OYS Faith Friends Project 2012
Faith friends is the coming together of schoolchildren who are making confirmation and members of the community to share their knowledge, wisdom and experiences of being part of the Church. It is a learning and growing experience of both the children making confirmation and those who are seen to be helping them on this journey of faith. Over three nights we discuss their faith and belief, how they belong to the Church community and what gifts and fruits confirmation gives us. As a faith friend we are able to teach them outside of the classroom about their faith and discuss in an informal and fun way about things like the Holy Spirit.
As someone who made their confirmation in 2000 many of the details of the ceremony had moved to distant corners of my mind, the gifts and the fruits of the Holy Spirit being prime. As a faith friend it was my task to answer any questions they had and do what I could to help develop their faith as best I could. Through talking with them and completing group tasks I found great awe and amazement at what these 11, 12 and 13 year olds are capable of understanding and seeing what as an adult I have become blind to in these difficult times.
The mission statement of the Oblate Youth Service is “through our service we strengthen our faith”. It is through projects like faith friends that we see this to be true. In helping these children at such a key point in their Christian lives it gave prospective to my own faith and spirituality.
The Author: Micheál Lane
Oblate Youth Service Member
