Evan Dargan Hayes - Pope John Paul II Gold Award Reflection

Q1. What it means to me to be a baptised member of the Church.

My school St. Gerard’s is a Catholic lay school and

provides many opportunities for us students to
participate in both Church activities and Social
Awareness activities. It is very appropriate that
time spent on both of these areas of Parish in-
volvement and Social Awareness are the funda-
mentals of the Pope John Paul II award as they en- By the way I treat others I am making Christ alive.
compass for me the true meaning of being a bap- By showing compassion while carrying out good
tised member of the Church - being an active deeds and helping others in need in a variety of
member of the Church community and looking out ways I try to bear witness to Christ as much as
for others. possible.

We hold many religious events in school including

masses, carol services, prayer services and retreats
which allow us as young people to contribute and
be actively involved in expressing our faith wheth-
er as altar servers, choir members, readers or
members of the congregation.

The school is also very focussed on facilitating stu-

dents to support the most vulnerable members of
our society either directly such as providing ham-
pers to SVP at Christmas or indirectly by fundrais-
ing at our Christmas Bazaar and School Ball to
raise money for donating to both local and nation-
al charities and for distributing during the annual
summer trip to Zambia for Leaving Cert students.

By being baptised I feel I have a duty to play an

active part in my Church and I try to participate
whenever I can in Parish activities. As my school is
a Catholic school, I see it as a branch of the Parish
and therefore, the students are members of the
whole Church community and many of my contri-
butions to Church life take place there.

We are always encouraged to live by the school

motto of ‘memor’ – be mindful, which is really liv-
ing our faith by our actions.
Q2. A personal reflection and evaluation of my Parish Involvement and Social Awareness work.

For my Gold award, I had committed to taking part
in 20 weeks of parish involvement and 20 weeks
of social awareness. For my parish involvement, I
split it into two different activities each taking 10
weeks. I used my school choir for my first 10
weeks and my church youth club for my second 10
weeks. For my social awareness, I volunteered at
Bray Lakers, which is an activity and social group
for intellectually disadvantaged.
also on at 6pm as I used to love Art but Andrew,
the Volunteer Manager, asked that I help with the
Dance and Drama class. I was not really looking
forward to this as I am quite shy but once the class
started I began to enjoy myself. It was also good
practice for me before taking to the stage in my TY
Musical!

When Covid-19 shut down all normal routines, I

had three weeks yet to complete on my Gold
award commitments, so I had to change activities
at that point. For my parish involvement, I did the
shopping for my Grandmother in Bray. For my so-
cial awareness, I produced 3D printed face shields
for local health care workers.
Lakers is a Sports, Social and Recreation Club for

The teacher was Nadia and she ran a number of

people with intellectual disabilities. The Bray Lak-
ers Club was founded in 1989 as a basketball club
associated with the Special Olympics and then
grew to 4 sporting activities. It then expanded to
include social activities and now 30 years later it
offers over 60 activities each week for over 400
members aged from 5-70.
classes. There were about 25 members who
attended the class regularly and there were 4 vol-
unteers including me. We did dance games so that
everybody was involved. Everybody really enjoyed
themselves including me and the group put on a
carol service in the local church at Christmas for
their families and the public. It was great to see
the pride they had in performing in the church.
Who knows we might even put on a show when
we get back after Covid-19!

Sadly, there was a fire at their building beside the

Dargle river in 2019 but after a short number of
months they re-opened at a different premises in
Bray and changed their old basketball logo to a
symbol that resembles a phoenix - the bird which
rises from its own ashes.

Initially I helped each Wednesday from 6-7pm at

the Adult Drama and Dance class. Sometimes I
had to change the class if it clashed with some-
thing at school but there were two more D+D clas-
ses at 7pm and 8pm that suited if I got delayed. I
had hoped to help with the Art class which was
For my first ten weeks of Parish involvement, I
took part in the School Choir for church events,
such as our Christmas Carol Service, school masses
and our Christmas Eve mass. I sing as a Bass. Choir
practice took place every Tuesday, and some
Thursdays, at lunch time. Having a choir at reli-
gious services is important because it brings a hap-
py and joyful spirit to the occasion and usually
everyone joins in because they get carried along
with the music.
bring their own food. It was a relaxed environment
where they could do their homework and socialise
under supervision. I enjoyed helping but it was a
challenge. The challenge was encouraging the
members to be calmer as sometimes they were
quite excitable. I practised my communication
skills but I’m not sure if you would say they
worked!

When Covid-19 arrived, I started doing the food

shopping for my Grandmother who was cocoon-
ing. This was a rewarding experience because I
could help my Nanny, who normally helps every-
one else. I did this each weekend.

