In their document, ‘Renewing the Vision, A Framework for Catholic Youth Ministry,’ the USA Conference of Catholic Bishops state that parishes are places, ‘where the gospel is proclaimed and celebrated, where believers are formed and sent to renew the earth.’ ‘Parishes should be a place where young people are welcomed, grow in Jesus Christ, and minister side by side with adults of the community.’ ‘In parishes, young people should feel a sense of belonging and acceptance as full-fledged members of the community.’ Young people ‘bring to the parish community youthfulness, energy, vitality, hopefulness, and vision’ (p.12 - 13).
What are you immediate reactions to this vision of young people within a Parish? How have you seen this lived out? Where do you think improvements still need to be made? Should parish communities have a plan to involve each young person in ministry and mission as part of the Confirmation process? How can this be developed?
This is a challenging quotation from the US bishops. Welcoming young people fully into the life of the parish community at its best means welcoming young people into the ministry and the mission of the church. This involves exposing young people to the wealth and magnificence of Catholic Tradition, moral teaching and spiritual life and for this to happen the welcome must be appealing and accessible to young people and presented in a way which is relevant to daily life.
A Youth CAFÉ will be starting after half term on the 4th November in the hall from 7.30pm - 9.00pm. Youth CAFÉ is six weekly sessions of DVD clips, discussion, snacks and lots of fun. It is mainly for 13+ or from year 9 and above, especially those recently confirmed. Please pray for this new venture which we hope will be on going.
Anyone who would like to help please give your name to Fr Barry or Deacon Philip.
NB There will be a special gathering of the deanery organised by the Deanery Pastoral Council on Tuesday 13th November on the theme of welcoming young people into our parishes. This will take place at Our Lady of the Annunciation, Addiscombe. There will be speakers from the SION Community youth team and myself. It’s open to all so please come along. Let’s make our young people our no. 1 priority!
Tom Caluori
Deanery Youth Coordinator