'Menevia Youth' is the name given to the Youth
Service of the Diocese of Menevia. Bishop Mark Jabalé set up the Youth
Service in July 2001, with the appointment of Fr Teyrnon Williams as
the Director of Youth Development. In this sense, Menevia Youth is
still in its infancy.
In collaboration with both the Diocesan Education Commission and the
Catechetical Team, Menevia Youth participated in formulating a
strategic statement for Education:
'The Diocese of Menevia is committed to providing a formal and
informal educational service for our Voluntary Aided Schools, parishes
and youth which will ensure access to quality educational
opportunities for all young people and adults thus enabling
achievement of their full potential within the Mission of the Church.'
The specific aim of Menevia Youth is the provision of 'a holistic
educational service to young people which is informal and voluntary in
which their every concern is explored and examined within the context
of the Gospel of Christ and the teaching of the Church.'
The Welsh Youth to Lourdes pilgrims - July 2003
World Youth Day 2005
COLOGNE
15th to 22nd August 2005
Website
Pope Calls World's Youth to
Active Evangelisation
More than a million young Catholics, including
nearly 3,000 from England and Wales, were repeatedly invited by the
Pope to become active evangelisers at the recent World Youth Day
gathering in Cologne, Germany.
Addressing young people from every continent, His
Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, repeatedly called a new generation of
young Catholics to joyfully and publicly witness to their Catholic
faith. During the final Mass held on the outskirts of Cologne, he
said: “Anyone who has discovered Christ must lead others to him. A
great joy cannot be kept to oneself. It has to be passed on... I
know that you as young people have great aspirations, that you want
to pledge yourselves to build a better world. Let others see this,
let the world see it, since this is exactly the witness that the
world expects from the disciples of Jesus Christ; in this way, and
through your love above all, the world will be able to discover the
star that we follow as believers.”
This call to engage in the work of the ‘new
evangelisation’ was repeated several times; during the Pope’s
greeting to the young people gathered he said: “Let yourselves be
inflamed by the fire of the Spirit, so that a new Pentecost will
renew your hearts. Through you, may other young people everywhere
come to recognize in Christ the true answer to their deepest
aspirations, and may they open their hearts to receive the Word of
God Incarnate, who died and rose from the dead for the salvation of
the world.”
The World Youth Day event drew together young
people from all over the world for two weeks of faith sharing,
catechesis, public witness, fun and prayer. CASE sent two delegates
to join an inter-agency team from the Bishops’ Conference which was
led by the Catholic Youth Services. The team’s role was to help
resource and support the English and Welsh groups gathered. They
worked to create and provide a range of follow-up materials and
ensured that the diocese were visited personally, offering
information, support and supplementary materials.
CASE Team Member, Clare Ford said: “The Holy
Father invited us all to be genuine, public witnesses to Jesus
Christ. We have seen this made real in Cologne in 2005. Our young
people have been those radiant and joy-filled evangelisers. It’s
been a privilege to support several dioceses and new movements as
they have led catechetical sessions and outreach events.” Meanwhile,
Clare Ward, also from CASE said: “It’s been a remarkable
evangelisation phenomenon providing a model for mission and to be
actively sharing Christ in everyday settings whether in family
homes, on public transport, at prayer, during liturgies, while
socialising, in service, through our silent gestures and spoken
word.”
The next World Youth Day will be held in Sydney
in 2008 where it is hoped an even larger number of English and Welsh
pilgrims will attend. Helen Bardy, who is National Directory of the
Catholic Youth Services said: “I’m confident that this World Youth
Day will have far reaching effects and will touch the lives of
people who could not attend. It’s a powerful thing to see young
people passionately sharing their faith and the experience promises
to reap great fruits at diocesan and parish level.”
World Youth Day 2005
The Menevia group in Cologne (courtesy of the
Menevia News)
Hello
everyone!
Many
of the youth that travel every year for our annual pilgrimage to
Lourdes, set out on a different pilgrimage in August – this was to
the XX World Youth Day in Cologne, from
August 16th to 21st, 2005,
“WE HAVE COME TO WORSHIP HIM".
Pope
Benedict XVI led the youth celebrations in Cologne, his native
country, where he also urged
Europe to rediscover its Christian tradition and warned
against rising secularism.
The four day trip also underlined inter-faith relations; also a key
theme of John Paul II's papacy. Pope Benedict visited a synagogue
in which he won applause for his warning about rising anti-Semitism,
the second time a Pope has ever entered a synagogue, and he also met
with Muslim officials addressing them as my dear Muslim friends, and
also raising issues of terrorism.
Pope Benedict called on all the pilgrims attending the
World Youth Day Festival to wisely use the freedom God gave them.
He said, "Freedom is not simply about enjoying life in total
autonomy, but rather about living by the measure of truth and
goodness, so that we ourselves can become true and good."
Youth from 200 countries came to
Cologne embracing the new Pope with open arms and shouts of joy, "Beeen-e-det-to,
Beeen-e-det-to!" chanting his name in Italian!
A
vigil was held on the Saturday evening where he emphasised that, "It
is not ideologies that save the world, but only a return to the
living God". He addressed this to more than 700,000 youth pilgrims
at this vigil, where they would spend the night outdoors with their
sleeping-bags ready for the concluding Mass on Sunday morning. Pope
Benedict conceded that there is much that can be criticised, "we
know this and the Lord himself told us so, it is a net with good
fish and bad fish, a field with wheat and darnel. Despite the
failings of human beings, they can still hope to be counted among
the disciples of Jesus, who came to call sinners in particular!"
Before
the beginning of the Vigil, scouts brought the Light of Bethlehem
from the
Holy Land to Marienfield. When the Holy Father arrived at the mound,
numerous candles were lit on the mound and on paths leading to it.
