By Robert Colquhoun

With the sad news that television will screen pro-abortion adverts, here are 10 ways in which young people can help to end abortion and build a culture of life.

1/ Pray, discern and ask God to show you a way that you can help to end abortion in our country.

2/ Read 50 ways to help unborn and their mothers by Randy Alcorn. Accomplish as many as you can!

3/ Send your Priest/Pastor or Religious leader a copy of ways that Priests can end abortion (adapt if necessary). Also see bulletin inserts, preaching, liturgy and prayers.

4/ Examine your conscience regularly on whether you are doing enough to fight abortion.

5/ Participate in Prayer Vigils, volunteer for pro-life organizations and go onto the streets to proclaim life! Helpers of God’s Precious Infants, Good Counsel Network and SPUC are good places to start.

6/ Get well formed with Pro-life arguments. read Randy Alcorn’s Why pro-life, read quotes, magazine, endingabortion mp3s, ending abortion UK version as well as Priests for life. Know how to articulate your beliefs to give a voice for the voiceless.

7/ Encourage and promote the work of post abortion counselling and chastity education… give a talk or provide resources for your local school or parish.

8/ Make a film, tell a story, tell a personal testimony, tell all your friends positive and upbeats news that life begins at conception.

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” Elie Wiesel

9/ Conduct community outreach - take a positive and upbeat pro-life message to all areas of the city through grass roots activism. Equip, inform, educate and inspire others to believe in a nation where no more babies die and no more women cry.

“…go out on the streets and into public places.. woe to you if you do not succeed in defending life..” Pope John Paul II, World Youth Day 1993.

10/ Write to your local community leaders, MPs, councillors showing how strongly you feel on the issue and what can be done to build a culture of life.

Robert Colquhoun is the founder of 40 Days for Life London, an organisation that strives to support the dignity of womenhood and the protection of the unborn.  Their events have been supported in Westminster by several parishes and also Bishop Alan Hopes and Episcopal Vicar, Fr Paschal Ryan.  For more information on the activities they run for young people and young adults see our events section.

Have you ever had an Evangelical Christian say to you, “I love Jesus but hate religion” ? Here is a video that is doing the rounds on the internet, facebook walls etc, that expresses this sentiment:

And here is a possible Catholic response by another young person to this type of reasoning:

The Vatican more recently has reminded us Catholics that a spirit of apologetics is necessary so that we can answer the questions that those ask us about the faith. Defend your faith in love! (1 Peter 3:15)

One of the amazing things about the Church in London is the number of excellent groups and movements for young Catholics. As well as the parishes where you live and worship, there are a variety of powerful and inspiring events taking place all over the diocese. On our youth and young adults section that you are now viewing, you can find all kinds of information about the groups and events that are either coming up soon or taking place regularly. One such event is in St Aloysius’ Church that will soon be connected with our new Centre for Youth Ministry at Somers Town (Euston). This is a Lectio group for young Catholics. It promises to be a prayerful, exciting journey through the Mark’s Gospel. You can find all the details, and the details of other groups, on the website.

Our city and diocese also had many pilgrims at World Youth Day in Madrid. Many of your groups were present with the Holy Father, including our own diocesan group and many other Westminster movements, parishes, and youth groups. In all, hundreds of young Catholics from London experienced the amazing joy of WYD. If you were one of them, I hope that you are still carrying that joy with you and that the experience of WYD, together with the call of the Holy Father, is inspiring you now to be a witness and a friend of Jesus in this great city and country were we live as Christians.

Wishing you a blessed Advent and Christmastide

Fr. David Reilly is Diocesan Youth Chaplain

More and more young people are engaging in pro-life initiatives in the diocese, as the recent success of the 40 Days for Life campaign and the Catholic Boogie Night events have shown.

Episcopal Vicar Fr Paschal Ryan prayed with a large group of young people outside the BPAS abortion clinic in Bedford Square on November 4th as part of the 40 Days for Life campaign. Unfortunately Bishop Alan Hopes had to cancel his appointment to join the young people at the last minute, but the young people were grateful that Fr. Paschal could join them, including Fr.Alexander Sherbrooke Parish Priest of St.Patrick’s Soho.

Do continue to look at our events pages from time to time if you are interested in attending pro-life events in the Diocese of Westminster.

40 Days for Life, London is a group of predominately young people that aim to end abortion through spiritual means. It is their hope that through prayer, fasting, peaceful vigils and community outreach, they will help mark the end of abortion.

