Men Alive in the Diocese
18 November, 2021
In October our diocese was privileged to host two ‘Men Alive’ parish weekends, one in Calliope on the 13th & 14th of October, and another one in Emerald on the 30th & 31st of October. The weekends were led by presenters from Brisbane who worked together with local leaders to plan and run the events.
Men Alive is a Catholic men’s ministry based in Brisbane, which for the past 18 years has been seeking to respond to the lack of participation in the Church by men. At the weekends, men have the chance to get to know other men from the parish and build relationships with them. There’s time for socialising, discussion, listening to presentations and praying together. Through the various sessions, the men look at how God is working in their lives, and how they are called to respond to God.
Both weekends had a great turnout with about 40 men attending from Gladstone parish and about 20 in Emerald. There was a lot of laughter and fellowship as men made new friends or caught up with old ones, as well as some surprisingly good singing of hymns to start the sessions. Some of the sessions were very powerful, with a tangible sense of God’s presence among the group, and many men expressed that they had been really impacted by the experience and were leaving the weekend with plans to be more fully alive in their faith, family, and parish.
Acknowledgement must go to the excellent Men Alive presenters that gave up their weekend to travel up from Brisbane, as well as the local teams that put so much effort into organising the events. Both weekends were also very blessed by the presence and support of their priests, Fr Truc, Fr Yon, Fr Andrew Chase, and Fr Ashwin.
If you’re interested in having a Men Alive parish weekend in your parish, please contact Mick at michael.otto@rok.catholic.net.au.
