Anti-Bullying Week, National Youth Sunday and a blog to prove I’m still alive!

RHi everyone 🙂

So two weeks after the last blog post, here comes another. I seem to have been getting better at creating regular posts recently.

Since my last blog, we have been very busy (once again). We met St. Mary’s Year 10s for a two night residential. It was brilliant. I always really enjoy working with my old school, and the group, once again, didn’t disappoint. Comments from other team members that I’m lucky to go to the school really make me proud to have the students in the house. This was also my first Year 10 retreat, and so there were different activities on offer. During the Battle of the Small Groups, dressing one group member as a Mummy and the Twitter round (where young people had to guess which team member tweeted what) proved very popular. My sock related tweet got a few laughs, but by far the favourite was written by Olivia when she had a dream in which her teeth continually fell out (sorry Olive, it’s now famous on WordPress too!) We also had a dance tournament to kick start our talent show, which everyone got involved with. I think Ian’s moves were by far my favourite…

Unfortunately for me, this is the only retreat I have to tell you about. On Wednesday morning, I was struck down with a mysterious stomach bug. It’s dragged on for a while, but hopefully I’m now in the recovery phase and just dealing with tiredness. Otherwise tomorrow’s lectures could be interesting! I had to miss both retreats I was scheduled to work, but from what I heard, I wouldn’t have been able to keep up with one of the group’s energy levels at all in my fragile state! I was, however, very well looked after by the team. Everyone in the house appeared at my door on Wednesday evening to check on me. Even though I couldn’t go near them, it was great to know everyone cared and helped me feel less isolated – I had been suffering with Room 2 cabin fever for too long!

Before the dreaded illness struck, there were many other events to get involved with. Olivia organised a great Bring and Share last weekend for our family and friends, which everyone really enjoyed. Mum had been very generous donating raffle prizes, and at one point it looked as though we were going to win them all back! I know Dad was very happy to relinquish the makeup/beauty set to a worthy winner.

Last Sunday, Leighton, Ian, Aisling and I attended Westcliff Parish for their deanery youth mass. It was the third of its kind, and they are hoping to make it a regular feature within their calendar. The music and readings were great, and it was so encouraging to see a lot of young people there. Perhaps this is something our Deanery could work towards? Talking to the co-ordintor afterwards, it appeared she had been receiving a lot of (in our opinion, unfair) criticism. One of the problems (as well as being an advantage in some cases) with youth work, is things take a while to build up. An advantage because you can develop as you go, make it what the young people want. A problem because the support isn’t always there. Perhaps there is resistance to try something new, concern on the part of adults this will give them more work to do. I understand these concerns, but feel these shouldn’t stand in the way of a promising new venture like this youth mass, which will ultimately help young people use their voice more effectively within the Church. This model is a positive one to build upon, and I am sure the Walsingham House team will support where we can. Whilst we were there, Ian (in the words of the team) smashed the National Youth Sunday speech. Delivering it a week early and having the whole Parish watching didn’t deter him at all!

On the social side, we have also been on trips to Bluewater (my first ever trip there, which proved successful as I now have something to wear for the Christmas do and another top for under £20). Tuesday’s community night involved Philippino food and pass the parcel Walsingham House style. My one minute story introducing a stranger from the newspaper as someone I met, including the buzz words Sarah Barber, shake n vac and smallpox proved a hit, and was rewarded when our team won glory at the end.

Before the night started, I led the team in evening prayer. As this week marks Anti-Bullying Week, the prayer was based around this theme and most of the handouts and reflections were in blue, the campaign colour. I had a great time creating small prayer stations within the Ark and Chapel. I included statistics and the different forms of bullying, asking the team to reflect on these, and asking them to offer advice to a young person affected by bullying after reading and reflecting on specific scriptures. This advice was written on blue paper and these were connected to form a chain. At the end, a poem I wrote for a Rotary Club competition at the age of 12 was shared, followed by a closing prayer. I think perhaps some of the team thought it was hard-hitting. But from my own experience, there’s no way to tone down bullying, and it’s a vital issue to consider when working with young people. Walsingham House can often be that safe space where young people feel able to share their experiences of bullying, so I thought highlighting the week was very important. Having volunteered as an online mentor for CyberMentors over the last 22 months, I know how important it is to be that listening ear and support for others.

One of the scriptures I used was one of my favourites from Romans 12:2. Paul tells them not to be conformed by “the pattern of this world, but to be transformed”. I think this is particularly relevant when it comes to reflecting on bullying. People are bullied often because of a trait others pick on, whether it’s behaviour, appearance or something else. But actually, why should the person change? Why should they change to be more like someone else? A world where everyone was the same would be boring, and it would also not consider how unique each person is. Being “transformed” in the words of this scripture, is, I suppose, having the courage to come through. With support, yes. Everyone reacts in different ways but we can provide that support as youth workers, the affirmations young people often need to hear to believe. This year’s campaign is entitled “making bullying unacceptable”. Jesus certainly didn’t condone discrimination of any kind, and neither should we. We too should act to make bullying unacceptable.