40 Days for Life is endorsed by many prominent national leaders in six countries and has helped many young women make the choice to keep their child rather than go through with an abortion.  Bishop Alan Hopes will join 40 days for Life London to lead them in prayer for an end to abortion and will arrive at the Bedford Square vigil for 7pm.

A few months ago Bishop Hopes joined the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants in Twickenham to lead a pro-life vigil at a BPAS abortion facility.

The organisers of this day feel very blessed to have Bishop Hopes with them and it will be the first time 40 Days for Life London have had a bishop join them in prayer at the vigil.

They are asking parishoners from the Diocese of Westminster to consider joining them.

More details can be found here.

Update 4/11/11: Unfortunately due to unforseen circumstances Bishop Alan Hopes is unable to make the vigil, but is keen to come at another date. There still will be prayers and a vigil as originally planned. Please do come and stand up for the unborn.

Celebrating a wedding recently, I was struck by how generous God calls us to be. It takes real generosity to share your whole life with another person, even someone you love very much. Whatever our calling in life, every Christian has a fundamental vocation to generosity. No Christian can live for themselves or by themselves. Married, single, religious or priest, every friend of Jesus is called to give themselves generously in some way – that is part of life in the Church.

Recently Pope Benedict announced the next World Youth Day will be in Rio in 2013. The theme will be the words of Jesus: ‘Go, and make disciples of all the nations’ (Matt. 28:19). In Madrid the Pope asked us to be rooted and built up in Christ, and now he is urging us further in the demanding, life-giving mission of the friends of Jesus. Rooted and established in Christ, we know that we must share that life with others. The saving Gospel and our friendship with Jesus is not something we can keep to ourselves. Like the first apostles, we have a mission to spread the Gospel everywhere. How will we do this? First of all, by being people who are authentic followers of Jesus: people who know him and allow themselves to be led by him; in the manner of our living and our decisions; our values and our care for others; but also by our life of faith, our integrity and faithfulness. To be an apostle is an amazing mission – a life of generosity, a joy to be shared with others.

Fr.David Reilly is the new Youth Chaplain for the Archdiocese of Westminster

Well wasn’t it a wonderful time out in Madrid?  I thoroughly enjoyed it, in spite of the challenges due to the heat and long nights!  So many of you showed enthusiasm in Spain to deepen your faith and understand what is Christ is asking of you on your return.  Well now back with our families, communities and parishes, the memories of WYD, must still be very much lingering in our hearts and minds.  It is interesting to see fellow pilgrim ‘Friends’ columns on Facebook rapidly increase as pilgrims ‘add’ each other, view each other’s photos and delve into the lives of each other on, thus getting to know each other on a different level.  However whilst adding each other on Facebook and cherishing our emotional and spiritual experiences out in Spain can be a good thing, these by themselves will not sustain us for the journey of faith that Christ is asking us to walk now.   This is why the Diocesan Youth Support Team would like to encourage you to come to our pilgrim sessions for after WYD, this will focus on how we can live out and be nourished in our faith in our parishes, and be salt and light to the people around us in society. Please come along!

Dates for your diary:

11th September 2011 WYD Pilgrims Reunion and Mass
@ St Aloysius, Somers Town, NW1 1TA - 2 to 4:30pm

30th October 2011 WYD Follow-up Meeting - Where do we go from here?
@ Vaughan House, 46 Francis Street, SW1P 1QN - 2 to 4:30pm

27th November 2011 Follow-up Meeting - And finally…
@ Vaughan House, 46, Francis Street, SW1P 1QN - 2 to 4:30pm

We look forward to seeing you all again soon!

Questions on the faith? See: http://www.xt3.com/library/list.php

Are you aged between 18 and 25? Are you looking to undertake a gap year? Are you looking to deepen your Catholic faith with other like minded young people? Are you interested in working with young people aged 7 to 18?

SPEC the diocesan retreat centre is now recruiting for their 2011-12 team.

As the 2010 - 11 SPEC year draws to an end, two young volunteers, Narquita and Erik, explain what the community has meant to them over the past year:

As young pilgrims from across the Diocese of Westminster continue to prepare for World Youth Day in Madrid. It is important to note that there are many other pilgrimages also available for young people to attend. One such pilgrimage is the annual Pentecost Chartres Pilgrimage which each year helps young people appreciate the riches of the Catholic Church and how our brother and sisters in Christ from former generations lived out their faith through prayer and penance.

