80 Years of YCW in England and Wales

The Young Christian Workers (YCW) will be launching our celebration of 80 years in England and Wales this week, to coincide with the Feast of St John Bosco, the Patron Saint of Young People.

The YCW was originally founded in Belgium in 1925 by Fr Joseph Cardijn, who was later to be made a Cardinal for his work with the movement.

In England and Wales, the first YCW group was founded in Wigan, with Father Gerry Rimmer as the Chaplain and Patrick Keegan, a young factory worker, as President. Patrick would go on to become the first lay man to address an Ecumenical Council of the Church when the YCW addressed the Second Vatican Council.

Over the 80th year celebrations the YCW will be looking to expand it’s presence into more schools and parishes, hold training sessions for new and existing volunteers and raise money towards the running of the charity. We will keep you informed about our programme of activities, so keep an eye out for our updates.

National President, Phil Callaghan, said: “We are all really excited to celebrate 80 years of the YCW in England and Wales. We were established to train, serve and educate young people in the world of work and our work is as needed today as when we started 80 years ago.”

If anyone has any stories of their time in the YCW, please get in contact and share them. You can email any comments or enquiries to info@ycwimpact.com.

CYMFed Flame 2017

On Saturday 11th March 2017, around 10,000 young Catholics will gather at Wembley Arena for CYMFed Flame 2017. The YCW, as a member of CYMFed (Catholic Youth Ministry Federation), will be there and have already placed an initial booking of 100 seats. This will allow YCW and Impact members from across England and Wales to share this amazing event together.

To book tickets with the YCW and Impact and to take advantage of the early bird discount, please email YCW HQ at: info@ycwimpact.com

For more information on Flame visit www.cymfed.org.uk/flame2017

You can also find Flame on Facebook at 'CYMFed Flame Congress' and Twitter @FlameCongress

Happy New Year from the YCW

Happy New Year from everyone here at the YCW. We hope you have all had a peaceful and enjoyable break.

There is a lot planned for 2017, including the commemoration and celebration of our 80 year anniversary. More details to follow about this.

In the meantime, please read about Pope Francis' end-of-year message in which he discusses the challenges around youth unemployment.

"We have condemned our young people to have no place in society, because we have slowly pushed them to the margins of public life, forcing them to migrate or to beg for jobs that no longer exist or fail to promise them a future."

Full story here: http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN14K0KI

A Christmas Message

As we draw towards the end of 2016 we look back upon all that we have achieved. As a movement we can be content in the knowledge that more young people across England and Wales are growing in Christian leadership and 'being the difference' in their homes, places of work and local communities.

However we must also recognise that this year has been a difficult time for many. Young workers across the country are still faced with hardship due to unemployment, low pay and precarious working conditions. Further afield from home we see worrying evidence of political unrest and war where the Christian values of love, peace and the common good are ignored in place of ideology, power and greed.

However, the season of Christmas provides us with an opportunity to dispel some of this darkness by focusing our hearts and minds upon the hope that the birth of the Prince of Peace delivers. Pope Francis in his Christmas Day message of 2014 reminded us;

"Where God is born, hope is born. He brings hope. Where God is born, peace is born. And where peace is born, there is no longer  room for hatred and for war."

We pray that in this season of Christmas the birth of the Christ child will enlighten our hearts so that we may all better live out His call to be missionary disciples to one another.

The YCW National Team wish you a very happy Christmas.

The headquarters of the YCW will close on Thursday 22nd December and will reopen on Tuesday 3rd January.

Jesus in the manger.

National Team Plans for the Future

This past weekend the National Team of YCW gathered at Hyning Hall in Lancashire to discuss plans for the upcoming year. It was also an opportunity to review our collective achievements and acknowledge the hard work of so many members.

Phil, the National President of YCW, gave an update on how the first year at Trafford Park had gone and what activities had been organised since moving there. There are now 10 more groups formed across England and Wales, as well as new staff and new National Executive members. There have also been several training days held up at St Antony's Centre, for both adults and children, including the National Council.

Afterwards, our National Chaplain - Mgr. John Marsland - explored the mission of the YCW through the writings of Joseph Cardijn. This included a discussion around the notion of a "vocation to working life" and how the idea of work can be seen as part of our "Divine destiny". 

We finished the weekend with a session by Amélie, the outgoing International President of the ICYCW, who did some training around the role of a leader in the YCW. This touched upon the expectations and challenges of leadership. 

National Youth Sunday

Last weekend we celebrated National Youth Sunday across England and Wales and the YCW was invited to showcase its work in Salford Cathedral, alongside a range of fantastic groups aimed at young people in the Diocese.

It was great to see so many young people there and get a chance to speak to them about what the YCW is, what it does and why it does it. There was a lot of interest in how people can join and even set up their own Impact and YCW groups in parishes and schools, which we will be following up.

If your Diocese/Parish/School is holding a similar event and you think the YCW can help be part of it, please let us know and we can supply any materials you might need.