Being A Young Catholic Today

Rachel Turley, 18 (Dudley): The Taize Factor

Hello, I’m Rachel. I’m living and working at Castlerigg Manor for a year, which is a long way from home as I am from Dudley near Birmingham. My faith is such an important part of my life. It has helped guide me through decisions and my relationship with God has helped me to become the person I am today. As a young Catholic there are many things that I struggle with, but there have been some experiences throughout my faith journey that have helped me through some of these struggles and come out with a closer relationship with God and more understanding of what He wants for me.

A big turning point in my life was when I took a pilgrimage to Taizé in France. If anyone was to ask me what Taizé was like I could only give the same answer as I got before I sent: cold showers basic food, camping, a 19-hour coach journey, etc. I must admit, all these things are true, and from an outside perspective this is all it would be. But when you experience it you are overwhelmed by this feeling of community and belonging. God is present in so many ways in Taizé, and it was truly a turning point in my life. The beauty is held in its simplicity: prayer three times a day, Bible study, and meals. But it helped me to grow so much in my faith and everyone who went was touched by how lovely it was to live there. And it has now led me to where I am today.

 

Lousie Cullen, 18 (Grimsargh): Hitting the Right Note

Being a Catholic has always been part of my life, and I have been brought up in a wonderful Catholic family. Every Sunday we would go to church, and I enjoyed going to Childrens Liturgy with my friends . Although a friendly parish, it was centred around the older generations, and there was nothing to encourage young people to attend Mass. Growing up, and looking around the church, there were very few families with teenage children and less and less of my friends turned up.

My parents and other families with “teenagers” in the parish continued to inspire me with their vision of faith being something you can live out in your everyday life.
They constantly showed me this, through working hard to get younger memebers of the parish involved in the church community. I got involved in the music group, and Childrens Liturgy became something for the whole spectrum of youth in the church to be involved in. They made a youth group, showing me living out my faith through raising money for charities, with other young people can also be fun!! This strengthened my faith giving it relevence to my life, encouraging me to make the choice to continue going to church, even though many of my friends didn’t.

Going to Castlerigg with school, gave me a different exeperience of church, where the whole of mass is a celebration, not just a routine where the meaning can be lost. Coming back from there into my own parish, I became aware that the way the service was presented meant people appeared to be going through the motions of going to church and I felt fustrated that little was done to make the Mass speak to people.

Getting involved in the Youth Service helped me find something that was missing in my church. Through it I have met lots of amazing friends, and there is an amazing spirit when we’re together, due to us all having our faith in commom. Summit walks, and Prayer & Praise helped me praise God in a setting that is comfortable and relaxed.
Going to Lourdes last summer, was an overwhelming experience for me. Seeing the faith the sick had, as they visited the grotto and touched the walls was inspiring, and the gratitiude they had towards the youth for enabling them to make the pilgrimage was enriching. Even though it was hard work and exhausting, being with the 100 strong youth helpers meant it was a week full of laughter & fun.   My parish has been amazing in making it possible for me and other young people by constantly supporting the fundraisers we have with enthusiasm and generosity.
Now going to church, I find a growing sense of community. Meeting in the ‘Caton Room’ after mass for a cup of tea and biscuit is a chance to bring all memebers of the parish together, and is fantastic. I can see that as our parish develops, and the sense of community strengthens, so does my faith.

Next year I’m looking forward to World Youth Day Madrid, which will give me the chance to share my faith with Catholics from all over the world.

Rosie O’Donnell, 23 (Blackpool): Faith in the City

My name is Rosie. I am a young person from Blackpool who has recently (and suddenly) found myself all grown up – living in a big city, working and paying bills, even getting stuck in traffic?! I have joined the 9-5 group and I’m enjoying it! So many times though I have found myself getting so caught up in the secular world that I have forgotten to include God. I come from a Catholic background and so throughout my life have found it easy and comfortable to talk about God but out here in the big wide world, it is not so commonplace. I found myself, despite being surrounded by people, feeling terribly lonely. I decided to do something about this and so got involved in my local church. Here, I immediately felt at home. You see, faith is not something that you grow up with and leave behind, it is something that develops and grows with you. I am now a member of the church choir and social group, both of which have helped me to keep active in my faith. And as for working life, a friend of mine suggested I turn off the radio during those long traffic jams and instead devote the time to prayer. In this way, I am able to include God in my daily life and talk with him as freely as I always did. I love being a Catholic and my faith is so important to me. Life is too complicated not to include God – I don’t know how some people manage! 

