2013 starts with a bang!

Hi everyone
I hope you have all had a very successful start to 2013. I thought I would use today productively by writing my first post of 2013 and letting you know how the term is going so far.

It started in earnest with the Walsingham House road trip up north. Unfortunately, like many team outings, not all of us were present for the Volunteer’s Conference. Olivia was unwell and missed the conference this year. So we headed up to Derby, resolved to bring back as many stories as we could. Arriving at the conference, we were met by Jon and Sara who had been visiting family over New Year. I also saw Chris from last year’s team, and Gemma from college who works at SPEC. It was great, as I was actually feeling very nervous. After discovering all the Walsingham House girls were in the same room, we headed downstairs. This presented me with the first problem of the weekend. We had clip badges with our names and centre. I was only wearing long tops (to protect from cold) and as a consequence I could only put my badge underneath on my jeans pocket. The advantage of this slight problem is it gave me a reason to talk to other people as they wanted to know who I was! After an initial panic whilst unpacking, I decided to head downstairs and speak to someone. Putting my “youth work face” on, I entered into the introductions as I would the arrival of a retreat group. I decided to remember that others would be feeling nervous too, and so perhaps I could help them feel less worried about the weekend. This is something I must have inherited from Dad, who, on his arrival at university went out of his way to show other first years around and help them settle in. So thanks Dad!

After the initial introductions and icebreakers, I started to feel a bit more at home. I had met a member of the Kintbury team, and the next task was small groups. Once again, it reminded me of retreats, when the young people are asked to stand up and randomly allocated a group leader. Thankfully, it wasn’t done in exactly the same way! We had an opportunity to share our stories, where we were from, how we were finding the year so far. I enjoyed this part of the conference, as it was important group formation time. Mass was another chance to meet other people, and before I knew it, dinner time had arrived. I have to say, the food was amazing!

The rest of the weekend was very very busy. When I wasn’t sitting with my group, I was meeting other people. I was delighted to find two fellow Colin Firth fans amongst the Kintbury team (although I don’t think the rest of my team shared my delight!) Saturday was a chance to listen to an inspirational speaker, Fr Luiz. He was brilliant, and definitely had everyone’s attention. It would have been great to have more group discussion, but a debate about Bartimaeus’ cloak took up most of the session. The afternoon was mainly devoted to workshops. I selected the CAFOD workshop, where Tanya set us a pancake making task with varying resources. I was part of the “rich” team, and I felt victimised by the rest of the group. I have to admit, my partner wasn’t the best negotiator, nor was his character the fairest manager. But I genuinely did nothing bad, I was trying to give everyone a fair chance at life. Honestly. I was playing myself.

The second workshop was about Vatican documents. Before you all yawn and roll your eyes, it was really interesting. I actually felt I understood the parts of the documents they presented to us, and it provoked some interesting discussions. I genuinely wish I could do more of these workshops – it would certainly help with my MA! After the workshops, madness ensued. Jon’s activity was great fun, but involved many groups being joined together with rope as they tried to navigate the room. Each group had a fictional retreat centre to build, by visiting the different stations. Each “new year” there was a newsflash, meaning trouble for some of the centres still open. Unfortunately, ours closed in 2016 when we realised we hadn’t managed to achieve the correct Health and Safety standards. It was great fun though, and we once again went to dinner starving. The evening was a chance for adoration and reconciliation, before a social evening. I was feeling exhausted by this point, and so didn’t make it into the dancing, but enjoyed a drink instead.

Sunday was a shorter day, with Mass and a discussion about the future. The real highlights of the weekend though, for me, were the prayer times. Each centre created something special, a chance for reflection and to bring everyone together in the chapel. On Sunday morning, we entered the chapel to find each centre had a display in the centre, and a candle. In that display was a card for each of us. It must have taken them ages to create all those prayer cards! It’s a lovely gesture and proved that each of us, whichever centre we work at, whoever we are, is appreciated. It’s also great to know others are in the same position as you and working towards the same goal. It’s easy to forget this sometimes and feel like you’re alone with your team in the Canvey youth work bubble. So that prayer, and the weekend, was definitely worthwhile. After a stop off at Burger King, we travelled back to Canvey – I was exhausted and think I snored in the back of the car…

After a day of recovering from our hectic weekend, we were all finally reunited with the return of Olivia to the White House. The conference certainly had an effect on the atmosphere in the White House for a few days, and is perhaps still being felt now. Our first community meeting offered the opportunity to reflect on living together and what our individual and collective achievements might be for the rest of the year. Many points were raised and discussed at that meeting and gave a sense of where everyone was in terms of experience and goals for the future. However, I do think the conference also, inadvertently, left a feeling of unease around the place. Whilst it was great to network and appreciate the roles and missions of other centres, it made each of us consider the future and what that will look like. As you can imagine, with 8 people looking forward to the New Year in close proximity to each other, it can feel quite daunting. But, the plus side to that is everyone can relate to how each other is feeling and provide support. In terms of community nights, we’ve played UNO, watched films and have quite a few birthdays to look forward to! So I’m looking forward to the next few weeks.

