Plans For New Group At St Mary's and St Philip Neri's Church in Radcliffe

Following a visit to St Mary’s and St Philip Neri’s Church in Radcliffe to meet their new Parish Priest, Fr Phil Brady, we are working towards setting up a new group there in the coming months.

The visit from the National Team included Marc Besford (President), Fr John Marsland (National Chaplain) and Eamonn O’Brien. They explained at the fundamentals of the movement, such as Cardijn’s “3 Truths”: the Truth of Faith, Reality and Method - as Cardijn described them: “The three truths that light up and explain the problem of working youth in the world today”.

It is through the contradiction between the truths of Faith and Reality that we can truly understand and appreciate the need for the SEE-JUDGE-ACT Method. This gives the young people an opportunity to discuss their own realities and examine how this all fits into their local communities and the wider world, but then inspires them to act upon this with authentic Christian action.

The meeting also set out how a YCW Group runs, the various ways in which young people can take on the leadership of the movement and ultimately, how the Groups can help strengthen the link between their reality and the Gospels.

Marc Besford, commenting on the visit, said: “It was fantastic to see the enthusiasm for another new Group being set up. We hope to be able to come back soon and help with any recruitment and training needs, but also to meet the young people of the Parish and see how we can support them to be inspiring Christian leaders in today’s world.”

Preston Group Continues Leadership Programme For Women And Girls

With the focus on developing leadership among the young people of the YCW and IMPACT! Groups, we have been supporting a fantastic initiative from Preston IMPACT!.

The project called “EpowHER”, which was set up by UKYouth and is supported by the British Red Cross, aims to inspire young women and girls lead change in their community. The programme also plans to address low levels of well-being amongst young women and girls in the UK by empowering them to have a voice, be heard and give back to their local community.

So far, the Group has organised activities around International Women’s Day, ran workshops on important issues like mental health and body image and taken time to review their work ahead of another phase of the project.

More recently, the Group held a residential at Castlerigg Manor in the Lake District, in order to enjoy some time together, run workshops and reflect on their own realities. The retreat was led by the young people and supported by their YCW Adult Companion Terry Mattinson and his assistant Maria. This gave them an opportunity to discuss the issues that they wanted to focus on within the wider topic of empowering women.

YCW National Training and Development Worker, Marc Besford, joined the Group for one of the days and heard about the plans they have for the future. He said: “We have some amazing initiatives coming out of this project and a real growth of leadership amongst the young women and girls. I hope they can continue to build on some of their earlier work and keep empowering more women and girls.”

YCW Holds Leadership Training For Over 100 Young People

The YCW recently held a large leadership training session for over 100 young people at St Cecilia’s RC High School in Longridge, Lancashire.

Marc Besford, National President of the YCW in England and Wales, spoke to the young people about the focus of the YCW on building leadership amongst young people by developing their confidence and skills in their own lives. He explained how this was rooted in the SEE-JUDGE-ACT method and inspired by the message of the Gospel and Catholic Social Teaching.

The session began by exploring attitudes to leadership and challenging some of the assumptions about what makes a leader. For example, rather than thinking a leader is only someone in a high-profile and powerful position, Marc highlighted an alternative definition from YCW founder Joseph Cardijn:

“A young leader is a friend and companion to others, not someone giving orders; they are not a stranger but someone who shares the same difficulties. Young people must be leaders in their homes, with their parents, brothers and sisters, at their place of work, when they go to lunch and when they speak to anyone.”

This sparked lots of discussion amongst the young people and their answers helped to open up the idea that each one of them are called to be leaders.

This fed into the next section about how they can put this idea into action - can they do something to help someone else? Can they raise awareness of an issue? Can they be an advocate for change?

Finally, the session ended with an invitation to joining an IMPACT or YCW Group where they can continue to develop their own leadership skills and deepen their faith through the YCW Method.

Marc Besford said of the day: “It was an amazing opportunity to get to speak to so many young people and send out the message directly that they have the power to be the difference in their own lives and the wider world. I hope they all came away from it with a sense that the YCW is there to give them that chance and will always support them to be strong Christian leaders.”

Latest YCW Chaplains Training - Saturday 9th November

As part of our commitment to training new and existing Adult Companions and Chaplains, we are hosting an event on Saturday 9th November 11am-4pm at our Trafford Park HQ.

The day will have a range of activities on offer, including: updates on the latest campaigns, resources for groups and the leadership programme and sharing of best practice.

We are also pleased to announce that John Battle will be talking to us about the importance of being the difference in our communities. John is a fantastic speaker, who will undoubtedly inspire us all to go our from the day enthusiastic about out YCW missions.

Please email marc@ycwimpact.com if you can attend - even if it is only for part of the day.

All are welcome, especially those who are new to the YCW and are interested in learning more.

YCW Welcomes Another New Member Of The NEC

The YCW NEC has another new member to welcome. Chris Allison - who is part of the Billingham YCW Group - will be joining the NEC as Assistant to the National Secretary.

Chris, 22, has just finished his BA in Business Studies from Teesside University, where he wrote his dissertation about the abolition of zero-hour contracts. His experience in the world of work as a barman on a zero-hour contract whilst studying at University inspired his dissertation. He currently works as an Administrator at a Secondary School.

He is an active member of the parish community as an altar server and through the YCW has been involved in many different types of social outreach within the parish.

Chris has also completed the Papal Cross Award for the John Paul II Award, which runs in the Hexham & Newcastle Diocese.

Welcoming Chris to his new role, Marc Besford the National President said: “I’m very pleased to have Chris join us on the NEC. His combination of YCW experience and understanding of the challenges in the world of work will make him an excellent fit for us.”

St Monica's IMPACT Group Continue Environmental Action

Earlier this year we shared how the Impact group at St Monica's in Flixton had used the See-Judge-Act method to look at the issue of the environment and protecting our common home. This followed on from the Bishop of Salford, John Arnold, writing a letter to all parishes asking them to think about our world in light of Laudato Si.

Now the Group wanted to share what else they have been doing to deepen their experience on the issue:

The topic of plastic waste in the Ocean was introduced to our Impact group by one of our members.

He led an enquiry about the topic, mentioning all of the damage that is being caused to the Earth's lifeline and ways we could prevent it.  After much discussion, we came to the conclusion that this is a major world problem and need to be acted upon. The Pope has called us all, as stewards of creation, to sustain the planet, in his encyclical "Laudato Si".

In response to this call, we contact the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) to see what could be done, and how we could make a difference.  We found out that a clean up was taking place at Blundell Sands on Sunday 30th June and were invited to join them on their mission.  We spent the majority of the day clearing the beach of plastic waste and came away with a sense of pride and achievement, and a big black bag full of plastic.

Marc Besford, YCW’s National Training and Development Worker, congratulated the young leaders saying: “Once again this action goes to show the power of young people working through the YCW Method and taking responsibility to be the difference in our world. I am looking forward to hearing what else they have been working on.”

Here are some pictures from the day.