On Wednesday afternoon, 7th February 2024 the 17th Annual Pope John Paul II Award Ceremony was held in Saint Eugene’s Cathedral, Derry. The guest speaker, Alexander McLean alongside Bishop Donal McKeown, patron of the award, presented the award to 381 young people from all over the Diocese of Derry and beyond.
This year 3 people received the Papal Cross Award These young people came from 19 second level schools across the Diocese and 3 second level schools outside the Diocese. They represented 47 parishes in the diocese and 11 parishes outside our Diocese.
The guest speaker, Mr Alexander McLean is the founder of Justice Defenders (formerly African Prisons Project, or APP), which is based in Uganda and seeks to improve the lives of people imprisoned in Africa. Alexander gave an inspiring account of his life and how he saw the need for justice in a prison system in Uganda that lacked basic human rights and dignity. He inspired the young people of Derry to not let anyone diminish them and encouraged them to continue the great work that they did throughout their award especially with social outreach. Alexanders words and example shone through, and he finished his speech with a prayer from Saint Francis.
The Ceremony came to a close with the beautiful voice of David James. David presents ‘The Jivetime Show’ on Highland Radio weekdays 2:30-5:00pm. He has travelled the world as a competitive Irish dancer.
The Award was founded and created by Fr Paul Farren of the Diocese of Derry. It was launched in Derry in 2006 by the then Papal Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Lazarotto. In the last 16 years the award has been introduced in 25 dioceses in Ireland. Supported by an international coordinator, Mr Tony Brennan, the Award has also been introduced in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle and the Diocese of Portsmouth.
The Pope John Paul II Award continues to be the largest youth movement in the church in Ireland. For more information on the Award contact Lizzie Rea on
lizzie.rea@derrydiocese.org or phone +44 28 71 264087.