SEE Stage Of "MIND! The Gap" Comes To A Close

The YCW in England and Wales launched our national campaign on young people and mental health - called MIND! The Gap - back in January of this year. 

Our first stage, the SEE part, involved Groups exploring the general issues faced by young people through resources and discussions. The feedback was captured by an online survey, which we were greatly encouraged to see gathered over 1100 responses from young people across England and Wales. 

We are currently going through these responses to help shape the next part of our campaign. This will involve JUDGE aspects of the YCW method and help deepen our understanding of the issues.

Marc Besford, National Training and Development Worker said: "Firstly, can I just thank all those young people who took the time to share their thoughts about this important topic. I think we can see from the overwhelming response to the survey that this issue is something we cannot ignore. Please keep up your discussions and hard work as we enter the JUDGE stage soon."

Happy Easter From The YCW

On behalf of all of us at the YCW in England and Wales, we would like to wish you all a happy and holy Easter.

Can we also thank all those who supported our weekly Lenten Mass at St Anthony's Church and all the Groups who made use of our Lenten resource. We hope this helped you prepare for Easter.

Sandbach YCW IMPACT Group Supporting Refugees

Earlier this month, the YCW National Training and Development Worker, Marc Besford, went to visit the Sandbach IMPACT Group to discuss their continuing action to support Refugees and how they were using Lent as a time to reflect.

The Group have been raising money since last year to aid efforts for a Parish refugee sponsorship scheme, initiated by the IMPACT Group. So far, they have raised over £3000 for this worthwhile initiative.

This followed their work last October to raise money for the refugees fleeing Myanmar/Burma.

The Group also took the time to use the YCW Lenten Resource around Lent and explore some of the content around Jesus' Temptation in the Wilderness.

Marc Besford commented on the visit: "Lent is that special time of prayer, sacrifice, good  works and preparation for the wonderful celebration of Easter. Many people use the forty days of Lent as a time of soul searching or sacrifice. Others use the time to take up something new like good works or acts of charity. But Lent can also be a time for us to consider how we might live out our faith in our everyday lives.

Sandbach IMPACT Group have embodied all of these virtues and I look forward to visiting again soon."

St Anthony's IMPACT Group Lenten Action

St Anthony's IMPACT Group in Sunderland have been using their Lenten alms giving efforts to respond to their Faith Festival held in the school last December.

The pupils at St Anthony’s Girls’ Catholic Academy have put their charity thinking hats on once again for their annual Lenten alms giving. This has brought back memories of the school’s December ‘Faith Festival’ culminating in the Christmas Charity Market, when over £1,000 was raised for various charities.

This was the school’s fourth Faith Festival and it has grown in size every single year since its infancy in 2013. During the week a number of guests spoke of how faith has affected them in their lives to a captive audience of St Anthony’s pupils.

Visitors included Claire from the Missio charity who spoke of the work of Christ through the youth of the Church; Cloud Singh from the Newcastle Sikh Gurdwara who discussed Sikh beliefs and women’s roles in the faith and our daily ‘Faith Chat’, a chance for pupils to ‘speed date’ through different faiths and take part in small group discussions with members of varying faiths.

The week long event produced some fantastic feedback from the pupils who felt ‘energised’ and ‘really excited about faith’. The culmination of this week was our Christmas Charity Market, which was hugely successful, raising over £1000 for various charities including CAFOD and Manzini Care.

The Group are already in planning for their fifth festival and rumours are, it will be their biggest and best yet!

Burnley YCW Make Links With CAFOD

Members of the National Team visited the YCW Group in Burnley to hear more about their exciting plans to build links with CAFOD and establish an IMPACT group across Burnley.

The Group talked through their ideas as part of Salford Diocese's "Hope in the Future", an initiative designed to help grow the Church for future generations; and answer the call of Pope Francis for us all to be Missionary Disciples. 

The young people are planning on working with CAFOD in the Diocese to help raise awareness of the links between our local environment and God's call for us to be stewards of creation. They will be helping build and sell "B.O.B. boxes", dual purpose bird-nesting or bat roosting boxes, that can be used locally but raise money to spend on supporting CAFOD’s work overseas.

Marc Besford, YCW National Training and Development Worker, welcomed the initiative saying: "This is a brilliant way of engaging young people in Parishes and I am glad that the YCW are helping lead the way with it. By making the connections between local and global needs, these young people are truly putting the SEE, JUDGE and ACT method into practice. I look forward to my next visit."

The Group are also looking to expand the work of the YCW across Burnley. In particular, they are keen to establish an IMPACT Group for younger people beyond just their Parish.

Fr John Marsland, National Chaplain of the YCW, said: "Reaching out beyond their own Parish and peer group is a really encouraging sign that they are responding to Cardijn's call for young people to become leaders in their own right. We will give them all the support they need to develop these leadership skills."

IMPACT Group Puts Concerns Into Action

St Anthony's IMPACT Group in Sunderland have been working to "Save God’s Creation", one plastic bottle at a time!

Amongst the dog walkers and families on Roker Beach (Sunderland), St Anthony’s Girls’ Catholic Academy held its seasonal litter pick one cold and rainy February weekend, organised by the IMPACT Group.

The litter pick was initiated over the Christmas season when the young people got to thinking about how they could raise money for their chosen Christmas charity and also to give something back to the community. A coastal litter pick was the conclusion, and quickly the girls got to work organising sponsorship money and checking the tides for a weekend in early February.

Before and during this event the young people were reminded of Pope Francis’ papal document Laudato Si and in particular this quote resonated with the pupils when they studied it as part of their GCSE course: “All of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements and talents.” (Laudato Si 14). The litter pick was a chance for pupils to preserve God’s creation one small step at a time.

Over the past year there has been a 10% increase in rubbish washed up on the UK’s beaches says the Marine Conservation Society and most of it, plastic. This has harmed local wildlife and has impacted significantly on the beautiful coastal landscape. 

The pupils and staff at St Anthony’s have conducted litter picks in the past and this was a great opportunity to follow up on their great work.  Miss Prestwood, Assistant Key Stage Director at St Anthony’s and organiser of the event praised the girls saying, ”The dedication of the girls has been fantastic and to come here on a very wet Saturday just shows how much the pupils want to help our local community and rid the beach of human waste.”

Over 20 bags of rubbish were collected during the two hour stint on the beach. The girls were shocked at how much rubbish had accumulated on the beach, so are quickly organising a further litter pick in the near future.

In the 21st Century we are part of a, “throwaway culture, “ which has left a huge stain on our global home. However, through endeavouring to improve and care for the environment through events like this, we can slowly work towards a brighter and less plastic-filled future for God’s creation.