That week also offered the opportunity for me to visit CAFOD HQ. As editor of the Great Generation newsletter, I was writing to young people and leaders who might subscribe about my own involvement in CAFOD and some of the campaigns at the moment. It was also the first time I had worked in a very busy office with lots of people around. Everyone was really friendly and helpful though, and I had a great time. Roisin invited some of the team to lunch, and I really enjoyed everyone’s company. Many people were apologetic they couldn’t stay, but I really gained a sense of community within the CAFOD office, which was a great feeling. Lunch was on the top floor, and Roisin told me that all the kitchenettes have chairs made out of recycled playstations and the cupboards out of recycled yoghurt pots! The wood is all recycled too, they were very keen to have a sustainable building. After lunch, I was filmed. Yes, you read that right. I, Katharine, was filmed. My vlog (virtual blog for those of you looking confused) can be found on either my profile or the Great Generation facebook page. It only took a couple of takes as well, which I was impressed by! I was nervous, but the team told me (when Joe played it to everyone over lunch, despite my protests) that I came across well regardless. I’l let you decide that for yourselves. I won’t tell you much more about the newsletter, except I will let you know when it’s published. Read for yourselves!

I was also able to feedback to Roisin about our CAFOD sessions at Walsingham House. I am in the process of sending over my Advent Retreat session and looking at some other materials too. The day definitely gave me a new found admiration for Chris and any other journalists out there, when I was trying to create 3 35 word captions! I think he must have lent me some journalist skills for the day, as I managed this without too much trouble.

The day has presented me with a conundrum. How to convince my team to be filmed doing our football chant grace? CAFOD are collecting them. and, to be fair, I was filmed, so why can’t they be? Perhaps I will try and bribe them at the next community day…

I was back in the area of CAFOD again on Monday when I visited Southwark Cathedral. The relics of Don Bosco were in London for the final day of his UK tour. Don Bosco is an Italian priest from Turin, who is also the patron saint of young people. I felt it fitting I should go to be part of the pilgrim experience. There were displays as we went round, giving more information about his life and work. The Youth Ministry model he created was certainly of great interest to me, as were some of his quotes. My brain was instantly at work thinking how we could incorporate this into retreat work. It was a great experience, with many schools in attendance that day too. This was encouraging to see, but changed the atmosphere somewhat. Very different to my experience of Westminster Cathedral at the relics of St Therese! But a great opportunity all the same.

Don’t worry, I have done some work! I worked last weekend at a confirmation retreat. It was a wonderful retreat, with a great group from Wanstead. The programme had changed slightly, as we are making some adjustments to our retreats for the next few months. Leighton and I led a social justice session. I was inspired by some of the CAFOD resources and introduced the campaign to the young people. I was also responsible for creating prayer stations in the Ark for the reconciliation service. I remember my first visit to Walsingham House and being amazed, wondering if I could ever do something like that. The positive comments from team and young people proved I can, and now I can’t wait to do the next one! I was hoping to do it this weekend when Holy Cross and St. Luke’s Harlow attended. Unfortunately, the snow in Harlow meant they had to re-arrange for a fortnight. I’m now looking forward to day retreats next week before some time at home and my next spiritual direction session. Incidentally, there is also something very top secret happening in London relating to CAFOD. Looking forward to finding out more about that.

A blog from me wouldn’t be complete without mentioning an essay would it, team? In case anyone was wondering what happened to my Trinity essay, I DID submit it on Thursday evening. It was a hard one, involving many confused hours in the library, but I thankfully managed to finish it off! I have many many references, but hopefully a coherent academic piece of writing. I guess I’ll find out in a month or so. The next module is due to start on 28th January.

Thursday evening was an opportunity to celebrate finishing my essay in style. Jade and I acquired (thanks to Leighton’s Mum) tickets to Shrek the Musical. We headed to London for dinner at Bella Italia before watching the show from the balcony of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. It was AMAZING! The songs, music, actors, costumes and effects were truly fantastic. It was also pretty inspiring. I don’t know whether this proves I’m a workaholic or really passionate about youth work, but many of the songs could be successfully used as part of a night prayer! I found at least 3, probably more if I thought hard enough. If you haven’t seen it, go and watch it! The only negatives about the evening were the cold and the fact I realised how old I was. The original SHREK movie was released on my 13th birthday in 2001! I realise I’ve just invited lots of age related jokes from my team mates, but will take the risk.

Right, I think you’re up to date with the wonders of the White House! Thanks for reading!

Katharine xxxxxxxx