History

Youth commission of the Archdiocese of Hyderabad has been located in the Pastoral Centre over long year and the youth animation was very actively done from the Pastoral Centre located here at Gunfoundry. Youth Commission of the Archdiocese of Hyderabad is a part of Indian Catholic Youth Movement (ICYM). The Commission shares the vision & mission of ICYM at the National level under the aegis of Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI).

Vision

Hyderabad Archdiocese Youth Commission strives to animate the young people in the Archdiocese consisting of 100 parishes both in urban and rural parts, in order to be transforming leaders firmly founded on Catholic faith.

Mission

P – providing resources in faith related issues to the parish youth
L – leading and accompanying the youth to be agents of change for a new society
A – animating and coordinating the Word of the Catholic Youth Movements
N – nurturing and encouraging the development of comprehensive youth ministry at all levels – from grassroots to the national

Activities of the Commission

Some of the main Activities taken up by the Youth Commission are Animating the youth and also to take care of the movements like Young Catholic Students or Young Students Movement (YCS/YSM), Youth United for Christ (YU4C), Jesus Youth (JY) and Holy Spirit Interactive (HSI).

YCS/YSM is an active movement taken up in the Catholic Schools to teach leadership qualities and train students to actively work for the change in the society to build a just society - God's Kingdom. Currently the movement is active in about 14 Schools and every year we have DTA/DTS meeting for students along with Winter Camp for 3 days in November and conclude with an annual day of YCS/YSM in the month of January. Our Diocese was also active to serve at the national level as General Secretary Mr. Mac Melvin was elected in 17th National Council for YCS/YSM India National Executive Committee.

Throughout the year Youth Commission organizes events like live in camps for youth animators and office bearers, Sports Meet, Seminars on faith and career guidance, Christmas Crib and Carol Competition in the month of December. In the Month of February first weekend, we have the annual youth festival, well known as "UNIFEST". During the season of Lent, we have a full day programme for youth to present faith formation.

The proud moment for Hyderabad Archdiocese youth commission was to host the 2nd National Youth Conference here in our Archdiocese from 13th October to 17th October 2019. By the grace of God, we had the privilege to serve the National Youth Commission under the Aegis of Conference of Catholic Bishops of India. It will be ever cherished in the history of the Youth Commission.

Youth Director

Over the years we had priests who served as Youth Director were

Fr. Magre, PIME,
Fr. K. Charles,
Fr. N.K. Thomas, SAC (who later became bishop of Gwalior and died in 2018),
Fr. David Francis,
Fr. Y. Thomas,
Fr. Gnana Reddy,
Fr. Vincent Arockiadas,
Fr. M.L. Vijay,
Fr. T. Fathima Reddy,
Fr. Vinay. P,
Fr. Richard John,
Fr. P. Sunil Kumar. (Present)

Activities of the Commission

YCS/YSM

National Youth Sunday Celebrations in Our Archdiocese

Mother of Compassion Church, Medipally

Mother of Compassion Church Youth Executive committee, Medipally Youthfulness is the trustee of prosperity. The Church celebrated the International Youth Day as an awareness on Aug 14th 2022. The day was to recognize and celebrate the contribution of our youth and the event was organized by Parish priest Fr. Stephen Francis and Asst. Parish priest Fr. Joseph Sunder and the youth executive committee. 60 members of our youth participated with full enthusiasm, sportive spirit and spiritual sessions. Many creative activities like Communication transfer, Biblical Charads, Bible anthakshari, lemon race, memory games and a lot were successfully conducted. There was a special blessing and cake cutting ceremony during the Youth mass and an agape was organized with a cheerful closing group photo.

St Ann's Church, Mallapur

The National youth Sunday conducted at our church, St Ann's Church, Mallapur, was a one that we could never forget. Our minds were enlightened by Fr. Deva Das’s beautiful message during the Youth mass. Shortly after the mass, Seminarians from St John's Regional Seminary, Ramanthapur and Youth Animators had arranged fun filled activities for us to take part in. We had about twenty games and everyone was a sport. All of us had our team spirits while we participated as a group. Time did really fly by as soon as we got our gears up. Tug of war, puzzles, charades, bombing cities, balloon blast, water coins, raining bells were some of our favourites. As youth, we celebrated the National youth Sunday with a short prayer followed by a cake cutting. To finish off the day, we had hearty meal prepared by our youth members. Unofficially, we stayed back to play volleyball and other youth formation activities to our heart’s content.

Maria Rosa Mystica Church, L. B. Nagar

National Youth Sunday was celebrated with lot of enthusiasm and excitement at Maria Rosa Mystica Church, L. B. Nagar with 30+ young people with some cultural programs to embrace our youthfulness and to recognize the importance of youth in the Catholic Church. The youth came together to celebrate and a lot of planning and creativity was put in to make the coming year fruitful. A new office team was elected to the leadership forward. Big thanks to Rev. Fr. Showri Prabhakar our Parish Priest.

