Three teenagers and two “rising” 11 year-olds attended the first session, plus five adult helpers (Clare, Gabriela, Andrew, Nick, Alban) and the Diocesan Youth Leader Stephen Harris.
Stephen is a fantastic youth leader from the Diocese of Northampton Youth Ministry Office (NYMO) and it was a delight to see how he interacted with the youngsters.
Stephen treated us to the first in a series of eight "Trek" sessions. This was a great experience that started with a simple video clip that got us to consider how doing the right thing can have a profound uplifting effect on huge numbers of people. He then challenged us to consider where this sense of right and wrong comes from, which lead us to consider how God guides us in seeking to do good.
The atmosphere was relaxed but purposeful and lead us from everyday events to the Catholic Churches teachings conatined in the Youth Catechism (YouCat) by employing a video clip, games, activities, discussion, questions, music and prayers. Stephen involved the adult helpers in all the activities too which allowed them to empathize with the young people. The adult helpers were enthused by the event and to quote one who said "I was delighted to help and am already looking forward to the next session. I particularly enjoyed the football clip to introduce to notion that everyone shares a sense of fair play. I think these discussions on morality are vital for all of us and particularly for our youth."
The NYMO team are in the process of putting together the rest of this eight session program that works through the the four sections of YOUCAT and Stephen implied that we could be the first parish to run these sessions - if we so chose.
Particular thanks should go to Stephen, Clare and Gabby for cooking the delicious food, the relatives who encouraged the young people to come and most importantly the young people who did come-a source of inspiration for us all!!
Many more youth from within the parish had expressed interest in attending this SPY-G taster session, but because of prior arrangements couldn't make the first session. So the next event will be need to be publicised better and organised to allow as many of the youth as possible to attend.