This weekend, I was back in my own Parish, campaigning once again. This time, I was speaking on behalf of the Youth Service and Walsingham House as part of National Youth Sunday. I had spoken in my Parish before, but not yet as a member of the Walsingham House team, so I proudly wore my t-shirt and spoke about the brilliant work I am involved with, the team I share it all with and ultimately, Lourdes. As our Parish involvement in the diocese has been slowly increasing over the last two years or so, Fr Joe and I wanted to promote Lourdes. So far, we have 3 (including me) attending from Stansted, and, partly as a result of this talk there are two others considering if they can come. Both do seem pretty keen, so fingers crossed! It would be the first time for all of us, so I’m hoping as many of us as possible can experience it together. It was great to be back at Stansted, I really do miss my home parish and the people there. If any of you are reading, I’ll be around again in two weeks and then two weeks after that for Christmas, you might be fed up of me by the New Year!

A final thing to mention is the BCYS blog Tell Out My Soul. This has caused much hype and excitement in the office over the las couple of months, and it’s finally happening! I have been busy helping Jon and Aisling (the brains behind the blog) to recruit contributors. I have a few names for this, so am really pleased. Tell Out My Soul is our Advent/Christmastide blog, which also runs into the New Year. Beginning yesterday and running until 27th January, it features members of the Walsingham House team, wider diocese and beyond. Each day there is a different reflection, and I’d encourage any of you who might be interested to head over to www.bcys.net/blogs and click on Tell Out My Soul. I will certainly be taking this up for Advent (in fact I’ve started early), and my own contribution goes live on 13th December, so pelase do have a look.

So, as you can see, a very varied if not dramatic fortnight! Hopefully the next two weeks will be slightly less dramatic and more retreat-filled!

Take care

Katharine xxxxxx

Connecting Cultures

HungryHello everyone 🙂

You may have noticed it is less than 2 weeks since I wrote my last post. This must be a record!

We’ve been back from Half Term since Monday. Half Term was a good time to refresh and prepare for this Half Term (and in case anyone is wondering, I did submit my essay. So that’s all sorted, until the next time!)

We’ve been eased back into life at the White House this week, with our community day on Tuesday and a prep day on Wednesday. Part of this day was used to prepare resources for the Advent Open Retreat, which I continued on Thursday. But I won’t go into more detail than that, unless anyone attending is reading (Simon?) Wednesday evening was Youth Mass in the Cathedral. As it is the month of November, the Catholic Church uses this month to remember our deceased relatives and friends. There was a rather poignant homily delivered by Fr James, which touched me personally as well as others I’m sure. This Youth Mass was on a smaller scale than the September one, I didn’t feel as lost in the crowd as I had in September. I also had my Easter Lourdes interview, which I passed with flying colours (well, I assume so!) So everything is set up for that trip in March/April. Excited about that. We have also had Stella join the team. Those of you who know about the White House will understand that Stella from Room 9 is unlike no other team member. She even has her own twitter account…

Friday was my first retreat for a couple of weeks. I really enjoyed it, a great group and as I am now very familiar with the Year 8 format it was great to enjoy the day with the young people without worrying about routine. During evaluation, I was described as “fearless” for talking to the young people over refreshments when they have just arrived. I was surprised but touched by this, I always feel as though I am using the same “script” as such. Apparently it doesn’t come across this way, so that’s great to hear.

Sunday (today) was an exciting day for the team. Michael returned to Canvey after 2 weeks in the Philippines. He had an amazing, life changing and indescribable time. From listening to him talk, and reading his and Roisin’s blogs, I can draw many similarities and differences with my own trip to Ghana in 2008. It seems like the dream of ‘BCYS does the Philippines’ could certainly become a reality in 2014. It has been amazing hearing his experiences first hand, and discovering more about the culture there. What is amazing is the Church in Mongolia is only 20 years old, and the real sense of community (everyone in a large parish paying for, building and running a youth centre) have really touched me whilst hearing about his experiences. We really are lucky in both the UK and Brentwood. Another really touching thing was Michael’s gift. It was a bracelet, made by a child and sold for the equivalent of 6p to fund their education. The names of the children are on the reverse, I will certainly be thinking about Remelyn, the child whose bracelet I am now wearing. If you are reading this Michael and Roisin, know the White House and BCYS are very proud of our missionaries.

I can imagine that you too are familiar with the routine at Walsingham House (if you aren’t, feel free to look over previous posts before continuing). So, as Youth Work Week 2012 draws to a close this week, I felt I wouldn’t be doing my professional duty as a youth worker if I didn’t devote a blog to this.