 

Sarah Newton, 20 (Kirkham): Filled with love.  

Being a young Catholic today means so much to me, as God fills the earth and each one of us with his love. Its only in the last few years I have come to realise this more and more. I grew up in a loving Catholic home and went to church every Sunday, yet I didn’t especially understand my faith until I had amazing experiences in Lourdes. There is a sheer presence in the town and particularly in the Grotto which brought my faith to life. With the great friends I found there and being able to discuss my faith with others, everything make sense about the wonder and glory of God. No wonder people go back and back. It is difficult for myself and others to find time to deepen our faith with God, until we just think back and remember how God is always with us. I’m currently on placement at Castlerigg Manor which has allowed my heart to open up more to him and now through these experiences, Mass and praying I realise how much He is a part of me and my life.

Joe Kaye, 22 (Barrow): Giving my life to God.

Well, here is something I never thought I would do. I remember even last year looking in the Diocesan newspaper where these testimonies are written up and thinking how ridiculous these people were, sharing their testimonies. Now I’m one of them… Recently I attended a faith conference in Ilfracombe, Devon. The conference was a Catholic charismatic family conference and it tested my faith. I was part of a diocesan youth team there to lead a group of 9-11 year olds. It was life changing; I have become much deeper in faith, finding it easier to pray and now always having time for God which before I never did. The conference taught me that I can be involved in my faith and not just a spectator.

So here I am the lad that 12 months ago in Lourdes could not wait for the day to end so I could go out and get to the pub about to begin my own prayer group! Yes, I’m still human and nobody is perfect, but I’m slowly but surely giving my life to God and I don’t want anybody to miss out on the wonderful things He has for us here on earth, never mind in heaven. So remember to “put on the whole armour of God and zeal as your shoes  to spread the Gospel of peace”.

Amelia Rock, 18 (Castlerigg Manor): Castlerigg Glee

Hi my name is Amelia Rock, I’m 18 years old from Wrexham, North Wales, and I am currently doing my gap year at Castlerigg Manor. For me being a Catholic is a very new thing. As a child I was never brought up in a Catholic environment my dad was baptized Anglican and my mum was born Jewish, and so my faith wasn’t a big part of my life. At the age of 8 I changed primary school to a Church of England one, I loved it there, and at the age of 10 I decided I wanted to get christened, my parents didn’t baptize me to any faith when I was a baby as they wanted to let me choose. And so starting high school, I ended up going to Chester Catholic High School, because my best friend was going. Through my life and especially through high school I have had a passion for drama and the performing arts and I really wanted to pursue this into a career, at this time in my life I knew nothing could get in the way of this.

At the age of 13 my mum passed away which basically changed my life completely, the small amount of faith I did have was lost.

And then at the age of 14 I got offered to go on retreat to Castlerigg Manor, I didn’t know anything about it apart from my best friend was going, and so I went. From the day I got off the coach at Castlerigg up until now my life again has changed dramatically. I found a deeper faith; I discovered God’s love, God’s compassion and God’s forgiveness. From the many times I visited Castlerigg as a young person I could feel my life rebuilding, Castlerigg has helped me so much develop as a young person and now a young adult. And then last year at the age of 17 I got confirmed into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil which was amazing.

Now my faith has really opened my eyes to the beauty of the Church and the love that God has for each of us. And so from the inspiration from Castlerigg it has changed my path, I have now realised that I do not want to live a selfish life of acting, but to live a selfless life and to be with young people that enter youth centres like Castlerigg helping young people develop in their faith and help them as much as Castlerigg helped me discover myself.

Hannah Beckford, 19 (Longridge, Preston): Parachuting in!

