Keeley Sydes Testimony

‘Hello, my name is Keeley, I’m 16 and I have recently converted to the catholic faith at the Easter vigil. When I was growing up, God was never a prominent part of my life as I wasn’t even sure if I believed if there was a God or not. I do not come from a traditional catholic family and neither do I attend a catholic school. I think this has made me who I am as I know it was truly my decision to pursue my faith as I had no persuasion from either my family or school friends or teachers. I’ve always thought this is the best way for me as I can see how God has truly entered my life and has not merely been pressed upon me without really understanding. My religious journey began about a year and a half ago when I turned to myself and told myself that there had to be more to life than this. I had had this nagging feeling for quite some time that we were made with a certain plan for this life, I just didn’t realise at this point that religion and God was the answer. Along with this, I also felt like a part of me was missing and that I wasn’t entirely happy with my life even though I could have many materialistic things in life. No matter what I had, I was never entirely complete. When I first thought that the missing piece of me of was religion, I knew at once that it was true. I began research into the Roman Catholic faith and the more I learnt the more I became assured that this was the way to eternal happiness.

I decided to go to mass one Saturday evening to see what it was all about and to see if it would strengthen me in my choice which I was still looking to confirm. After my first time in mass, I was definitely not left disappointed! I was left totally awestruck after seeing the beauty of the church, the sincerity and humility of the people and the solemn, powerful yet moving atmosphere around the Eucharist. I knew straight after that first mass that nothing in the world could dissuade me now. Every time I went back to mass week after week my faith grew stronger. I would always leave mass feeling fresh, new and open to the world and to God. I had never experienced anything that had this level of reverence and devotion. As I carried on attending mass, I was introduced to some really spectacular people who have been so supportive throughout my whole journey. Whenever I needed advice on anything, to ask any question or just want a chat, they were always there. They were really enthusiastic with me and this in turn boosted my confidence greatly.

I started RCIA sessions last September which introduced me to the facts, beliefs, symbolism and much more of the Catholic Church.  I found this really interesting as I have a great interest for history as well. Every week I would come home having learnt so much more than I would have walked in knowing (Although some weeks, I would have learnt so much that I would come out and not be able to remember a thing!) Prayer was also a fundamental part of this journey because as I started praying every night, I realised what a powerful weapon prayer was to have in life. The beautiful thing I discovered about prayer was that no matter what had happened, no matter what I wanted to talk about, there would always be someone to listen. All the worries that I considered too trivial to be mentioned were gladly taken by God and I found this a real asset in my life.

So finally it came to the vigil. I had waited a year and a half for this and so I was full of excitement on the day. I was however quite nervous as I had a moment of sudden realisation of the impact this would have on my life. I also became abruptly aware of everything Christ did for us, he made the ultimate sacrifice for us and he and his father in heaven gave everything to us. This came with the sudden realisation that I was not worthy of the everlasting love bestowed on us by God. This was a rather daunting thought and one that was so big that I just couldn’t get my head around.  When the time came for me to get baptised, I felt a sense of extreme inner peace and one that could only have been bestowed by Christ. Then, there came a sense of coming home and belonging. This was where I was meant to be. However the climax of my journey had to be receiving my first holy communion. As soon as I received it I got lost in the deepest moment of love, adoration and the true realisation of what I was doing. That moment, summed up for me, my deepest love for God, his son Jesus Christ and the church. The best way I can some up my feelings about Catholicism is through the Eucharist. It is not something that requires words. It only requires a moment of reflection, an open mind and a willingness to accept God’s love. It’s that simple and that complicated.’

Keeley Sydes, Crawley parish.

Flame Congress Sets Fire in Our Hearts

Many folk from A&B Diocese were at the Flame Congress with over 8,000 other young people. One group from A&B tells us all about it:

All in the purple

‘St Teresa’s  has caught the ‘flame’ after girls accepted the invitation to join over 8,000 young Catholics to reflect, celebrate and pray at the Wembley Arena on Saturday 24 March. The girls were accompanied by Mrs Mary Arnal (Prep Head) and Angela (Chaplain) were immensely inspired by the witness of the speakers, they loved the music were in awe during Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

David Wells, Fr Timothy Radcliffe and Fr Christopher Jamison presented thought provoking challenges that spoke directly to hearts through humour, prayer and stillness. The Mizen family, whose son was killed in London, shared and an incredible testimony of forgiveness, hope and peace.

