Media Release
Bengaluru, Jan 17: Indian Catholic Youth Movement (ICYM) of the Conference of Catholic Bishops’ of India (CCBI) had its first national council meet and also its historic election for the first ever National Executive Committee (NEXCO) to lead over four lac Latin Catholic Youth of India at NBCLC recently.
The gathering of 35 delegates from 12 regions across India was chaired by Fr Dr Franco Mulakkal, the chairman of CCBI Youth Commission along with Fr Chetan Machado, the commission secretary.
The election procedure began with a quorum of 25 members, following which Percival Holt, from Delhi emerged out as the first national president of ICYM-CCBI. Paul Jose from Kerala was elected the general secretary, Sunil Dennis from Bengaluru as the treasurer, Sagar Gabbeta from Warangal as vice-president, Cledwyn Mathias from Mumbai as vice-president II, Shilpa Ekka from Odisha as spokesperson, Sherwin Fernandez from Ajmer as programme coordinator, Priyal Toppo from Jabalpur as liturgy head, Arohi Beck from Raipur as joint secretary, and John Praveen from Tamil Nadu as joint treasurer.
This historic moment marks the beginning of a new era of leadership in the Catholic Church of India. The newly elected president Percival summarised his task as, “We have the responsibility of rising an entire new generation in this current fast growing world where most of the youngsters are facing tremendous identity and existence crisis, to bring a revolution in their lives and to build a better nation, deep rooted in Godliness.”
Bishop Franco exhorted the youth leaders to be dynamic leaders who make a difference in the lives of thousands of youth in India. He charged the team with new enthusiasm and exuberance through his inspiring life examples of faith and courage. Fr Chethan Machado, the National Youth director, expressed his sentiments of gratitude to all the regional youth directors and youth leaders who made it possible to start this new beginning and assured his support for the youth movement in making it rise and shine.
The national election of ICYM was preceded by an orientation programme for all the regional leaders contesting the election. Various motivational sessions and group dynamics were also held on. The two day programme brought together the regional ICYM leaders under one roof to create a vision and mission of the Catholic youth of India in particular and all the youth of the nation in general.