Southern Syiok 2012
From the 25th till 28th of October 2012, about 200 Catholic tertiary students from Melaka –Johor Diocese gathered at Majodi Centre to participate in Southern Syiok (SS) 2012 with the theme “Where is my faith?” There were also quite a few participants from other denominations and dioceses, some as far as Kuala Lumpur, Pahang and Terengganu.
As the diocese’s first Year of Faith event after the opening of the Year, the main objective of the event was to deepen and strengthen faith among the participants so that they are spiritually ready to face any challenges. The other objective of the event was to strengthen the bond between participants from various CSSes.
The main speaker for the 4-day event was Fr. Justin Joannes, a Jesuit priest from Keningau, Sabah. The main topic covered was knowledge about other religions and how to defend our faith when facing challenges in the real world especially in our daily life. On the first day we welcomed all participants; the registration booth was opened followed by a briefing and short introduction so that participants had time to rest.
On the second day, there were three sessions. The first session entitled ‘What is faith & Am I Faithful?’ was given by the Campus Ministry Team member and Edrin Marconi. The second session ‘The Power of Faith & Living my Faith daily’ was given by our main Speaker Fr Justin Joannes and the third session at night was ‘Understanding Other Religions’ given by Campus Ministry Director Deacon Adrian Ng. Apart from that, there was also praise & worship, workshop and Taize prayer, which ended the day.
On the third day, there was one session which was divided into two parts, the first part was about Islamisation and the second part was a faith testimony by Cikgu Alice about her conversion and this was the highlight of the day because it was interesting and beautiful. The talks given by Fr Justin Joannes were very interesting and fruitful as many participants shared that they had learnt new things about their Faith and other religions from the talks. Among activities that were interesting during the third day was a presentation night where 10 groups of participants presented their ideas about faith in various types of situation in life. The last night was a joyful night and ended with sing along and dancing.
The fourth day was the last day and participants woke up very early to go for confession and rosary prayer before the Holy Mass. After the Holy Mass ended, the theme song ‘Iman Kami’ composed by the Music Team was sung with spirit and joy as the final hymn. In the wrap-up Question and Answer session, many thought-provoking questions were asked by the participants and answered by Fr Justin Joannes. Southern Syiok 2012 closed with a speech by the Campus Ministry Officer and Advisor for the event, Emilia Robert Trawis and the Director Geoffery Ranggu. Before the participants departed, there was a photo session, evaluation and prize giving session.
Although it’s only a four-day event, it was a worthwhile and priceless experience and we would like to thank Bishop Paul Tan SJ for his generous support, and dropping by briefly. These are some of the participants’ testimony after Southern Syiok 2012:
Eugene (CIC JB) :I am very impress and very happy with the program,and the working team. Especially the content of the program which was very enlightening and very helpful in carrying our faith. In fact this year is the Year Of Faith the content of the event is very compatible with the theme and it gives real insight to strengthen our faith.
Joey (CSS ROCK) : SS is a place where you can get a lot of friends while having a great new experience. And it also teaches you about your faith. So, please do join the next Southern Syiok!
Grace (CSS Terengganu): The event is so worth it to join for the student to deepen their faith. For me, I got a lot of knowledge from the theme that was stressed which is ‘Where Is Your Faith?’ So, it’s a loss if you didn’t join this activity!