Diocese of Dromore

The Pope John Paul II Award encourages you to go beyond your comfort zone on a journey of self-discovery. It challenges you to give of your time, your talents, your intellect, and your social skills for the well-being of others and for the Glory of God.”

The Pope John Paul II Award enables participants to take an active part in the life of their Church - in the life of their community and society. It also enables young people become more aware of the teaching and role of the Catholic Church in the world and to engage at a deep level with Christ.

The Award is committed to helping young people enhance their spiritual, physical, emotional and social development through participation in school, parish and community activities.

The Mission Statement of the Diocesan Youth Commission states that its aim ‘is to promote for our young people a lifestyle that is based on the person of Jesus Christ who came to proclaim life to the full’. To do this it will help them to:

Identify their faith development needs;
Provide opportunities for an inclusive involvement in the Church; and
Empower them to minister to their peers.

The Pope John Paul II Award is designed to help young people to get involved in their local parishes for their benefit and the benefit of their parishes.

At Confirmation, when our young people receive the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit, we pray that God will ‘support them through every trial and by their works of love build up the Church in holiness and joy’. The Pope John Paul II Award is one way in which our young people can express their faith and build up the life of the Church.

I trust that the Pope John Paul II award will help our parishes, our current volunteers and the members of parish groups, and organisations to grow in awareness of the faith needs of our young people and of the spiritual gifts and energy they can bring.

I pray God’s blessing on this project of the Youth Commission.

+ John McAreavey
Bishop of Dromore

The Diocese of Dromore was kindly assisted by the Knights of St Columbanus with funding to start the Pope John Paul II Award.

Award Top-Ups are given in recognition of the extra activities that Award participants are already involved in.

Top-Ups will go towards the total number of hours an individual has to complete.

Papal Cross: 7.5 hours
Gold: 6 hours
Silver: 4.5 hours
Bronze: 3 hours

Top-Ups can be achieved in a number of ways, for example:

Pilgrimage
Each year many people from the Dromore Diocese travel to Lourdes on Easter Sunday and in May to care for people with disability. These people need special care while in Lourdes and volunteers are always needed to give them that care. It may be pushing their wheelchair or just accompanying them. Working in Lourdes with the diocesan groups can be part of this Award. There are other Diocesan pilgrimages to Taizé and Clonmacnois. These pilgrimages can also be considered as Award Top-Ups.

Magis Experiments
Following our experience at World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, Dromore Diocese is offering young people an opportunity to experience the power of Ignatian spirituality through MAGIS Experiments. MAGIS is a Latin word for "more", for people who want to give more on their journeys of faith. Service, Creative, and Pilgrimage are the three forms of Magis Experiments. Each form encourages the participants to live together simply and participate in activities that bring them closer to God.

Humanitarian Trips
Trips lasting four days or more to work on specific projects, such as orphanages in Romania or home building in Africa. There may be other activities that you are involved in that are not included here but may be relevant, if so please contact the Pope John Paul II Award Committee for approval.

Making young people visible in their church, community & society

Diocese of Dromore

The Pope John Paul II Award

The Pope John Paul II Award encourages you to go beyond your comfort zone on a journey of self-discovery. It challenges you to give of your time, your talents, your intellect, and your social skills for the well-being of others and for the Glory of God.”

A message from the Bishop of Dromore

The Award in the Diocese of Dromore

There are 4 Awards - Gold, Silver, Bronze & Papal Cross

Diocese of Dromore Award Top-Up Suggestions

Downloads

Award Handbook

Award Resources

The Award runs in Ireland and the UK, find your diocese below.

If you are an Award participant, you can find all materials required to complete your Award on your Diocese Award page

The Award

About Us

Contact Dromore Award Office