Youth
Westminster Record | May 2015
Holy Week the Taizé Way Ahead of the pilgrimage to Taizé in August, Christine Sterlini spent Holy Week there and writes: After journeying through a cold and wet Paris, I arrived in Taizé to be warmly welcomed by Brother Paolo, one of the English brothers in the community. Taizé is an ecumenical monastic community in the heart of France. Established by the Swiss Christian Brother Roger in 1940, the community started to attract international attention towards the end of his life and now thousands of young people flock to this small village every week to partake in life there. I shared a dormitory for the week with four Germans, a Spanish girl and a girl from Lithuania, whom I got on with very well from the start. Some were regulars to Taizé and had been coming for three or four years because they enjoy it so much, whilst others, like me,
were visiting for the first time. My first experience of Taizé prayer was at the Morning Prayer, celebrated with thousands of young people in the church in many different languages. Taizé prayer is beautiful and, although it took me a couple of days to work out what was going on, I soon got into the rhythm of it. After this, we were split into groups for talks given by the brothers. One of my favourite sessions was discussing texts in the Bible. The conversations were held in English and there was much laughter and patience involved as everyone tried their best to express themselves in a language which, for most people, wasn’t their mother tongue. I was intrigued to find myself, for the first time in my life, having indepth discussions about God with a group of people of all
different nationalities and faiths, as well as no faith at all. Another aspect that I enjoyed was the work. Each pilgrim is assigned a job such as cleaning the toilets, tidying the church or emptying bins. These jobs might sound grim but were actually good fun and fostered a sense of camaraderie. It was a great way to meet new people and often the tasks would finish with games. I was given the job of serving food to 4,000 people but was ably helped and entertained by some Irish pilgrims. Between talks, work, prayer and food, people would have time to relax; there were football and frisbee games in the fields, people playing music and dancing, and others sat drawing and playing games. People would also gather around the ‘Oyak’, a little shop/cafe that
opens several times a day, and would stand around chatting and drinking coffee. Every night there was a prayer service. This final act of the day is very popular because it is so calm and peaceful. Some people stay for just 20 minutes or so, whilst others stay for hours. The church is very enchanting and relaxing during the late hours and I would often find myself swept up in the atmosphere. Celebrating Easter at Taizé was incredibly special. We gathered outside the church to light the Paschal candle and then filed inside. Young children lit the small candles held by the monks who then passed on the flame around. I was really struck by how ecumenical and united the Church was in this moment. The Mass that day was one I will never forget.
SPEC Shine at the Celebrate Conference By Jon Rogers
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Events Catholic Underground
Easter week for the SPEC community was spent at Celebrate, a week-long family conference that offers a faithfilled and fun event combining Christian teaching, inspirational speakers and celebration of the liturgy in a vibrant atmosphere to celebrate the love of God. Celebrate may sound a little grim on paper but in fact it was wonderful. The chalets we stay in are basic, the beds not so comfy and the weather in spring-time can be bleak. So why do we go? In short, for the breath-taking scenery, incredible speakers and the tangible presence of the Holy Spirit. They are what make it worthwhile, and the Celebrate ‘regulars’ have always noticed a real flowering of joy in the conference. We were at Celebrate to help with stewarding: keeping people safe, helping them to engage with the conference and making sure that the loo-rolls didn’t run out. On reflection, our roles were a bit like some extra mums and dads to join the ranks of families that fill the seats at Celebrate. That’s really what a year at SPEC is about, nurturing the young people to grow the Church. To find out more about the Youth Ministry and experiences of our young people at: wym.rcdow.org.uk.
It was very sad saying goodbye to everyone as I got on the bus for my journey back home. My week in Taizé had been an extraordinary one and I am already very excited to be going back again in August with people from the Diocese. I sincerely hope you will be able to join us for a fantastic, unforgettable week.
In addition to the stewarding, we all took part in the conference in our own way. All age groups are catered for with separate ‘streams’ for children of four years to young adults of 25. Our volunteer missionaries joined Joel’s Bar, the young adults stream which offered seminars, talks, liturgy, prayer and social times throughout the week. Some of us at SPEC are parents with young children. Parents do all sorts of things to help their families grow closer to Christ: tell stories, listen, pray with the kids. There is a parallel between being a volunteer missionary at SPEC where we minister to, pray with and pray for the young people of the Diocese. We feed our community and we feed the young people with the only food that really matters: the Bread of Life - the Word that comes from the mouth of God. If the thought of spending a year as a missionary at SPEC sounds attractive, that’s great. We have small comfortable rooms with comfy beds; but so much more than that. See http://dowym.com/spec
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Saturday 16 May St Aloysius Church, 20 Phoenix Road, London NW1 1TA Young Adults in the West Sunday 24 May St Michael and Martin Church, Hounslow, 94 Bath Road TW3 3EH Taizé pilgrimage Saturday 15 August – Monday 24 August Taizé, France Performing Arts weekend Friday 16 October – Sunday 18 October Focolare Centre, 69 Parkway, Welwyn Garden City AL8 6ED World Youth Day pilgrimage Monday 18 July 2016 – Sunday 31 July 2016 Krakow, Poland For additional information on any of these upcoming events, please contact us on our social media channels or email: youth@rcdow.org.uk See photos of youth events at: http://flickr.com/ photos/catholicwestminster
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