St. Francis of Assisi Church, Ramnagar

The oath taking ceremony of the new team and the felicitation of the old team took part in the 9 am English mass. The special Youth mass has taken place at 10:30 am and ended at 11:30 am. A seminar on career guidance by Mr. Anand Reddy has started at 11:45 am and has ended at 12:30 pm. Big thanks to all the Priests in our parish.

Shrine of Our Lady of Health, Kharitabad

National youth day was celebrated in our parish Shrine of Our Lady of Health, Kharitabad. We had a grand celebration where Rev. Fr. Vanga Joseph and Fr. Charan from St. Don Bosco, Bandlaguda were the celebrants of the Eucharist and all the youth of our parish were part of the Mass. After the Holy Mass we had a session with the priests where they taught us about the importance and presence of youth in church today. It was a very interactive session and we also had fun filled activities. Immediately after the session we had fellowship meal followed by games which were organized by our youth. Later, the prizes for the winners were distributed by our parish priest Rev. Fr. Michael Selvaraj. Overall, it was a wonderful experience to be a part of this event and looking forward to have more interactive sessions for youth as such.

Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Ghatkesar

National youth day was celebrated at our parish where we had organized a special Mass and then we had Quiz, balloon blasting, and musical chairs and prize distribution. Big thanks to our parish priest for his great support.

Holy Family Church, Trimulgherry

National youth day at Holy Family Church - Trimulgherry, began the special day with a Flash mob dance, which highlighted God's plans for prosperity and wellbeing for the youth and the youth's immediate acceptance of God's plans just like Mary did. The Flash mob conveyed to the parishioners that Mary of Nazareth is a great figure of the Christian journey. She teaches us to say ‘YES’ to God. The Youth also had a special Eucharistic Celebration at 11:15 a.m. which consisted of special offerings and prayers by the youth, homily for the upliftment of the youth and special blessings. Big thanks to Rev. Fr. Sagayraja our Parish Priest.

St. Joseph's Church Bolarum

The youth at St. Joseph's Church, Bolarum had a beautiful Day of celebrations for the National youth Sunday. The day started with Holy Mass and the youth had a special Procession with the priests. Fr. Raju Alex has given an enlightening and motivating sermon to the youth. There was a special blessing for all the youth, in front of the Altar. There was cake cutting followed by a special talk on Depression and how to overcome it. The youth spent an hour in praise and worship. There were other fun events and games for the youth conducted for the youth by the parish clergy which was followed by lunch and high tea in the evening. Big thanks to Rev. Fr. Valentine our Parish Priest.

Twin Cities Youth Mass

On 11th September 2022, we celebrated twin cities youth mass at Shrine of our Lady of Health Church. Rev. Fr. Sunil, our youth director was the main Celebrant at the Eucharist and all the youth of various parishes were part of the Holy Mass. The singing was led by the youth of St. Francis of Assisi, Ramnagar and Our Lady of Fatima, Damaiguda Parish, who led the congregation in prayer with their heavenly voices. The homily was preached by Rev. Fr. Sunil, who was very good where he explained us how to get closer to God as youth and the challenges we face. We also had an activity during the sermon which made the reflection more meaningful and livelier.

After the Mass, we had Musical Band performed by the youth of Our Lady of Fatima Church, Damaiguda and Shrine of our Lady of Health, Khairatabad. It was very pleasant to hear them singing. After which we had a fellowship meal with all the youth of different parishes where we got an opportunity to interact with other youth members and get to know them.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience and looking forward to participate in more events as such.

Sports & Cultural Fest 2022 at Church Gagillapur Deanery

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young. But be an example for the Believers: in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith & in purity” - 1 Timothy 4:12

Church Gagillapur Deanery has organised the Deanery level Sports & Cultural Fest 2022 for all the Youth in the Deanery on 24th & 25th of September at Church Grounds of St. Ignatius Church, Church Gagillapur.

The Fest began with the Parade followed by the Holy Eucharistic Celebration by Regional Youth Director of Telugu States, Rev. Fr. Praveen Sagili as the main celebrant. Along with him, Rev. Fr. Sunil, Diocesan Youth Director, Rev. Fr. Benjamin Chinnabathini Dean of Church Gagillapur Deanery, Rev. Fr. Yeruva Thomas Reddy, Rev. Fr. Yeruva Joji Reddy, Rev. Fr. Koneti Anthony and Rev. Fr. Chinnabathini Joseph were present for Mass.

The Youth prayerfully participated in the Mass with the melodious choir, welcome speech which was then followed by the vote of thanks.

All the youth along with the priests gathered in the Church grounds after the Mass to hoist the National and ICYM Flags respectively to begin the Sports & Cultural Fest 2022.

All the Deanery Parish Youth both girls & boys have actively & enthusiastically participated in the various Sports such as: Cricket, Volleyball, Badminton, Shotput, Discuss throw, 100mts, 200mts & 400 mts Relay for Boys. Throwball, Kho-Kho, Badminton, Shotput, Discuss throw, 100mts, 200mts & 400 mts Relay for Girls. We express a token of gratitude to Rev. Fr. Benjamin Chinnabathini, Dean and Parish Priest of Church Gagillapur.