Adult Companions Come To Visit Guardian Angels In Bury

On a recent visit to the Guardian Angels IMPACT! Group in Bury, National Training and Development Worker, Marc Besford, brought along some interested Adult Companions to see how the Group operates and take back some lessons for their Parish.

The Guardian Angels Group is a great example of how the YCW Method helps young people grow in confidence and as leaders. The Group has won awards for their environmental project - “Bugingham Palace” - and organised several other inspiring actions.

During the visit, the young leaders shared how they were currently working on a project with the local SVP to help support young carers. They saw what the SVP were working on the issue and decided to look into it for themselves through an enquiry. Out of this, they decided that they wanted to use their time to socialise with the young carers, whilst the SVP volunteers looked after those in need of care.

The IMPACT! Group told the visitors that finding the time for respite is an essential part of being a carer and especially so for those who are young carers. Many of them sadly miss out on the social life of a young person due to their caring responsibilities. Therefore, this opportunity to spend time with other young people will be greatly appreciated.

Marc said: “This was a great project for our Adult Companions to come and see. Our IMPACT! Group at Guardian Angels is full of enthusiastic young leaders and supported by excellent adult companions. I hope it has given the visitors some more ideas to work with as they go back to their parish.”

YCW Attends Greater Manchester Citizens Meeting

The YCW was recently invited to and attended a meeting of the Greater Manchester Citizens member organisations, as part of the Salford Diocese and Caritas Salford delegation.

GM Citizens is part of the Citizens UK network which organises communities to act together for power, social justice and the common good. They are a diverse member organisation and include schools, churches, mosques, synagogues, parents groups, health practice, charities and trade unions.

“Community Organising” is based on the principle that when people work together they have the power to change their neighbourhoods, cities, and ultimately the country for the better. Citizens works with people who want to transform the world, from what it is to what they believe it should be. To do this they listen to their members, asking them about their concerns and developing strategies to improve our communities. They ensure that civil society is at the negotiating table alongside the market and state, so that our communities are included in the decisions that affect them.

Naturally, the YCW Method has a lot in common with this approach and when we were invited we were keen to engage fully.

The focus of the meeting was preparing for the Greater Manchester Mayoral Election in May 2020 and what priorities GM Citizens would focus on. Many of these were issues that the YCW have been involved with over many decades and in more recent times, for example: “Fair Work”, “The Environment” and “Mental Health”.

We therefore pushed for these to be priorities for the GM Citizens to work on and hope to be able to support any actions that they come up with.

Leeds Diocese Justice And Peace Collaboration

Last year, we shared how the YCW had been collaborating with the Leeds Justice and Peace Commission on a new project aimed at engaging more 16-30 year olds around the issue of Catholic Social Teaching.

Named “SPARK Social Justice” the project‘s lead worker has been working through a joint action plan to deliver on a number of actions. The YCW “See-Judge-Act” Method has helped inform how the work and our National Training and Development Worker, Marc Besford, has attended the steering group meetings to help with this.

Marc attended the recent progress update meeting and has agreed to lead on 5 workshops around the topic of “leadership” for a local Sixth Form. He is also planning on speaking to the Leeds Trinity CathSoc about the same subject.

He wanted to share his thoughts about the work so far, saying: “It was good to hear that so many schools, colleges and University chaplaincies have been signed up to engage with the project workshops this month and next. We know at the YCW how important it is to go out and work directly with young people, rather than expect them to reach out first.

Some of the initial feedback has chimed with the current work we are doing in our YCW and IMPACT! Groups, especially around environmental concerns, so it will be interesting to see what more develops from it.

I hope to keep being involved and continue sharing some of my experience from the YCW.”

St Joseph’s Impact! Group Reflect On Christmas Actions

It has been great to hear so many of the stories from our Groups about the work they did over the Christmas period. Please find below a reflection from St Joseph’s Impact! Group in Ramsbottom on what they got up to and what it meant to them:

For the last 3 Christmases, we, St Joseph’s Impact group, have been involved with Caritas, organising a Christmas meal for those in need, the homeless, vulnerable, isolated and lonely. With guidance from Sr. Joan and support from both our parishes and the team at Bury Parish Church, we have been able to host a Christmas lunch on Christmas Day.

We raised money, sent out invitations, put posters up – everywhere! We bought and wrapped presents for every guest and put together over 80 ‘goody’ bags for everyone that wanted one. We have been collecting and sorting dried goods and clothing for weeks before, with lots of generous donations from the parishioners of Guardian Angels and St Hilda’s as well as St. Josephs.

Before Christmas we enjoyed going toy shopping and we were able to give presents to over 30 vulnerable children known to Caritas. These presents were discreetly delivered by Sr. Joan before Christmas.

On Christmas Eve we set up and decorated the tables and the room, peeled, chopped and mashed. We also set up a room with coats, hats, socks, sleeping bags, toiletries and other items that guests could take away with them. 

On Christmas Day we welcomed our guests.  We served, chatted and at the end of the day tidied up, yes believe it or not, a group of teenagers tidying up!

This year we had 120 guests in total and they all enjoyed a lovely four course lunch. We are very grateful for the support of the amazing volunteers from the local community as well as all of our Impact Group parents and friends. 

Our amazing friends from the Council of Christians and Jews, provided transport for over 40 pick-ups, this was coordinated by David Lewis from the CCJ.  We would like to thank them very much.

It was a great day and we can’t wait to do it again this year.  It truly is the best way to spend Christmas.

St. Josephs Impact group

Please have a look at the pictures below from the day:

Visit To St Patrick's In Oldham

Following our initial visit to St Patrick’s back in spring 2018 looking to encourage interest in setting up a Group, our National Chaplain - Mgr. John Marsland - went back late last year to follow up with the parish. The meeting was to share a bit more about what the YCW principles and ethos are.

It was really encouraging to see about 20 young people attend to hear more about the Movement. Fr John spoke to the young people and adult companions about the fundamentals of the YCW, 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 was therefore an opportunity to listen to what the young peoples’ realities were, what concerns they had and how they looked towards the future. Issues around violence on the streets were discussed, especially considering the high profile knife crime stories across the country. More generally, the concerns around climate change and the environment were talked about.

In closing the meeting, Fr John also took the young people through the YCW prayer, helping them to understand each aspect of it and why we encourage each member to recite it every day.

Fr John said: “The enthusiasm of the young people was really inspiring. They were very open about the challenges they face and the concerns they have about life. I hope to visit again soon to keep this enthusiasm going and see them develop into another strong group within our Movement.”

Billingham YCW Group Food Bank Christmas Appeal

We just wanted to share some incredibly positive actions from some of our Groups that took place over the Christmas period. A big thank you to the Groups who have sent in their examples of living out your mission to be young Christian leaders.

Ben and Callum from the Billingham YCW group have shared with us how they took down to their local food bank all items they collected over the past couple of weeks in time for Christmas. This has been part of a regular appeal across the Parish community that the Group have organised, originating from their Group review of food poverty a few years ago.

Marc Besford, commenting on the work of his former Group, said: “I am glad to see that the good work of the Billingham YCW Group is continuing. At Christmas time, we often get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season, so it is wonderful that these young leaders have taken the time to reflect on those who need help in their local community.”