The St Teresa’s girls commented on the conviction of Paschal Uche the young man who greeted Pope Benedict XVI at Westminster Cathedral. Stef Reid (28yr old Paralympian) and Debbie Flood (Champion rower) struck a chord with all of group with their stories and were incredibly inspiring.

Sr Catherine Holum (a Franciscan Sister of the Renewal) moved everyone with her sharing of her vocation.’

Go to http://cymfed.org/congress/flame/2012/ for more pics and stuff

REDSHIRTS ‘DOOR IS OPEN’ FOR 2012!

The Diocesan Youth Service Group (Lourdes) is now inviting applications from young people from within the diocese to join the Redshirts 2012. All applicants should be in school years 10 or 11 (or equivalent age) and available for the duration of the pilgrimage: Wednesday 25th July to Friday 3rd August 2012.

Anyone who would like to put themselves forward for consideration should email Ray Mooney (ray.mooney@dabnet.org). Please provide the applicant’s full name, address, home phone number, school year, name of school and parish. The email should also include the applicant’s reasons for wanting to be a Redshirt next year. This is the first stage of the selection process; an Application Pack will then be sent to all applicants in the New Year.

For more information go to www.ablourdes.org. If you have any questions regarding any aspect of the above please contact Ray on 01293 651158.

30th Anniversary of Youth Service in Diocese

St Wilfrid’s Catholic school in Crawleyon Saturday the 19th of November saw the celebration of the Arundel & Brighton Youth Service’s 30th anniversary. The event was well attended by people who had been youth over the years, as well as youth leaders and youth groups from schools and parishes around the Diocese. It was a fabulous evening with photos,  Mass, the chance to chat and a tasty spread of food. The band providing the music for Mass and afterwards was from Chatsmore School in Goring and they did a grand job, as did the singers from The Towers, who sang a beautiful rendition of ‘The Cry of the Poor’, post-communion.

At the start of Mass, thirty people carried a pebble for each year to the front of the hall and built a cairn. This represented how the Youth Service had been built up; cairns are used as a way marker on footpaths, just as this anniversary is a marker for the journey of the Youth Service group. Bishop Kieran and Fr. David Parmiter both said how much work and support had gone into building and maintaining the youth service over these past 30 years and how now it was the turn of today’s youth to carry on. During the mass Bishop Kieran officially introduced the specially commissioned candle stand that is the youth symbol for our Diocese.

Following Mass there was the opportunity to view the thirty years of photos, with Youthgather serving as a constant timeline throughout the years. Other displays included Redshirts inLourdes, World Youth Days, Papal Visits, weekend retreats and camps at Maryvale and a ‘Guess Who?’ style quiz with Priests and parents in their younger years. The evening ended with a short liturgy, led by Ray Mooney. All present were invited to take a candle and light it from the Youth Symbol, taking this light out with them, as a sign of the continuation of youth ministry in the Diocese, as they left. Posters and prayer cards with the Youth Symbol on them  were then distributed and will also be sent to each parish not represented at the evening.

 

By Charlotte & Hannah Moon

National Youth Sunday

Just a reminder that there are excellent resources online for national youth sunday – only a couple of weeks away now: www.nationalyouthsunday.org.uk

YouthGather sponsorship money!

Thanks so much to all of you who have raised so much money for this year’s chosen charities. The deadline for receiving all monies is fast approaching – 1st December. Please forward all cheques without delay (cheques made payable to DABCEC please).

Youth Ministry Leaders Retreat

Anyone out there working with young people?! A retreat has been organised, to take place on 8-10 June 2012 at the YMT Youth Village Hexham and Newcastle. The Theme is Call of Sainthood in the 21st Century. It will be led by Fr Chris Whitehead (Clifton Diocese). The Cost is £100 (shared accommodation) and £120 (single accommodation) including a related trip to Durham. Download the Retreat Poster and Retreat Booking Form.

Rio 2013

The WYD Cross and Icon arrived in Sao Paolo, Brazil a couple of weeks ago at a big ceremony at which around 100.000 people gathered! The official website was launched – click here for details. The journey begins again…………….

