Fr Anthony O’Gorman, School and Youth Chaplain writes

As we celebrate the installation of a new Archbishop our minds are drawn to the future of our diocese and the Church in general.  

At present I have the good fortune of performing my Priestly ministry as a secondary school teacher in St. James Catholic High School, Colindale.
It is a ministry that gives me great hope for the future of our Church.  I am always amazed to find that the students I teach actually think about their faith and about God. 

We have many talented theologians amongst our youth, the big challenge we all have is how to keep young people interested and involved within their parish communities.  How do we develop the interest evident in the classroom and channel this into the life and work of our parishes?   One of the main things we can do is to make room for our young people to contribute: encouraging them to take an active role in the liturgy as readers, servers and Eucharistic ministers or in other areas of parish life such as catechetics. We might usefully ask ourselves how we as parish communities listen to the voice of young people; have we asked what they want or invited their participation in key bodies like our parish council. One of the most powerful influences on young people are their peers – young people teaching young people.   Where we open one door, for one young person, others are more likely to follow.

As a teacher, I am constantly reminded of young people’s ability to do great things. The challenge for us, as parishes, is to help make this possible and where initiatives fail to try and keep on trying. It is a risk but surely it is a risk worth taking? The Holy Spirit is at work within our youth, the challenge we have is to acknowledge it and allow them minister to one another and to our communities.  The future of our Church is in safe hands, our job is to encourage and guide those who hold the key to the future.

Fr Alexander Master, Assistant Priest at St John’s Wood and member of the Diocesan Chaplaincy team reflects on ‘silence’ being golden….

Within a fifteen minute walk from the parish church on Lisson Grove, you can find someone selling food from any part of the world you might care to imagine. Living in London, we are spoilt for choice! But though you can get your hands on almost any commodity in the shops and markets, there is one thing which is often in short supply: silence.

A recent retreat with other members of the diocesan youth chaplaincy team brought home to me what a rare quality silence can be for us. Though only an hour from the airport, the retreat house was in a valley almost totally devoid of noise. Such extended calm was a mildly unnerving experience to begin with, but it soon became obvious how conducive the situation was to reflection and prayer, and, with it being Lent at the time, proved an invaluable preparation for Holy Week.

Returning home to London, the contrast was striking. Most of us are not asked to live a life of contemplation in isolated French valleys; we strive to live out our faith in contexts of work, or of study, where it would be impossible, and often unreasonable, to take hours out of the day to sit and be still.

In a world of multi-channel television and 24/7 internet, silence and stillness have never required such discipline to attain. But they are just as necessary as ever. What would have happened to Samuel if he had been surfing the net instead of being still when the voice of God whispered his name? Would a twenty-first century Elijah been so keen to catch up on the latest podcast that he wouldn’t have been spiritually equipped to have recognised the presence of God, not in the loudness of earthquake or fire, but in the calm of a gentle breeze?

How do we find the silence in which God will have a chance to speak to us, and we to God? In a busy parish, the answer may very well not be during the Sunday Mass. Full, conscious and active participation, not least by the youngest members of our communities, will rule that out! So we need to cast our nets more widely. Maybe our parish church is open during the day? We could take advantage of the quiet: there aren’t many more peaceful places than an empty church. Is there a regular time of Exposition? Can we find a few hours to get out of the city? A quiet walk through the fields or the woods can help us to a greater awareness of the presence of God.

Perhaps it doesn’t matter so much where we find our silence. What matters is that, now and again, we do. God never gets bored with wanting to relate to us. But we need to make the space to listen. And in the silence, we might just find that space.

Fr Digby Samuels, our Diocesan Youth Chaplain explores The Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ Our Saviour

Whether your Easter egg is Cadbury’s, Fair-trade (hopefully!), chocolate or one of the beautifully painted type often associated with Eastern Europe and beyond, it contains food for the soul as well as the body.  Let the egg be a ‘visual aid’.

The hard shell: the tomb (an obvious one)
The breaking open: the brokenness of Christ then his bursting forth from darkness and death into New Life, the Resurrection on the third day.
The elliptical roundness: the womb, Mary, the Church, rebirth.
The egg itself: the life cycle, regeneration; strong and protective but can be crushed.

Take time to ponder your own experience of this symbol of Easter; allow the senses space to be part of your Easter meditation.  One of the Lenten graces can often be a sharpening of our senses as we let go of what numbs them – the felt hunger of fasting, the felt poverty of deeper prayer, the cry of the poor heard more loudly via almsgiving, the humiliation of admitting that maybe all these hardly got a look in throughout lent!

Maybe some of our ways of relating had become a bit like that hardened egg shell and the protective defences had needed dismantling – a Lenten penance indeed – the vulnerable fledgling emerging from the shell has no choice but to be vulnerable.  Look to Jesus, though, wasn’t the amazing impact he made as he faced his persecutors precisely through vulnerability, powerlessness?  No real love without that.

