Pope John Paul II Award Ceremony
After a gap of two years, thanks to Covid 19, the Annual Pope John Paul II
Award Ceremony was back with great delight and excitement in Mallow
Community Youth Centre on Thursday evening 27 th October 2022. 44 young
people from across the diocese received the award. It was a great achievement
for the young people, their families, their schools and local parishes, St Mary’s
Secondary School Mallow, The Patrician Academy Mallow, Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal
Blarney, St Aloysius College Carrigtwohill, Burnfort Parish, St Mary’s Secondary
School Charleville, Colaiste Mhuire Buttevant, C.B.S. Charleville.
Despite Covid still rampant the young people immersed themselves into the life
of their parish and of their community over the past year. They have enhanced
their school and parish liturgies through word, song and music, by serving as
sacristans, ministers of the Word and of the Eucharist, cleaning the church
&helping out in their local parish office, Faith Camps, Alpha Programmes,
designing and cross stitching a liturgical piece of artwork that was donated to
the local parish – Fr Anthony Sheehan was a lucky man. Designing and making a
cross for their November Remembrance Table in their school. Some of you
joined us on the National Annual Pope John Paul II Award trip to knock. They
have also helped out in charity shops, visited elderly neighbours during the Covid
Restrictions, prepared meals for elderly neighbours and the housebound, helped
out with various youth and sports clubs, volunteered with Pauline’s Rescue
Centre, Tidy Towns, Summer Camps – the list is endless.
Through their participation they enlivened the great liturgies of our church’s
year. They touched the lives of those both home and abroad by raising much
needed funds. They nurtured that faith by attending both parish and school
retreats. They have been faith friends to some of the younger people in our
society by assisting them with the preparation for confirmation. They have
given life to their faith through their involvement with organisations such as
Trocaire and with the Vincent de Paul. They have served their community by
caring and making friends with the elderly and those with special needs through
their kindness, goodness, compassion, visitations, and fundraising. A sincere
thank you to their teachers who are their award leaders for all the work they
do in making the award a success in their school.
Guest speaker on the night was Eoghan Kenny, who himself was a recipient of
the Pope John Paul II Award in 2017. Eoghan about the importance of the award linking the school & parish together. He praised the young people for work they
undertook within their parishes and how they stepped outside their comfort
zone to complete the award.
We were honoured to have the Supreme Knight from the Knights of St
Columbanus Brendan McCann who travelled all the way from Co. Armagh. He
praised the young people for all the work that they had done throughout the
year.
Bishop Crean presented each young person with their Certificates and Medals.
We were delighted to have 4 young people receive the Papal Cross Award. This
was a fantastic achievement for all the young people to receive their award. It
was such a joyous occasion for both their families and their schools.
We were delighted to have the very talented Kelly Ann O’Callaghan who for
many years has been involved with various project in CDYS open and close the
award ceremony with her amazing singing.
If you would like to get involved in this fantastic award, please contact
Bernadette, Mallow Parish Youth Ministry on 086 8031126 or email:
bernadette@nullcdys.ie
