As some of you already knew, I'm involved in this weekend-stay-in program called Choice. It's a program tailored for singles above 18 (it is often mistaken for a Catholic match-making program though!), and its aim is to serve as a "pit-stop" for young people—often busy and caught up in school or work or mired in quarterlife crisis—to rethink and rediscover what is important in their life.
It is a Catholic program—endorsed by the Archdiocese—but for some reason I'd rather not debate about here, tries not to appear too Catholic. Some of its proponents emphasize that they want to catch everyone: from the I'm-not-so-interested-in-church-stuff, to the I'm-searching-for-something-spiritual, and in particular, those who are in the mode I'm-lost-in-busyness-and-am-trying-to-find-my-bearings. Mass is celebrated daily throughout the stay-in program, but we have participants from all walks of life and it is not limited to Catholics to attend, although the publicity happens mainly through parishes and Catholic schools & publications.
Recruiting participants for Choice's (almost) monthly weekend has been difficult. Like any marketing team in the world, we have had lively debates concerning why it is difficult, and what kind of outreach campaign should we embark on: it depends on the target audience, of course... For me this has been my only bone of contention because different people in the committee had different "target segments" of the youth in mind! As mentioned before, Choice welcomes all single adults!
Personally I find the program has great aims and great intentions; and most of its team members have nothing but the desire to serve God and help young people. Now, while modern marketing approaches have helped somewhat to "hip-up" its image and help to promote it (we have Bravo porting our PPT to a video on Youtube!), I'd like to ask people who come to this blog and see this post, to pray for us! Pray for us that God may send us more participants to reach out to; for we believe that in every weekend, it is not us doing our job but He Himself who heals and reconciles our participants to what are important in their lives!
Choice has also precipitated one of the major turning points in my life. I'd recommend it for anyone who happens to be in Singapore; the next one is on January 26th-28th.
Sign up if you haven't attended Choice before. Please help spread the word, if you know of anyone whom you think should go. Choice's website is here.
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