Keep him company in what he went through for you…’ all for you’.
Keep him company in his anguish in the garden, his being betrayed, his experience of abandonment even by his Father.  Look to him as he stands silent before Pilate having been stripped, scourged, crowned with thorns, mocked and treated with utter contempt.
Stay with him on that journey to Calvary staggering under the weight of the cross.
Kneel at the foot of the cross with the Mary’s and John and allow Love to melt hardness, to burn away indifference.
Weep with Mary his mother, with the Magdalene with those who loved him and heard with deep compunction of heart his seven last words.
Allow the deposition from the cross, the lying in the tomb, the decent into hell to be moments that touch your reality and that of all humanity, as well as being truths of the Creed.

Already we are risen with him (at our baptism) so keep company with Mary Magdalene in the joy of her coming to recognise the Risen Christ.  Allow yourself to receive his Love as you contemplate…. The Lord is Risen! The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia!

Through the gift of the Holy Spirit let him live a New Life in you and through you to others.  Rejoice that your betrayals are forgiven and like Peter you are restored because you can say from the heart yes, ‘Lord you know I love you.’

Jon Rogers, Director of the Loft tells us…

Sometimes I think the world is a crazy place, or rather the way we live in the world is a bit crazy.  Here are some of my mad-world examples.

1. Eating an apple from New Zealand instead of from the tree outside.
2. Burning the sun’s energy trapped in oil from millions of years ago rather than using the rays that arrive today.
3. Spending energy and money purifying water only to drop our body waste in it and flush it away.

Am I sounding ‘green’? Maybe.  Was Jesus ‘green’? Probably not.  In the more sustainable societies 2000 years ago there was no need for a ‘green agenda’, no ‘Green Party’ vying with the Romans, Herodians and zealots.  People then might have messed up their environment locally, but the global impacts were minimal.  Perhaps the common ground between Jesus and the modern day ‘green’ movement would be justice for the disempowered: ‘Blessed are the meek’.  Maybe today’s ‘meek’ are those who’s lives are damaged by the over consumption of others, by the pollution of our atmosphere by others, by the over-exploitation of resources by others.  Who are the ‘others’: are they you and me?  I find this a personal challenge: I may not want to be, but I am one of the ‘others’. Yes, I find it easiest to see God in creation, in the natural world around me, so I’m probably destined to be ‘green’, but maybe the most convincing case for me being ‘green’ is that to not be risks being unjust to my neighbour.

A colleague said today that being Christian isn’t just about being but also about doing.  So what can I do?  Lots of people making good choices in their everyday lives can make a massive difference.  Maybe I can challenge myself to do some seemingly crazy, counter-cultural things in the name not only of the environment but, more importantly, of social justice.  Want some ideas?  Try these for starters:
www.wearewhatwedo.org   www.livesimply.org.uk

Fr John McKenna, from our Youth Chaplaincy team looks at ‘desperate search for meaning and love’

“The outpouring of Christ’s Spirit upon humanity is a pledge of hope and deliverance from everything that impoverishes us. It gives the blind new sight, it sets the downtrodden free, and it creates unity in and through diversity. This power can create a new world; it can ‘renew the face of the earth’. The world needs this renewal!…How many of our contemporaries have built broken and empty cisterns, in a desperate search for meaning - the ultimate meaning that only love can give? This is the great and liberating gift which the Gospel brings…It reveals humanity’s sublime calling, which is to find fulfillment in love.”

These are the words of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, at the 23rd World Youth Day in Sydney. We need this renewal of the Holy Spirit, to renew our world, to renew the Church, to renew our parish communities and to renewal our own hearts as well. This is a wonderful meditation as we approach St Valentines Day, and perhaps contemplate the true meaning of love in all its fullness.

I welcomed in the New Year at a Youth 2000 prayer festival with 200 young people in a church in South London. These few days were blessed with lots of music and worship, continuous Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the celebration of Mass at midnight. As a priest, this was a great chance to see the desire for personal renewal among the young people present. I noticed that there is a ‘desperate search for meaning’, as the Pope described, in the hearts of many people, and it was humbling to be alongside these young pilgrims.

As a Youth Chaplain for this diocese it is marvellous to see firsthand the gifts of many young people. The Church especially needs the gifts of young people to play a role in shaping and renewing the church. I hope in my small way to help young people realise their gifts and open their hearts to the fulfilling love which is Jesus Christ. 

