Our mission in Addis Ababa is especially developed towards young people: from the smallest to the biggest, from the coordination to the organisation of activities and camps.
Pastoral coordination
Each year, one or two brothers are delegated to this service.
Working with a team of lay people, with the priests of the archdiocese and with the young people in charge, this brother will :
– visit parishes and get to know the needs of the young people.
– organize missions, including to more distant parishes
– organize training for young people, music, affectivity and sexuality, catechism, evangelization…
This work helps us to take the measure of the dimensions of the diocese, of the needs of the young people, and to give impetus to the camps that we organize each summer, and to all the activities for welcoming young people on our site as well.
Youth strategy and objectives
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, …
- 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.
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,
…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.
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 – 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;
- – “Pizza Ecclesia” – 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: “Children of Hope” – a group of Ethiopian children are gathered for Catechism, workshop, and Adoration.
- Children’s Library for the poor children of our neighborhood.
- School of St. John: Teachings are given every Monday evening at the Priory.
Youth activities organized by the brothers
School of Life
Through their Schools of Life, the Brothers of Saint John offer young people an opportunity to face this question which is always present in their hearts: “To what am I called?”
Taking time to deepen their human and Christian life is the choice made each year by young people aged 18 to 25 when they enter one of the Schools of Life run by the Brothers.
Through formation, prayer, fraternal life and mission, the School of Life offers an experience that helps all young people to build themselves humanly and in Christianity, whatever their choice of life afterwards.
Activities
Discover all the upcoming events in the calendar of activities offered by the Brothers of Saint John in Ethiopia.
Eagle Eye Summer Camp
Since 2007, Eagle Eye Summer Camps have served an average of 120 young ethiopian people each year, aged 16 to 35. We are committed to raising up Saints to lead, and have enabled these young people to explore profound questions, discover joy, forge lasting friendships with other young Catholics, and most importantly, deepen their Catholic Faith. Our formation is broken down into three categories: Intellectual & Cultural, Spiritual and Human Formation.
Children of Hope
In our pastoral work, generally both in the world and locally in Ethiopia, we have the chance to introduce little children to the Holy presence of the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament through adoration. During these years of experience, we have tried to put our discoveries on how to help them pray before the Lord into Amharic books. With great gratitude, we would like to share to you this fruit of our work.
See Children of Hope publication.
We also organize short missions and recollection days with children to introduce them to worship.
Love one another publications
Also, we translate and publish in Amharic a magazine of evangelization called “Love One Another” targeting the youth.