YCW Launches New National Campaign

Members of both YCW and Impact groups across England and Wales have expressed their deep concerns about the current help available to young people with mental health problems. In addition to this, there are concerns about the growing stigma attached to mental health problems specifically in schools and colleges and work places.

In response, the YCW National Team wants to look at this issue much more deeply and find out the opinions and experiences of young people by running an action campaign called Mind! The Gap.

An action campaign brings together all members of YCW and Impact! to address a topic of current interest and relevance to the lives of young people. It is a process of study, reflection and action which helps us to realise that we have a great deal to offer to others and power within us to change things for the better.

An Action Campaign is carried out on a national basis so that we can as a Movement join together, along with our friends and contacts, to make a difference on a wider scale.

The campaign follows the See – Judge – Act approach which every YCW and Impact group uses at their regular meetings, just on a wider scale.

The first stage of the campaign will be about hearing and then sharing the results of our enquiries. Details will be out soon regarding how you can share your thoughts and experiences with us, so please keep an eye out. The more we hear from you, the more fruitful we will all find the next stages of our campaign.

A Christmas Message From the YCW National Team

As we draw towards the end of 2017 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 and holy Christmas.

The headquarters of the YCW will close on Friday 22nd December and will reopen on Tuesday 2nd January.

YCW Review of the Year

Over the past year the YCW has continued with it's mission to train young leaders; serving, educating and representing other young people in their places of work or study and in their local communities by living out the Gospel through their actions.

We have had a busy year visiting and training groups all over the country, especially in our target regions of the North West and North East. A key part of this has been the identification and training of adult companions and chaplains to accompany the new groups emerging.

In July, a national event was held in Manchester for the younger members of the movement who are part of "Impact!" groups and this proved to be a great opportunity for young members to meet one another, work together and share their ideas.

All this hard work has led to the movement being comprised of the largest number of active groups in the last decade.

The new headquarters has helped with our work enormously, and is embedding itself within the local area with a growing YCW group of its own. There are further plans in the pipeline to open up the grounds for local workers and offer more opportunities for groups to visit and get training.

The HQ has hosted several NEC and Trustee meetings over the year, allowing the National Team the time to plan and prepare the activities of the year and discuss the future vision of the YCW and IMPACT in England and Wales.

We also benefited from being able to host a range of international visitors and specialists, to help develop our own skills and links with the wider movement of the YCW. From this we have generated our own leadership training plan and work more strategically with our Groups across the country.

In addition, we have attended the International Council of the YCW in Seoul, South Korea, taking an active role in the discussions and being asked to help lead the European sphere. One recent example of this was our National Worker, Marc Besford, attending the COMECE European Bishops Social Affairs Commission in Brussels. Training has also been given in Scotland to the movement there.

Further international training that we have undertaken has took our team to Israel and Palestine, in order to assist them in creation of YCW movements in their countries.

Midway through the year we experienced a handover of President, following a well attended National Council in April. Kate Wilkinson took over from Phil Callaghan, who had been President for the last 6 years. Phil oversaw the move up to Trafford Park in Greater Manchester and the emergence of new groups in the North.

Throughout the year we have continued our close involvement with other projects and organisations within England and Wales. The YCW remains a member of the Catholic Youth Ministry Federation (CYMFed) and took a large group to participate in the Flame 2017 event at Wembley Arena in London in March.

We also partnered with Million Minutes to sponsor an award named in honour of our founder, Joseph Cardijn. We've had several groups and members win recognition for their wonderful work and are very proud to see them achieve such success.

Perhaps our biggest event of the year was the celebration of our 80th Anniversary in England and Wales. Nearly 200 YCW Members, past and present, came together at Salford Cathedral for Mass, presided over by Rt. Rev. John Arnold, Bishop of Salford. The Mass saw many of the current YCW and IMPACT members participate as welcomers, readers, in the offertory, altar servers and in the music group. Afterwards there was a wonderful celebration, where members reconnected and shared memories of their time in the YCW. 

As we look towards 2018, we will be focusing on our upcoming campaign on mental health and young people, called "MIND! The Gap". Please keep an eye out for this over the next year and help support this incredibly important issue.

YCW Speaks Out for Youth at European Bishops' Social Affairs Commission

On 28-29th November 2017 Marc Besford, a member of the National Team in England & Wales was invited by the ICYCW to attend on their behalf the Autumn meeting of the COMECE European Bishops Social Affairs Commission which was held in Brussels.

