On 11 March 2025, Brendan Malone, a public speaker on Christian faith, unpacked the Catholic principles which show how reason and revelation can uncover the truth of the Catholic worldview, and the flaws in common secular worldviews. He gave two talks to the Year 12 students and 90 of our Year 11 Youth Ministers regarding these topics.
Through Brendan’s extensive knowledge on the Christian faith, the Year 12s were able to gain an in-depth understanding of Saint John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. This was the perfect opportunity in preparation for our Term 2 course surrounding this topic. It allowed them to acquire prior knowledge of the Catholic meaning, delving into the complexities of sexuality and relationships, especially in today’s modern society.
Shortly after, our current Year 11 Youth Ministers were also able to listen to Brendan Malone. Compared to the Year 12s talk about ‘Theology of the Body’, the Year 11s were taught about how we can serve others as a youth minster. Through his expertise of being a minister in the Catholic Church, we were able to rely on his advice to find different ways to enhance our youth ministry knowledge in our school, and in our daily lives.
Being the youngest youth ministers in the school, we have had our times where we felt afraid to speak up God’s words in the Gospel to others (merely lack of confidence), times where we forget to be kind to one another, and embracing our youth ministry persona in our daily lives. However, through Brendan Malone’s words, he was able to give us 6 different ways to express leadership skills and become an improved Youth Minister.
An example of these six different concepts is “Serving Others.” Brendan Malone informed us that serving others is not only just a physical movement, but an act of love. He uses the parable of the Good Samaritan as an example to show others that his way of helping a poor man and knowing he will not get any benefit is an act of love and service. Thus, being able to serve others is an important concept to be a good minister today.
Another concept Brendan Malone talked about is “Empathy is like a springtime for truth.” Through this concept, he showed us that the truth (God’s Holy words) should be blossomed, just like how in spring flowers tend to bloom. However, in this case when we express the truth, we carry the virtue of empathy to show others that through this act of service and proclamation, we are showing this through love and kindness.
The rest of the concepts Brendan Malone talked about were “Not Expecting Change, Praying Consistently, Showing Compassion and Kindness Towards Others, and Let Your Life Be the Loudest Witness”
We then ended of the day with a quick Q&A session to further enhance our knowledge and disclose any questions that were lingering in our minds.
Overall, through these different concepts, it teaches us ways we can be a good youth minster in our school today, and how we can show future youth ministers how we can be an epitome of the Holy Spirit and spread acts of love to one another.
Thank you to the staff who organised Brendan’s visit.