Fr John is assistant priest at St Paul’s, Wood Green and can be contacted on johnmckenna@rcdow.org.uk

Fr Damian Cassidy from the Diocesan Youth Chaplaincy team looks at Advent “as a time for stopping in the midst of our busy lives”

I’m waiting …

I am sitting in my room on a cold November morning. The frost is heavy on the windows; traffic is passing by beneath me. The world is not still. Advent is a time for stopping in the midst of our busy lives and a time to simply ask, ‘what do I yearn for?’ maybe this economic uncertainties of our world at this time can give us the opportunity to begin to seek what our hearts yearn for, to seek out what we need to live, rather to want what makes our lives comfortable.

Advent is my favourite season in the Churches year. It just seems to follow the climate of our land. As the nights draw in we seek light and warmth. We hear in our liturgy of the long waiting of people for God’s promise to be fulfilled. The themes that are presented to us are expectancy, hope, and joy. The church invites us to ask for and live in a Spirit of expectancy and joy that our salvation is not only close at hand but faithfully present. That for which we wait this Advent is our deeper reception of this gift, wrapped in flesh for us and for the whole human family. Jesus, and the presence of Jesus in our lives, is the cause of our rejoicing and should also leave us a little bit bemused.

As we prepare for the great feast of Christ’s birth, forget the familiar but think of what Christmas really means. God breaks into our human story in a new and vibrant way. God becomes a human being. Not born in grandeur, but in a stable. Not warmed by a fine blanket, but by straw and the breath of cattle. When Mary becomes pregnant with Jesus and gives birth to him in Bethlehem the whole landscape of our future is changed. This is our story; it impacts on each one of us. And this is the real message of Christmas and it is not comfortable, but challenging. God becomes human, he has our flesh, he is bone and blood and muscle and sinew. Emmanuel – God is with us.  The Good News of Christmas is here to bring us light in the midst of any darkness, poverty, rejection, emptiness, sinfulness we experience. By reminding us of where and how God comes, the Good News is also a revelation of who we are. We are the people who walk in darkness. We are the people who hunger and thirst for God’s presence. The Advent season and the feast of the Nativity give us an opportunity to express our need for absolute love and vitality, and to be reminded by God, that he is with us, the fullness of life and love.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to fuse traditional religious painting with graffitti art? Or what about a fusion of Evensong with beatbox?

On 6th December, St. Paul’s Icon will be visiting Hounslow Parish for a week. On 7th December, the Hounslow Young Adults group will organise a fun session where young artists, musicians and writers unite under one roof, and drawing inspiration from St. Paul’s Icon, use their talents to make ‘fusion creations inspired by St. Paul’. We are encouraging lots of imagination, creativity, flair, innovation, and lots of fusion between traditional and new. This applies to the poetry/playwriting, to the music, and to the arts.

If you would like to attend or to find out more look at the pdf attached to the event in the Events section, or contact Claz Gomez by emailing claz.gomez@gmail.com

And if you go, don’t forget to get in touch and tell us what it was like! Enjoy!

National Youth Sunday is on November 23rd. This year’s theme is Reclaim the Future. We’re all being encouraged to live in a way that creates a better world for everyone where human dignity and the environment are respected. Living sustainably and in soiidarity with people living in poverty is what God calls us to do.

So what are your plans for National Youth Sunday? If you’ve not got cracking yet, don’t despair… here’s an online resource to get you started. Click on the link below…

Reclaim the Future

Here you’ll find loads of stuff to help you celebrate National Youth Sunday.

Westminster’s new youth and young adult website is here at last!

There are some bleary-eyed people knocking about the place today but hopefully you’ll agree it was worth the effort.

Here’s a link to the site:
http://www.rcdow.org.uk/youth

So what can you expect to find? Well, if you’re looking for the latest news, youth events, resources, blog posts, Word Youth Day follow-ups, chaplains’ details, prayer groups and loads of other informative and useful stuff, it’s well worth bookmarking now.

Plus, if you’re as bad with directions as I am, you can actually check out up-and-coming youth events on our grab and zoom Google-style map! It won’t calm the traffic on the M25 but you can at least plan the best route to the venue.

We’ll be adding video clips and all sorts of multimedia in the coming weeks and months so keep an eye on our pages and let us know what you think.

Just a little note to bring you all up to date. The pilgrims that were coming back to the UK landed on Wednesday at 2.30pm at Heathrow after what seemed like the longest flight ever! A small cheer rippled through the plane as we touched down.

I think that the journey back seemed longer than the journey there because we were so tired, but it was nonetheless nice to spend the remaining time with new friends that we had made.

I hope that this blog will continue to bring you pictures and footage of the pilgrimage, as the pilgrims get home and start to download their own pictures. I also hope that we will be able to bring you some snaps from those currently in New Zealand.

For now however, many thanks to everyone who made the pilgrimage possible and we all look forward to being back in the parishes to say thank you properly!