Do consider joining this pilgrimage in 2012 organised by Juventutem

On May 1 we saw the beatification of John Paul II; this means he’s performed at least one miracle. If he is found to perform another miracle, he will be canonized a Saint. But how does the Vatican decide what a miracle is? Jo-Anne Rowney takes a look at the meticulous process.

What is a miracle?
Miracles can be of any kind, but the majority of cases have been miraculous healings from terminal medical illnesses and conditions. Political accomplishments don’t tend to come under miracles, so John Paul’s role in the downfall of Soviet Communism won’t get him canonized.

The meticulous process
John Paul’s first miracle recognised by the Vatican concerns a French Nun who was cured from an aggressive form of Parkinson’s after writing John Paul’s name on a piece of paper. The Pope had just died two months earlier of the same disease. The actual process the Vatican undertakes can be lengthy. The ‘miracle’ has to be proved using various steps before someone can be named a saint. Mother Theresa and John Paul II may be the most famous recent beatifications, but they are far from the norm. The Vatican actually carries out about 30 beatifications per year, and few are similar to the global blessed cases.

Grassroots movement
Firstly, a grassroots movement is ideally started by people that believe the person has led a saintly life. The local Bishop then opens a “Cause for Canonisation” and begins the investigation. If this proves fruitful then the case is referred to Rome. Silvia Correale, Postulator says: “It’s that sense from the people of God, who believe a person was a saint. Today, we would refer to it as public opinion. That common sense of everyday people is a sign. The number of spiritual graces are also taken into account. ”

The Congregation for the Causes of the Saints is the Vatican Office which deals with these sort of queries. They are tasked with “approving miracles, martyrdom and heroic virtues of various Saints of God.”

Heroic virtue
The Congregation undertakes a complete investigation into the person’s life. A file known as “positio” is collected for review. Special attention is given to whether the candidate followed Christian virtues to a heroic degree. Card. José Saraiva Martins, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, had said: “These documents are reviewed by experts in history, by theologians and cardinals. Afterward, all the documents are sent to the Pope, who then approves the heroic virtues. The case of John Paul was approved by the pope on December 19, 2009.”

Scientifically inexplicable
First, the Congregation seeks the advice of a panel of doctors from around the world, who are not connected to the Vatican. For a recovery to be declared miraculous, it must be “complete,” “instantaneous,” and “durable” , this means the cured condition doesn’t return,  as well as scientifically inexplicable. Interestingly developments in Science don’t seem to have slowed down the amount of beatifications. Card. José Saraiva Martins, Prefect of the Congregation for Causes of Saints: “If the doctors say there is no scientific explanation in the light of modern medicine, the healing goes to the theologians, so they can see if there’s a relationship between the alleged miraculous healing and intercession of the candidate to the altars.”

God’s work?
Once the ‘miracle’ has passed the doctors test and is signed off a panel of theologians have to judge whether it is the sort of thing God would do.
Then the Cardinals and Bishops of the Congregations have to ensure that the beatification is in the Church’s best interest – some beatifications may offend politically, or be insensitive for example.
Lastly, it is referred to the Pope who has the final say. If the miracle passes all of this then the person is beatified. To begin the process for canonization another process is initiated with a second miracle.

The waiting game
The Congregation keeps a file of all those considered for beatification on record in the Vatican archives, but the vast majority of those who are beatified will never become saints. There are six new Saints, including the first ever Australian. There are currently over 10,000 named saints. Usually people are only considered for beatification after they’ve been dead for five years, but in the case of John Paul, due to overwhelming public opinion he was ‘fast-tracked’. There was no reason to wait for support to build, as he was so well loved. In John Paul II’s case, the first miracle was the healing of the French nun Marie-Simon Pierre. She suffered from Parkinson’s but found herself cured once she prayed to John Paul after writing his name down on a piece of paper. Now he needs a second miracle to become a saint. This could take longer that his faster beatification process. At least three/four years have to pass to show the miracles are permanent and complete. However, there is already a list on the Vatican website of the alleged miracles that are under investigation. In the mean time, the number of saints continues to grow. There are currently more than 2,000 open cases for canonization.

Did you know?
Martyrs are considered a special case in which the most important thing is to prove that they died for defending God’s name. If that’s the case, a miracle is not required for beatification, only to be canonized.