UTCCC X KoCa Joint Cell Meeting

Wow. For the first time and forever, it’s a collab between UTCCC and KoCa, the Korean Catholics of the University of Toronto!

That was a packed cell meeting, with 1 icebreaker and 2 games. An icebreaker is self-explanatory. With a ball with numbers written on it, you throw the ball, and whichever number your thumb landed on. You’d have to answer the question of the corresponding number.

 

 

We did speed dating to get to know each other better too (but sadly, since I was in the game, nor could I stand on top of a table, I couldn’t take any pictures. But let me just remind everyone of the legendary question:

• Would you rather have poop-flavoured ice cream, or ice cream-flavoured poop?

ALRIGHT! Time for some intense laughter, committee had a meeting before hand to come up with some drama skits prompt. These prompts clearly illustrated some similarities and differences of our practices between Koreans and Chinese. Namely, both Chinese and Koreans seem to rush off after church for refreshment, except Chinese go for 點心 (dim sum,) while Koreans go for 소주 (soju) and 맥주 (beer), a.k.a. drinking.

 

 

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Oh yes… The acting skits…We all learned A LOT about each other’s practices of faith, as well as each other’s levels of humour.

There goes Jerms and Lyndon giving a brief presentation on UTCCC. KoCa also gave us a really good run through of what KoCa does, but I couldn’t take any good pictures (sorry guises…)

Here are a few bullet points (compare and contrast, if you will) about UTCCC and KoCa:

• UTCCC is 16 years old, while KoCa is 2 years old
• UTCCC is connected to many Chinese parishes all over South Ontario, while KoCa is only connected to Korean parishes in the GTA
• Many UTCCC members come from new Catholic families, KoCa members come from older Catholic families
• UTCCC largely speaks English (and a little but of Cantonese), while KoCa speaks English AND Korean

On top of being a session of cultural exchange, this cell meeting is quite memorable in the sense that two groups of youth were gathered as one big bunch of wild children of God Our Father. Sometimes, there could be a general misunderstanding, that teens and young adults are busy fitting into the society that they became vulnerable, and easily tempted by the world’s secularism and materialism. But seeing many of our brothers and sisters gathering here today, there is definitely a place for God in everyone’s heart, like a warm light that keeps us harmonious and gives us hope for the future. I find it beautiful that there are so many friends from different cultures on our journey to our faith, that many of us of the similar age group shares the same love for One God, One Father.

As St. Thomas Aquinas said, “friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures, and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious.”

Thank you O Lord, for giving us this opportunity, and please continue to look after us, so that we are stuck together as one big family, preaching Your Good News.

Amen.