By Caroline Liew
KENINGAU — Three hundred youth from nine parishes and one Mission gathered to glorify the name of God through songs they composed under the theme Living in Harmony with God’s Creation and Marriage. The 2022 Youth Choir Festival took place at the Church of St Patrick, September 3.
Youth Choir Festival Coordinator 2022, Roney Alfred Eming, in his speech explained that the theme Living in Harmony with God’s Creation was chosen considering the world today – we need to walk together to care for God’s creation which is coming to destruction and it becomes a responsibility as youth and Catholics to care for God’s gift that was given to us. The second theme, Marriage, aims to increase the collection of wedding hymns that can be used during wedding Masses and the blessing of marriage since songs like this are still lacking in our church.
Before the Choir Festival began, parish priest of St Patrick Church, Fr Benedict Daulis, celebrated the Mass with Fr Ronnie Luni, Spiritual Leader of the Catholic Youth Apostolic Commission of Keningau Diocese concelebrating.
In his homily, Fr Ronnie said, “Your presence here will make the Youth Choir Festival a success. The spirit of togetherness has brought about this sense of belonging. Winning or losing is secondary. We can live out the call of Pope Francis towards a synodal Church by walking together in the spirit of preserving the harmony of God’s creation and appreciating everyone as God truly loves us.”
The 2022 Keningau Diocesan Youth Choir Festival is the first large gathering by the Youth Apostolate Commission since the pandemic. The youth felt blessed by the choir’s performance which reached thousands of viewers through the Keningau Diocesan Youth Commission’s Facebook and Youtube.
Roney expressed his hope that this Choir Festival will renew the spirit of our youth, especially in the Keningau diocese. “Serve the Lord with your gifted talents through songs, melodies, music and voices”. He also thanked them for saying “Yes, let’s serve God and glorify His name by motivating one another”.
Indeed, the Youth Choir Festival 2022 has brought vast experience from every participant to be the best among the best. St Theresa Parish, Tambunan, was crowned as the winner of the 2022 Youth Choir Festival. They were the defending champions for the fifth time in the Keningau Diocese Youth Choir Festival. Runner-up and second runner-up went to St Francis Xavier Cathedral and Holy Spirit Parish, Sook.
The best song lyric award for Living in Harmony with God’s Creation went to St Francis Xavier Cathedral and the best song lyric award for Marriage went to Holy Cross Parish, Toboh. There were also special awards given for Best Conductor (Holy Cross Parish, Toboh), Best Presentation (St Yohanes Pembaptist, Sipitang) and Best Ethics (St Patrick, Membakut).
Roney expressed his gratitude to the people who directly and indirectly have made this festival a success. At the end of the festival, he announced that the host of the upcoming Keningau Diocesan Level Choir Festival was St Anthony Parish, Tenom.
