The Knights of St. Mulumba (KSM), Lagos Metropolitan Council have inaugurated the Youths of St. Mulumba (YSM) with a vision to reinforce and provide further support to keep the Catholic Church strong, in the coming years. The Inauguration ceremony which took place on the 8th of November, 2020, at St. Leo’s Catholic Church, Ikeja was presided over by the Deputy Supreme Knight and National Coordinator, Youths of St. Mulumba Nigeria, Sir Charles Mbelede, together with the Lagos Metropolitan Grand Knight, Sir William Adebisi. Rev. Fr. James Idiong,(SHL) of Saint Leo’s Catholic Church, Ikeja celebrated the Inaugural Mass. Speaking at the Inauguration ceremony KSM Lagos Metro YSM Cordinator, and Deputy Metropolitan Grand Knight, Sir Don Ezeh, said the formation of YSM was informed by the need to further support the Catholic Church, keep it strong, vibrant and resilient through the coming decades. According to him, the decline of Catholic Church in fervour and vibrancy in the United Kingdom and Europe from where our benefactor missionaries came with the Holy gospel some 150 years ago, holds many lessons for all of us on the need to invest and reinvigorate for future growth of the Church in Nigeria. Sir Don Ezeh stated: “Thinking about the future of the Catholic Church and our society, we must invest time and treasure in our Youths of today.
We will nurture and groom them to take over from us and continue the laudable journey of providing strong leadership in various Catholic Laity Organisations, supporting in a very special way the Catholic Church and the Society”. He enjoined the Youths to see the YSM initiative a worthy mission that needs strong passionate commitment and sacrifice to make it work. He emphasized the Knights of St. Mulumba commitment to the spiritual formation and growth of our Youths, saying, “we plan to ensure by design that our YSM programme of activities will reinforce spiritual formation and growth in a manner that will prove spiritually enriching for our youths. “Spiritual formation, growth in activities and focus on reinforcing strong morals and ethics, key Catholic training, including mastery of Catholic prayers and fundamental practices, informed dialogue and the search for inspiration in meditation and the exemplary lives of the saints and the lives of iconic world leaders that have impacted and inspired humanity.
” Sir Don Ezeh used the opportunity to unveil plans by the Knights of Saint Mulumba to train and empower youths to enable them develop multiple skills to face the present day economic realities. In order to achieve this, KSM has concluded plans to provide youths access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) training, which will include Microsoft package, Corel Draw, Internet Search skills and Desktop publishing. He said that the empowerment programme will be based on individual aptitude, capacity and preferences. He explained that the ICT training will be followed by other practical economic empowerment and vocational skills development programmes, as well as public speaking, coaching, mentoring, supervisory, leadership and networking skills. “In addition to the above, we hope from time to time to invite Subject-matter experts to share their years of experience and insight with our Youths to expand their competitive and entrepreneurial vision and horizon. Through this programme, we will strive to make our youths very relevant and competitive in employment and as successful entrepreneurs in contemporary Nigerian society and beyond. It is our hope that they will excel and be beneficiaries of various world class Youth empowerment programmes that get advertised from time to time in the creative industry”, he stated.