Youth Work Week is a national initiative co-ordinated by the National Youth Agency. It’s in it’s 19th year, having begun in 1993. It seeks to connect youth workers all over the UK. Each year has a theme, with this year being even more significant. This year was about Connecting Cultures. Significant because of the timing of Michael’s mission, yes. Significant also because it draws together the 54 countries of the Commonwealth. Activities were planned all over the globe to mark this occasion and remind youth workers of their value. This is something very important to me. Youth work can, in some cases, be an isolating profession. Sometimes, it feels as though nobody outside the Walsingham House bubble can comprehend the work we do here. Which can be frustrating, but also very humbling and a welcome challenge for me to explain this to those who are interested, or just politely curious. But the rewards certainly outweigh the frustrations at the end of a retreat, when you have made a connection with that shy young person, proved you can understand the youth or not afraid to share part of your life with them.

I feel I participated in Youth Work Week in 4 main ways. One was attending Youth Mass. The second was talking about it every day, in prayer or otherwise. The third was the opportunity to prepare and lead a workshop about this theme. I wanted to keep it on a local level, as community is something which inspires me, and also because I wanted to avoid the workshop being over before it started. If I had simply said “how can we connect cultures?” someone would have responded “Michael is doing that now” and my workshop would have been the shortest in the history of Walsingham House. So instead (perhaps harshly?), I challenged the two groups to name as many countries as they could in the Commonwealth (I think the result was about 6) asking them to think what culture means to them, about the different cultures and how we can connect them. I think the workshop was enjoyed by all (unless it was the free squash I provided which proved popular). I finished off with two quotes from the bible Galatians 3:28 and Romans 12:1-2,4-6 and explained why I found these relevant. This is different to leading a specific prayer, but did include my own experiences where I could. One thing we noticed from the workshop – we connect cultures effectively without realising it, and we at the White House are a result of connecting 8 different ways of life to make one “unique” culture. I was really excited to lead the workshop and am hoping this will lead to more. Anti-Bullying Week in two weeks is another significant time in the youth worker’s calendar, as well as being important for me personally. So watch this space.

The final way I participated in Youth Work Week was the CAFOD conference. This took place yesterday at Westminster Cathedral hall. It was the launch of their 11 month Hungry for Change campaign. I represented Walsingham House, and it was great to spend the day with Sarah too. The campaign is addressing the need for action against hunger in the world. There IS enough food to go round, it isn’t distributed fairly. It’s the system that needs to change. Apparently, the number of people hungry in the world equals the population of the USA, Canada, Europe and Australia put together. A horrendous statistic. We had the opportunity to meet people from other dioceses. They were involved in CAFOD through their own Parish, place of work or like me, perhaps mainly through e-campaigns and CAFOD training. There were workshops inviting us to share our campaigning experiences, hear about the policies and procedures involved in the campaign, find out how to engage media and hear about work in South America and Africa. The workshop which stood out for many of us, was a talk by David McLoughlin. He spoke about Jesus’ attitude to food and gave many interesting points, which actually reminded me of my recent essay (but in a good way!) I could have carried on listening for hours. At lunchtime we were involved in the campaign launch outside the Cathedral on the piazza. We had a picnic blanket and a cup and roll (which did get nibbled throughout). Luckily, there was an amazing shared feast waiting for us on our return to the warm. It was fantastic being part in the campaigns, and I’m excited there is a link to CAFOD at the Advent retreat (but again, saying nothing more). I really enjoyed the day, but was very glad of Sarah’s company as I was actually quite nervous! I’m sure the rest of the year will offer me more networking opportunities though, so looking forward to those, whatever they may be.

Personally though, I think there are many opportunities to celebrate youth work and ministry in the year. All the time would be ideal, because we are always working with varied circumstances. But it’s interesting that the Church’s celebration falls at the end of this month. On the weekend of 24th – 25th November, I will be back in Stansted, speaking about the youth service and the pilgrimage to Lourdes to honour the occasion.  (This is also the launch date for the BCYS Tell Out My Soul blog). Other opportunities are the feast day of St John Bosco (31st January) and in fact earlier in the month. On 12th January 2013, his relics are visiting Westminster Cathedral. Having been to visit the relics of St Therese in the same place in 2009 and being touched by the experience to honour my Parish saint, I am excited the same honour is being given to him, particularly as the patron saint of young people. Another opportunity could certainly be the anniversary of Pope John Paul II, who is well known for his commitment to the youth of the Church. Although these suggestions are specific to the Catholic Church, there are many other opportunities to do this, whether planning or evaluating projects, reaching another young person or spreading the word. Youth workers are professionals and also ministers. Although some people believe youth ministry to be purely a religious task, ministry simply means service. Everyone involved with youth work is serving young people, regardless of any secular or faith based connections.

So, if you too are involved in youth work, or know someone who is, don’t panic if you haven’t taken the opportunity this week to celebrate this. Why not do it during the other 358 days of the year too? Even if you don’t have any obvious connections, I hope this blog has helped to increase awareness in some form.

Thank you for reading!

Take care

Katharine xxxxxxx