Last month the YCW held a national training day for our Adult Companions and Chaplains, with our guest speaker the Rt. Rev. Ralph Heskett, Bishop of Hallam and Designated Bishop for Youth.
The theme of the day was how we can respond to Pope Francis’ message in Christus Vivit (Christ is Alive) to make young people the “now” of God and support them to become leaders in both the Church and the World.
To start with, Bishop Ralph outlined his experience at the Synod on Young People, Faith and Vocational Discernment. This gathering brought together a global reality of young people in the world today, capturing the various perspectives, challenges and hopes of the universal Church.
The Synod followed a See-Judge-Act method, to structure the discussions around being missionary disciples, formation and accompaniment. This was all very interesting for the YCW adult companions and chaplains in attendance, as this is very much part of their mission within the movement.
Following this, the Bishop then spoke about Christus Vivit, highlighting the three truths within Pope Francis’ writings - God is Love; Christ Saves Us; He is Alive. The apostolic exhortation contained many passage to inspire the companions and the Bishop helpfully talked through some of these.
After questions about both the Synod and exhortation, there was time for the group to split off and talk through some of the issued raised and how we could respond to them within the YCW movement. There was also the opportunity to hear more about the YCW leadership programme and share experiences amongst the companions.
Marc Besford, the YCW National Training and Development Worker, said: “I would just like to thank Bishop Ralph for taking the time to come and share his experiences of both the synod and Christus Vivit. His commitment to supporting young people having their voice heard is a very welcome thing. We hope to see many more opportunities for young leaders to step up and be the change.”