I also started making face shields for health care

workers who were fighting Covid on the front line.
And I took part in an American youth science com-
petition where my international team worked to
The carol service in our school marks the real start
try and find a solution that could help countries
of Christmas as it is our final event as we break up
and people to respond to Covid-19. We developed
for the holidays. All the parents say this is one of
a Home Testing kit.
the most enjoyable events of the school calendar
as it gets them into the real spirit of Christmas. I
really enjoyed this activity as I love music but don’t
like to sing on my own. Being in the Choir encour-
aged me to sing a small solo part in my School Mu-
sical this year.

For my second ten weeks

of Parish involvement, I
helped out at the Holy Re-
deemer Church’s Youth
Club on Wednesday after-
noons. The club runs from
When the Covid crisis began, I was looking for a
3-5, but also on Friday
way I could help. I saw that people in other coun-
evenings and Saturday
tries were coming up with ways to create PPE, for
afternoons.
example, people were making cloth masks and
some people were using 3D printers to produce
face shields. I had bought myself a 3D printer
when I finished my Junior Cert last summer, so I
Young people aged about 10-13 attended. They thought this was an ideal way for me to do my
often came straight from school and they could little bit.
The face shield consists of two parts—a headband
and a visor. After looking around online to find the
best design available that was ‘open source’, I
started printing them, one after the other.

It got me up early every morning as I needed to

have the printer working for about 12 hours each
day as it was such a slow process, with each head-
band taking about two hours to print. To complete
the face shields, I used little protrusions on the
headband to hold a clear sheet of acetate in place.

I also added my name to the production database

being coordinated by Engineers Ireland as they are
gathering face shields nationally for distribution to
the HSE and have had my first batch collected by
Blood Bikes. It’s great to feel I have helped in
some small way in the fight against Covid that the
whole country is experiencing in one way or an-
other.

Other volunteering activities that I have carried

out over the past few months that reflect the mes-
sage of the Pope John Paul II Award include bag
packing for VDP, packing and delivering Christmas
To keep everything sterile until use, I then de-
hampers, helping at Open House Dublin, partici-
signed an envelope for each pack containing a re-
pating in Model United Nations and running a stall
usable headband and five disposable sheets. So
at the school’s Christmas Bazaar.
far, I have given masks to two GP practices, a phar-
macist, a nursing home, some home carers, a mid-
wife, and to my brother and my uncle who volun-
In October, I and other TY students went bag
teer with the Order of Malta Ambulance Corps,
packing to support St. Vincent de Paul. I volun-
and they have found them very useful when they
teered to work in the Dunnes Stores in Newtown-
were transporting Covid patients.
mountkennedy. I left school at small break to get
there early for 11:45.

When I arrived, I jumped straight into packing

bags as we were there at a busy time. I was in the
12 noon to 2 o’clock slot. The work came in phas-
es, as most people were probably having their
lunch at 1 o’clock and therefore were not out
shopping.
I don’t like talking to strangers, so I found this
somewhat difficult at the beginning. In the end I
found it ok to talk to people and to spark conver-
sations. I definitely found it useful to do this as I
am now more confident when talking to others,
and I can pack a bag!
I ended up having to help a cashier when one of
the shoppers dropped a packet of blueberries at
the till. I was asked to go to get another packet,
which having only been to this shop once or twice
before, took me a while to find.
I only saw one packet of blueberries so brought
those back. Unfortunately however, according to
the shopper, I had selected the wrong packet. The
cashier said afterwards that likewise, she would
have just picked up the first ones she had seen.
Surely all the blueberries would be in the same
place!
I did appreciate though that people have different
needs and need to be accommodated, but in this
situation I do think it was a case that the customer
is always right!
On a Tuesday in December, all the TY students re-
ceived a talk from the St Vincent de Paul. It was
horrible to hear that over 800,000 people are now
living in poverty in Ireland, with 1 in 3 of those be-
ing children.
After the talk we all headed down to the sports
hall and started packing Christmas hampers in
groups. It was challenging to keep track of what
was in all the bags, with us sometimes having to
rummage through the bags to find the baked
beans.
We ended up packing 350 bags and heading up to
the canteen for some well deserved hot chocolate
afterwards. I volunteered to deliver the hampers
to families around Bray. I delivered with one other
student and we ended up giving out six hampers.
It was a really eye opening experience to see how
some people are living, with two or three families
in one house.
In October, I volunteered at Open House Dublin.
This is a weekend that is organised by the IAF (Irish
Architecture Foundation) where over 150 build-
ings open their doors for the public to see inside.
After school on one Friday in November, I headed
to my first Model United Nations or MUN, which
was held in Rathdown School. This was an experi-
ence I was looking forward to since the first event
earlier in the year, that I was not able to compete
in due to a sailing event taking place on the same
day, which had actually ended up being cancelled.

