On Tuesday the 14th of July 2020, ACOY NSW held its first face-to-face meeting since the introduction of COVID-19 restrictions. Held in the new Antiochian Youth Centre, we were joined by His Eminence Metropolitan Basilios and our Clerical Advisor, Father Nabil, as we discussed future plans for the youth of our Archdiocese. A major talking point surrounded what we could do to further help our youth during these trying times and, in particular, what initiatives could be introduced.
It was great to reconvene with Metropolitan Basilios after a considerable time apart due to social distancing regulations. His Eminence applauded the work of the youth from all the parishes during the initial weeks following Pascha, but encouraged us to remain proactive within our community. The production of content online has been a focus of ours in the past months, and we are aware that this has helped keep our youth members connected to our faith. We began to formulate strategies in which to continue such work and help keep the community positive in this critical time, as another wave of the pandemic looks imminent.