YouthGather 2011

What a fantastic day!!!!!!!!!! ( and of course the weather helped!).  We would like to thank all the Towers staff who gave up their Sunday to help with registration, marshalling, music  and running workshops. The turn-out was huge – 217 registered walkers, dozens and dozens of non-walkers and loads more marshalls and people generally giving up their time to help make this a really successful event. The liturgy was beautiful – thanks to Nancy, Zofia, the musicians from St. Wilfrids, the liturgical dancers, David Beresford and the many more who helped prepare. Enjoy the pictures!

 

Youth Service 30th Anniversary

On Saturday 19th November 2011 there will be a gathering to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Diocesan Youth Service at St Wilfrid’s School, Crawley, RH11 8PG from 4.30pm – 9.30pm. Do please come and join in the celebration! We’ll be gathering from 4.30 pm and Mass will be celebrated by Bishop Kieran at 6pm, which will be followed by activities and light refreshments.

 We are planning a ‘welcoming’ display of events over the last 30 years and need your memories. So – how have you been involved with the Diocesan Youth Service during the last thirty years?

-  Were you at Gatwick to welcome John Paul II in 1982?
- Were you one of the 1000 young people who went to Ninian Park for Mass with the pope?
- Did you go on the pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi in 1982?
- Did you ever write an article for Not the A&B News, Youth magazine?
- Do you still have any copies of Not the A&B News?
- Did you go on the ecumenical youth pilgrimage to Taizé in 1985 or 1990?
- Have you been with a diocesan group to any of the World Youth Days: 1987 Buenos Aires,  1989 Santiago de Compostela, 1991 Czestochowa, 1993 Denver, 1995 Manila, 1997 Paris, 2000 Rome, 2002 Toronto, 2005 Cologne, 2008 Sydney and 2011 Madrid?
- How many times have you taken part in YouthGather since it began in 1973?
- Did you ever attend a residential 14 – 16 or a 17 – 30 weekend at Maryvale?
- Were you a helper at any weekend residential for young people?
- Did you take part in any of the Leadership training weekends?  If so which year?
- Have you been a participant in the Eli course?
- Have you run a youth group in your parish or helped out with one?
- Were you a member of a Youth Small Faith Sharing Group during RENEW?
- Were you there for the Youth Camp in the grounds of Maryvale in 1983 or 1985 or 1988?
- Did you take part in the exchange with Hexham and Newcastle in 1986?
- Were you part of “75 go Mad in Czestochowa in 1991?
- Did you go on the Mountain weekend or to Greenbelt in 1992?
- Have you been on a preparation for Confirmation weekend?
- Or a post confirmation weekend?
- Have you been to Lourdes as a Redshirt or as a young helper?
- Did you go to Hyde Park to be with Pope Benedict in 2010?
- etc, etc, etc . . . . .

If you can answer ‘YES’ to any of the above, or you have been involved in some other way with the Youth Service, do please get into contact with your memories and if possible photos that we can add to the display.

Please email your contribution to d.leach@waitrose.com or send it to Deirdre Leach, c/o The Youth Office, DABCEC, 4 Southgate Drive, Crawley, RH10 6RP. When sending in your contribution could you please also indicate if you will be coming on November 19th so that we begin to get a sense of possible numbers – for catering!
There are literally hundreds of photos stored in the Youth Office, sadly many of them have no indication of the date or the names of the people in the picture.  On the 19th we will have many of these on display in the hope that you will be able to ‘fill in the gaps’ by adding, details of dates, events and the people shown.

Papal Visit/World Youth Day Reunion

What a great evening we had last Friday….. it was so good to see so many faces, people who’d attended the Papal Visit, World Youth Day in Madrid and quite a few who’d been to both. By the end of the evening we’d counted 89 people, not including those of us who work at DABCEC!

It was a good time of reflection; we spent time sharing about the experiences themselves, how we’d been able to share them, and, most importantly what we are going to carry forward from them.

Of course, fun, friendship and food featured highly. Check out the fantastic cake Sarah made!

Youth Gather 2011

YouthGather 2011 is just around the corner! It will be held at The Towers School, Henfield Road, Upper Beeding, Nr Steyning, West Sussex, BN44 3TF from 10 till 5pm on Sunday 2nd October. Here’s all of the info: youth gather poster 2011. If you need a pack, please contact Ray on 01293 651 158 or ray.mooney@dabnet.org. School and parish groups, don’t forget to bring your banners!