Events 2009

Spiritual Summer Camp

11th July to 25th July, 2009

How it all started!

Our Church this year saw a spiritual combination of talent. The prayer groups all united themselves under one banner to participate and help in the Summer Camp this year.

Under the leadership of Fr. Dinesh and with the support of our parish priest Fr. Ani Xavier and the support of Fr. Sergio we could make this 2 week dream come true!!

Our event coordinators Ms. Lara Deshpande & Mr. Rocky Patel worked meticulously  with various spiritual groups to coordinate the smooth function of the Summer Camp. 

A dedicated team of teachers and volunteers offered their time and skills to deliver the message; “Follow Me” to children from the age groups of 5 to 20.

Each day a different skit explained the call of Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Jonah, Mother Mary, Peter and Paul, James and John, Levi and the Rich man.
July 11th 2009… the church grounds were filled with hustle and bustle as over 600 children came flocking to the church hall.

There was a short opening ceremony and lighting of the lamp after which we had a fun filled warm up session, followed by a skit.
The warm session and skit regime followed each day based on the theme!
The different groups; Divine Mercy, English Charismatic, Jesus Youth, SRM and Lectors.

The Grand Finalé!!

The spiritual Summer Camp concluded on the 25th of July, 2009.

The children of all the classes, starting with the Angels, followed by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the Apostles, put up their skits to explain to all what they had learnt and how they wish to respond to the call of Jesus. The prayer groups put up their skits

A holy mass was celebrated by  Fr. Ani Xavier, Fr. Dinesh and Fr. Sergio.
After mass, there was a shortclosing ceremony and a song by the Children; “We are the World” by Michael Jackson.

A Lunch Box and a little goody bag was presented to each child as they left the church hall.
A perfect finale to a perfect start!

Warm Up Sessions

The Warm Up session were the most energetic and fun filled times.. It was that time of the evening when all the children were tapping their toes to the beats of the music and singing the action songs.

The Church was rocking…

The Divine Mercy, English Charismatic, Jesus Youth, SRM and the lectors all worked real hard to make this happen. Practices were conducted a month in advance.

The children turned up each time to put together their daily acts.

The children participating in the skits made a brilliant effort with remembering dialogues and presenting them in the best possible way to the other children. A lot of talent was seen here!
Each evening a new action song was taught, there were innovative steps and this gave praise and worship a new meaning.

Class Time!!!

There were 6 age groups.

The Angels were the smallest and their group name suit the 5 and 6 year olds the best - small though they were, they showed brilliant participation. They were guided by Nancy, Francilia, Agnes, Gladys, Mercy and Rukshan

The next were the 7 and 8 year olds: Matthew . They were taught by Lara, Patricia, Suzan, Denzil, Marie, Pramila and Lionel.

Mark: the 9 and 10 year olds were guided by Natty, Pearl, Philip, Richard, Anita and Aquila.

Luke: 11 and 12 year olds, were taught by Judith, Jojo, Jeanie, Faustin, Catherine and Regina

John: The budding teens were guided by Michael, Christabelle, Jessie, Joel and Gerard

The Apostles; the youth were given strong spiritual sessions by Alfred, Anand, Benny   Mervyn, Dr. George and Andrew.

Goody Bags!!

The children left the church ground’s    under Fr. Dinesh’s watchful eyes. He had a team of volunteers who kept check at the gates to ensure that no children went missing.

The Children’s hearts were filled with glee, when they each received a goody bag with little treats in it.

Kudos! To the packing team and the all the Volunteers for efficiently packing and  distributing these bags around!! A team of two volunteers were given charge of each class. St. Michael’s witnessed unity is strength, despite a few short comings

Everyone pooled in together to work in harmony for the Lord.

That’s all from this time. We all will be back next year at the same place to conduct another rocking Summer Camp. Till then let us all keep praising and thanking the Lord for all he does for us.

A message from Fr. Ani Xavier

We thank God for all the blessings showered upon our children during the Spiritual Summer Camp 2008.  We sincerely thank Rev. Fr. Dinesh, the Spiritual Director, the Core Team members, Teachers, Volunteers, Benefactors and all who worked hard directly or indirectly for the great success of the Spiritual Summer Camp.  Congratulations to all the participants.  May God bless you!

A message from Fr. Dinesh

The Spiritual Summer Camp every year is intended to bring the children together during their summer holidays, for some spiritual teaching to help them grow in the faith and love for God.

With this intention in mind, we had decided upon the theme for the Camp as, Follow Me; Let the children come to me. The theme covered various instances in the bible which gave the children knowledge on how to keep our faith in God despite the daily circumstances we face.

Each day a new calling from God explained to the children from both the old and the new testament. The evening started with a warm-up session of hymns and action songs praising god, followed by a short play enacted by the children from the various Spiritual Groups who took the initiative to bring about this message.

A group of teachers and volunteers got together and conducted meetings to discuss Lesson Plans and how best each teacher could bring forth this message to the children.

While the little ones were attending classes, we had made arrangements for the parents too, so that they could come and benefit from the camp.

We arranged for special speakers to speak to both; the youth and the parents on various religious topics that are prevalent to our daily life. Both seem to have benefited well from this.

The church was live and active and saw its talented parishioners give in their best, to turn this Camp into a success.

It was an enjoyable 2 week Camp and the children and parents enjoyed a spirit filled camp under our St. Michael’s Church, Sharjah.