Keyboards, New Testaments in Amharic, Children books.
- Summer camps: Eagle Eye camps are given each summer for the children, the teenagers and the Ethiopian Students
- Teachings: Seminary â five classes are taught by brothers for 150 seminarians, and also a class of Mariology in CMRS.
- Vocational Accompaniment:
- – Youth Weekends;
- – School of Life for young men and women;
- – Postulancy;
- – âPizza Ecclesiaâ â a teaching on different facets of our Faith, a time of Adoration, and a time to share a pizza for up to forty Ethiopians and French speaking young people, once a month.
- Charity Work: âChildren of Hopeâ â a group of Ethiopian children are gathered for Catechism, workshop, and Adoration.
- Childrenâs Library for the poor children of our neighborhood.
- School of St. John: Teachings are given every Monday evening at the Priory.