At the concluding Mass for World Youth Day, Pope Benedict XVI
called upon the faithful to participate regularly in Sunday Mass.
"You will realise that this is what gives a proper focus to your
free time." Apart from this, he called on the one million youths in
attendance to follow the faith of the Church. "Religion constructed
on do-it-yourself-basis cannot ultimately help us. It may be
comfortable, but in times of crisis we are left to ourselves. He
said that youth should form communities of faith and not seek
private paths of their own."
In conclusion, Benedict also exhorted the youth to engage in
active forms of charity. "It is better to be useful and at the
disposal of others than to be concerned only with the comforts that
are offered to us. Youth should demonstrate that they want to
commit themselves to building a better world." This indeed is the
ultimate goal of the Youth to
Lourdes. To give with a loving heart, offer a smile, a helping hand
and give our time with no expectation of repayment. Of course we
gain a huge amount from our experience in helping, emotional and
spiritual uplifting in the service of Our Lady.
We are
the future of our faith and will always encourage other youth to
join us in this wonderful work.
God
Bless
Claire-Louise
Experience of Three Young People from Port Talbot
at Cologne 2005
We would like to thank our
Parish Priest, Fr. Joseph, and all the parishioners who helped us to
be at the World Youth Day, Cologne, 2005. It was a fantastic
spiritual experience that will not be forgotten. We have put up a
display in the Church to share our experience with our Parishioners.
On our first day, Wednesday, 77
of us - including priests, nuns and Bishop Mark, from the Diocese of
Menevia - went to the famous football stadium Bayer Leverkusen,
joined by Catholics from the English speaking world. We enjoyed
Catechesis by the Archbishop of Washington, discussing ways how to
deepen our faith, followed by Mass. There was also singing and
dancing by a catholic rock band as well as the odd Mexican Wave.
Later that day, many of our group went to a neighbouring park where
we danced the evening away with Americans, Portuguese, Germans and
Canadians.
On Thursday we made an early
start to the city of Cologne, where Mass was said by the riverside.
It was a very special day as Sr. Angela Murray was celebrating her
anniversary as a nun and one of the pilgrims was 21 years old. We
were then split into groups to explore the city. Cologne was one big
Catholic party, with every country imaginable represented - flags
and national costumes on show everywhere. Most of the day was spent
talking to other young pilgrims from around the world “trading”
t-shirts and badges, and learning various chants, hymns and rhymes.
Later that day, crowds gathered by the Rhine and lined the streets
of the city; all waiting eagerly to see the Pope, Benedict XVI. It
was well worth the wait and as the Holy Father neared, many of us
scrambled up trees, signposts and onto peoples’ shoulders to catch a
glimpse of him.
On Sunday we left the hotel
early at 5.00am. Many of us had stayed up all night celebrating our
own vigil in the hotel. After a two hour coach journey, we were
dropped off on a German motorway, which had been closed off for the
day. All you could see for miles was motorway and trees. After 3km,
and under the illusion that we were close to the Marienfeld Pilgrim
Field where the Papal Mass was to be celebrated, we stopped for
breakfast. We then walked a further 4 km, travelled by shuttle bus
for 5km and then another 3km on foot. Arriving at the field, the air
was charged with an intense feeling of excitement and spirituality
as one million people had gathered. The Papal Mass was fantastic,
with music from around the world and Pope Benedict XI urging us to
continue spreading God’s message. The sign of peace was particularly
special as many nations came together to rejoice. Immediately after
the Mass, we walked the entire 15 kilometres back to the coach, and
while the young people flagged towards the back, moaning and
complaining, Sister Angela was at the front putting us all to shame
by being our pacemaker for the day. Overall, the entire experience
was unforgettable. We made so many friends and have promised to
email people from around the world. Mass was celebrated everyday
either in the hotel or by some quaint spot on the riverside. The
Rosary was said on every coach journey and there was a lot of time
for quiet time, prayer, reflection and thanksgiving. In addition,
there was also time to sing, dance, play instruments and sample
cultures from around the world.
We arrived home tired but
spiritually refreshed. Now we are looking forward to the next World
Youth Day in Sydney.
Sinead, Nadia, & Alma Casey
St. Joseph’s Parish, Port Talbot
World Youth Day 2004
From Bishop Mark: "I am very pleased to tell you
that early in 2004 we have a very important event which will focus our
minds on youth.
This is the visit which this diocese
will have on the 15th January of the World Youth Day Cross. This
Cross will be on Pilgrimage around England and Wales from 9th to the
27th of January, before being handed over to Scotland. Before it
reaches us, the Cross will have been on Pilgrimage through 18
countries; it began its journey through Europe on Palm Sunday 2003
when it was handed over to the German Youth by a Canadian delegation.
For 12 of the countries it is visiting, including our own, this is the
first visit. At its departure from Rome, the Holy Father also
entrusted a huge Icon of the Blessed Virgin to the youth, that it
might accompany the Cross. Menevia will receive the Cross in St
Joseph’s Cathedral at 11.00 am on the 15th January. All Head
Teachers have kindly agreed to send important delegations for the Mass
which will be celebrated to honour its passage through our diocese. In
the Summer of 2005, World Youth Day will be held in Cologne, and we
three, Bishops of the Welsh Province, have decided that we would like
to take a large number of pilgrims for this important occasion.
The celebration of the passage of the World Youth Day Cross will mark
for us the launching of the project for us to identify and prepare
those who will be representing us in Cologne in 2005. Although
the schools and all the young of the diocese are the main people
involved in this passage of the Cross, anyone who wants to come and
take part will be most welcome."
)
)
)