The two day gathering started with an address from His Excellency Gianni Ambrosio (Bishop of Piacenza-Bobbio, Vice President of COMECE and President of the COMECE Social Affairs Commission) who outlined the reason for meeting.

He said “We find at the very heart of Laudato Si six paragraphs on the need to protect employment. In this Pope Francis reminds us that according the biblical account of creation, our vocation to work is strongly interlinked to our vocation to keep and till the garden that God has entrusted to us”.

After the opening remarks Fr Pierre Martinot-Lagarde SJ (Special Advisor at the International Labour Organisation) and John Hurley (Research Manager at Eurofound) spoke about employment shifts in Europe and gave the results from the European Jobs Monitor 2017.

In the afternoon the focus was on the youth perspective. There was a presentation by Leonie Martin (Vice President of the Young European Federalists, JEF) on the experience of young people in a changing labour market

After the presentation Marc spoke about some of the problems young people in the UK felt, he touched upon the issues of Brexit, Zero-Hour Contracts and young people unable to find a permanent posts, even after university. He also raised the increasing need to discuss the current state of young people’s mental health.

After that it was time to discuss the perspective of the European Commission and to ensure the dignity of work in a changing economy. After which Mass was celebrated in the chapel Marc was also asked to read the first reading.

The next day we had a presentation by Nicola Danti MEP about how to ensure dignity at work in a changing economy. As well as Rodrigo Whitelaw on entrepreneurship and Thomas Miessen on the role of Trade Unions in a changing labour market.

Then it got down to the discussion on the document that is to be drafted and sent to the Member of the European Parliament. This document has an emphasis to put the future of work in terms of Catholic Social Teaching. Recommendations to the document were noted and this is to be published early in the new year.

Marc said of the experience “It was amazing to be asked by the International Team to go and represent them at this event. I have gained a lot from the event and to be also able to speak at the event and to raise awareness of some problems face in the UK was an amazing experience”.

YCW Success at Million Minutes "Celebrating Young People’s Award 2017"

YCW members from all over the country were celebrated for their achievements at the recent Million Minutes awards night.

The ceremony saw hundreds of young people, youth workers and teachers, family and friends gathered in London's Leicester Square to celebrate the inspirational lives of so many young people. The 2017 Celebrating Young People Awards, hosted by Million Minutes and with guest of honour Archbishop McMahon, highlighted some of the amazing young people across England and Wales who are transforming lives in their local communities.

There is a special Joseph Cardijn Award for those young people who protect the dignity of workers. There were 3 worthy winners of this award, including Billingham YCW Group. Million Minutes recognised the work of the Group saying: "The young people at St Thomas of Canterbury YCW Group have real zeal for social justice and promoting the dignity of others." 

St Anthony's YCW Group in Sunderland were also nominated in this category and had their tremendous work highlighted as an example for other young people to follow.

There was further YCW success in the Jimmy Mizen Award Category, with a YCW member in Lytham called Ella Holliday. She won the award for promoting solidarity and peace.

Ella is currently the youngest member of the 'Young Peace Journalists'. She chose the refugee crisis as her focus and built her own links with various agencies to make contact with refugees. Within that work and her work as a Anti-Bullying Respect Ambassador she witnesses to and communicates the gospel message. Her teacher has said of her: “Ella is an inspiration, she lives out the Gospel values each day; her presence and maturity of faith in action is beyond her years."

Well done to all the worthy nominees and winners. You are all inspirations!

YCW 80th Mass and Celebration

Nearly 200 YCW Members, past and present, came together on Saturday to celebrate the 80th Anniversary of the YCW in England Wales.

They met at Salford Cathedral for Mass, presided over by Rt. Rev. John Arnold Bishop of Salford and over a dozen priests, including our National and Assistant Chaplains, Fr John Marsland and Fr Mark Connolly.

The Mass saw many of the current YCW and IMPACT members participate as welcomers, readers, in the offertory, altar servers and in the music group. It was great to see them show their talents and confidence to all those gathered, with many former members commenting that they were happy to see so many young people taking part.

Afterwards there was a wonderful celebration, where members reconnected and shared memories of their time in the YCW. One member, Rose, impressed us all by her long service to the YCW, having joined in 1946! She was given the privileged job of cutting our very own YCW birthday cake.

National President, Kate Wilkinson, thanked all those who came along to support the event and took the opportunity to share our upcoming campaign on Young People and Mental Health, called “Mind! The Gap”. She said: “I would like to thank everyone for their service to the YCW over the last 80 years and especially all those who could join us for this magnificent occasion.”