I was volunteering to assist in the Dún Laoghaire

area. I first helped setup the building for the tours
in the Town Hall and then moved over to the Stu-
dio space in the dlr LexIcon where Home Energy
Improvement talks were due to take place. After I
helped setup the stage and put out chairs, I start-
ed admitting people.
I arrived at Rathdown school and met friends from
other schools. I met with my team, which was rep-
resenting India and we then split up into our sepa-
rate committees.

We started with our policy statements and moved

on to discussing resolutions. I didn’t speak at the
early stages, but later on I settled my nerves and
started participating. Altogether, it was an amaz-
ing experience that I will definitely do again, even
if I was a bit nervous to begin with.

There were two talks by three people for 90

minutes followed by question time for half an
hour. Then we started again. There ended up be-
ing 88 attending the first session and 103 attend-
ing the second session. One of my teachers even
showed up! The talks were really interesting as
they showed you how you can upgrade your
home, read your electricity bills, select energy effi-
cient lights, apply for grants, etc, etc, etc.

It was definitely hard controlling a crowd of 100

trying to get into a theatre, as we had to tick off
their names if they had signed up online, or write
their names if they hadn’t, which the majority did-
n’t. I felt afterwards that I should have been more
organised from the beginning instead of having to
run around after the crowd started to arrive. I
hope to volunteer again next year.
In December, the annual Christmas Bazaar was
held one evening after school. This is a huge
school event each year attended by students, par-
ents, teachers, and friends.
I was working on my Mini Company stall. My busi-
ness was called ‘Phoenix Crafts’, that produced
small customised handmade pouches by upcycling
material remnants. We sold 29 bags and raised
lots of money for local charities. In total, the ba-
zaar raised over €22,000. It was definitely a chal-
lenge to sell what we did, but it made me more
confident when speaking to strangers, which will
help me in the future.
In conclusion, both by engaging directly in Church
activities and also by being aware and then help-
ing others in need, I feel I have learned a lot by
participating in the Pope John Paul II award pro-
gramme.
The characteristics of leadership, including empa-
thy for others less fortunate, ability to listen
better, confidence to take on a challenge, having a
positive attitude and the resilience to follow
through on a commitment, that I have learned
through participation in the Pope John Paul II
award will stand to me as an adult whether in my
life in general or when participating in the life of
the Church.
Q3. My reflection on how the teachings of
Christ are relevant to my chosen activities.
When choosing and carrying out my chosen activi-
ties I was not focussed on how they related to the
teachings of the Church. However, on reflection,
of course they are. Some of the activities that I
carried out and some teachings of the Church that
they relate to are as follows:
Singing in the School Choir -
‘He who sings, pray twice!’ is a well known saying
attributed to St. Augustine although he did not
actually use those words.
In Psalm 105:1-2, the Lord calls the Israelites to be
a light to other nations, and he tells them: “Sing to
him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful
acts”.
And in Colossians 3:16 the apostle Paul says: “Let
the Word of Christ dwell in you richly… singing
psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude
in your hearts to God”. Paul tells us to let God’s
Word dwell in us richly, firstly by teaching, and
secondly by singing.
Helping with Drama Class at Lakers -
If we want to serve God, we must serve others in-
cluding those less fortunate than ourselves. Serv-
ing those who can return the favour is not wrong
but the motives could be questioned. To serve
those that cannot return the favour is more reflec-
tive of what Christ did. I do feel however, that I do
get repaid by the pleasure shown by the partici-
pants in Lakers. Here are two passages that relate
to this.
In Luke 14:12-14, Jesus said to his host, “When
you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your
friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or
your rich neighbours; if you do, they may invite
you back and so you will be repaid. But when you
give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the
lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Alt-
hough they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at
the resurrection of the righteous.”
And in Matthew 25:40, it says that the King will
reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of
the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you
did for me.’
Q4. Conclusion

The Church is more than a building, it is made up

of the people who belong to the Church communi-
ty, and while the Parish activities are typically run
by adults, young people also contribute greatly to
Church life.

Sometimes this is directly in the Parish such as by

singing in the choir, serving at mass or helping
with visits to the elderly as part of social aware-
ness, but more often the contribution that young
people make is through the huge range of activi-
ties they do to support the Church via their school
life, which may be less obvious to the official
Church.

It is good to see the link between my school life

This also demonstrates how a lay Catholic school
plays its part is supporting the Church by develop-
ing students capable of making a valuable contri-
bution to Church life.
Before completing the Pope John Paul II award I
did not make the connection that much of what I
had been doing by trying to follow the school
ethos of ‘memor’, being mindful, in my daily life,
was part of a bigger picture of contributing to the
work of witnessing to Christ’s message.
and my Parish life. By completing this award I ap-
preciate more that young people are actually play-
ing a huge part in Church life although it may be
slightly invisible as so much of it is carried out
within the school community. Young people are
full of energy and they want to make a difference
and given half a chance they will do so.
Thank you
Evan