Next Steps STPCICIP
The Parish runs CCD classes for children from G1 till Confirmation age.
If you have interest to join our CCD programme, pls register online in Jul/Aug. There will be Mass announcements regarding online registration for CCD closer to the time and also in our Parish bulletin. Online Registration via our Parish website will take place 1-31 Aug.
Typically, your Confirmation Mass will take place in Apr/May after you have joined Confirmation class. First Holy Communion (FHC) is a 2-year programme, with your FHC Mass held in the 2nd year after you join FHC class.
All of the above subject to successful completion of your respective CCD programme.
Announcements are made during Mass prior to Registration.
Contact for CCD enquiries:
CCD General Coordinator
Suyi Kamdani
ccdjakarta@gmail.com
The youth ministry at STPCICP exists to create an environment of love and acceptance where our youth can learn, worship, serve, grow and have fun together, and where a spiritual foundation is developed that will inspire them to continue to have a life-long relationship with Christ.
The youth fellowship is designed to offer ministry activities and opportunities for any and all interested youth age 13-17. As a community of God’s love, we strive to create a fun and nurturing environment where youth actively explore their faith. We seek to make our youth group a place where everyone is welcomed, loved and accepted for who they are.
We hope to have all youth to join our monthly gathering or activities!
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This is one of the article wrote by Gabriel Damarwibawa, Unair class of 2020, Majoring: Medicine
“Maintaining Faith as Our Life Support”
As we all know the world that we live in today is in a state of crisis due to the pandemic. Countries are closing their borders, limiting their citizen’ movement so that hopefully it can flatten the curve of Covid-19 or breaking the chain of transmission. A lot of sectorshas been impacted by this pandemic such as the economic sector, tourism sector, medical sector, and so on. A lot of people have suffered from the impact of this pandemic, businessman, online taxi driver, and even students are impacted by this pandemic.
A priest is no exception. In this pandemic, the devotion life that they live is very limited since there is no face to face activities such as eucharist, Anointing of the Sick, reconciliation and etc. I take the experience of FatherS. Hendrianto, SJ as an example. He just recently been given the priesthood ordination on the 8th June of 2019 and only after 8 months of his priesthood ordinations the pandemic strikes. All churches are closed down, weddings and a lot of sacraments are canceled. He then thinks to himself is there still hope that exists? What will I do in my priesthood journey that still young?He stated that he can keep his spirit up because of the HatiYesus Yang Maha Kudus prayer. HatiYesus Yang Maha Kudus prayer focused on the heroic heart of Jesus Christ the founders of the Societa Jesu (SerikatYesus) lived at a time when they were called to be heroes defending the Church from the attacks of other religions and working for the greater glory of God. FatherHendrianto then stated than one of the ways that he can give in holiness is to increase his devotion to the holy heart of Jesus Christ. FatherHendrianto also stated that Mother Mary was the source of inspiration to keep him going. He remembers reading a book that was given to him by his good friend. The bookiscalled “The Spiritual Life of the Priest”. In one of the chapters, the writer writes “No Priest can perform his duties without Mother Marry. In Her merciful kindness, Mother Mary often works without waiting for us to turn to Her. However, if we deliberately neglect Mother Marry, it means that we have reduced the power of our actions to save our souls to a minimum and we may also have completely thwarted our efforts (Boylan, The Spiritual Life of the Priest, p.135). Every Imam should have the faith in Mother Mary and have to has a devotion to Mother Mary because by devoting to Mother Marry, we work together with Jesus Christ and by asking protection to Mother Marry we, indirectly, also give in to Jesus Christ [1]
From the narrative above we can conclude even a person that is very knowledgeable about catholic can stray away from God or the catholic belief and it is a common thing in human traits. But the most important thing is that we always have to come back to God. God will always accept us even if we stray so far away and in a long period. This is written in the bible through a parable about a kid that left his father but still accepted by him when he comes back (Luke 15:11-32). God also said that He will find his lost ‘sheep’ which is us (Ezekiel 34:11-12).
When we are ready to achieve the blessing of God It doesn’t mean that our task is finished. We have to maintain our faith in God, so that we did not stray away from him anymore. It is hard to maintain our faith in God especially in this desperate time, where we suffer a lot from all kindsof things. There are several ways for us to maintain our faith in God.
Before we dive into ways to maintain our faith in God, we need to build a harmonious relationship with ourselves. When we established a harmonious relationship with ourselves, then a harmonious relationship with God will be established accordingly [2]. One of the ways that we could establish a harmonious relationship with ourselves is through meditation. According to The Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation journal, it is stated that “These studies have reported various positive effects of mindfulness meditation on emotional processing, such as a reduction in emotional interference by unpleasant stimuli, decreased physiological reactivity and facilitated the return to emotional baseline after response to a stressor, and decreased self-reported difficulties in emotion regulation. Consequently, lowered intensity and frequency of negative affect, and improved positive mood states are reported to be associated with mindfulness meditation.” [3] Which means by meditating we can enhance our emotional state and mindfulness, thus making us more aware of our true self and identity
One of the things that we can do to maintain our faith in God is praying. Praying has a similarity with meditating. The difference between meditating and praying is, there is communication within prayer while there is no communication within meditating. Through praying we establish a relationship and communication with God. We are told to not be anxious about our future and always give in into our prayer and the peace of God will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7). We need to acknowledge that even though we already pray, sometimes, God still has not fulfilled our prayer yet. This means that what we wanted is different from God’s will as it is stated in 1 John 5:14. Because of this, in order to maintain our faith in God, we need to realize and believe that God has the best plan for us.
There is a song that is sang by the Liverpool fans called You’ll Never Walk Alone. In this song, there is a verse that stated “At the end of a storm, there’s a golden sky” this verse is actually in line with the Catholic faith. In the Catholic faith, no matter how difficult the situation is, we need to acknowledge that God’s plan is the best plan for us and that everything will be ‘sweet’ at the end of our trouble. Jesus understand our difficulties; therefore, He will always be there for us until the end of time (Matthew 28:20)
In conclusion in order for us to maintain our faith in God, we must have a harmonious relationship with ourselves. We must accept who we are as human beings, accept our own strengths and weakness. Pray to God for guidance and always believe in His plan because God knows what best for us.
References
[1]admin, W. and admin, W., 2020. RefleksiSingkatDari Satu TahunTahbisanImamat — WKICU, WargaKatolik Indonesia Di California Utara. [online] WKICU. Available at:
[2]Nurwardani, P., Saksama, H., Habeahan, S., Kotan, D., Sinaga, A., Mulyono, E., Prawatyani, S., Anwar, A., Priyautama, F. and Festanto, A., 2016. Buku Ajar Mata KuliahWajibUmum Pendidikan Agama Katolik. 1st ed. [ebook] Jakarta: DirektoratJenderalPembelajaran dan Kemahasiswaan Kementerian Riset, Teknologi, dan Pendidikan Tinggi Republik Indonesia, pp.33 and 24. Available at:
[3]Tang, Y., Hölzel, B. and Posner, M., 2015. Erratum: The neuroscience of mindfulness meditation. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, [online] 16(5), p.6. Available at:
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Please email Alfa Winarno at YF@expatcatholicparish.org or winarnod@gmail.com for further information
Personal Development
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Content about this topic will be published later.