I am currently working at Castlerigg Manor as a volunteer and only a weeks ago, I was baptised at the Easter vigil service at Castlerigg. My faith came to me only recently.
I had always grown up in a happy but non-religious family. My parents have always supported me in everything I do even if it hadn’t gone so well. After taking my GCSE’s I went to a sixth form college in Preston but had to leave after one year because I wasn’t doing so well and was far from a helpful or hardworking student. I then began in a new sixth form college in Lancaster. A new start, new people, new staff. However, my old attitudes and after a year, hopes of high grades were looking slim. I had heard of a pilgrimage to Lourdes with the youth section of the diocese which a couple of my friends were going on. This seemed the perfect distraction away from school work and exams. Little did I know how much it would shape my life in the future.
When we were out in Lourdes I couldn’t understand really what was going on. I knew I had this ‘happy’ feeling and believed it can only be from helping the VIP’s that we served. However, it was only as I knelt with the 100-strong youth section before the Grotto that I allowed myself to be open to the Holy Spirit. I had a very child-like gratitude and natural praise for this ‘thing’ (God) that I honestly knew very little about. It moved me so much. I felt God’s awesome love and acceptance wash over me and it left me desperate for more. It filled me with the thirst to want to love him back but I became aware that I didn’t yet know how. In the next couple of days I tried so hard to re-experience what I had at the Grotto but the more I tried the more I realised it wasn’t about getting the sign of cross in the right sequence or learning all the words to the services or kneeling at the right time. It was about love, loving one another and by doing so I becoming closer to our Father.
After returning home, I became hooked!! I wanted to know and understand what this space was in my heart and I began to read and talk to friends about it. It felt to me as if we were all falling through life; yet people with ‘Faith’ had parachutes. I felt my fall was clumsy, that I was simply missing out on looking around and didn’t ap-preciate the sights around me as I was so worried about reaching the bot-tom. However, my friends with the parachutes were floating slowly and were relaxing, secure in the knowledge that they knew they were safe because of the parachutes they carried on them was Faith. As a result they were able to look around and appreciate what they saw because they knew of the soft landing that was to come. I now understand this, and with the information I have learnt, with the advice I have been given, I can begin to build my relationship with God. I had heard about an opportunity to apply as a volunteer at Castlerigg Manor. This was my chance to begin to build my parachute – my love and reliance on God.
It didn’t take long for me to make the decision to be baptised, it was the right thing to do. I approached the priest at Castlerigg and we began preparing. I was a child having to learn a new world and new language. The team at Castlerigg have been instrumental in helping me to grow and stay on this path to knowing and loving God. After months of preparations the morning of my baptism came. And I spent the morning in pain. I wasn’t ready! I had doubts and it hurt. My family and friends were arriving that afternoon and I hadn’t spent any time alone to find myself in all the chaos of the Easter Vigil. I went and hid in the chapel. I had every colour pen you could imagine, music, paper, book upon book, Crucifix, Rosary beads and felt ready to pray so I began to write. I needed to know that God was with me and that He was holding my hand. I so needed His love and help that morning but after writing and praying for 2 hours I had prayed nothing from the heart and I felt so empty and lost. I was compelled to open my Bible, and straight away the love that I needed and the help I thirst for was laid upon me in abundance! (psalm 19 ) ‘May the Lord answer in times of trial, may the name of Jacob’s God protect you… May he send you help from his shrine and give you support from Sion… May he give you your heart’s desire and may the Lord answer all your prayers.’ Alleluia !! I read these words and at once knew that Jesus was with me and always would be. The Easter Vigil was amazing; I have so much fire in my heart and can’t wait to share it with everybody.

Jimmy O’Donnell, 19 (Blackpool): Basically, being Catholic is awesome!

I used to think that my religion was a small part of my life, to be put in a box and taken out once a week for an hour on Sundays. But in recent years, I have become more involved with my faith by going to youth groups, pilgrimages and Faith conferences, and now looking back on my life so far, I have realised that Catholicism has been surrounding every aspect of my life. I went to Catholic schools – St Kentigern’s and St Mary’s – and all my family are practising Catholics and so without my faith, life wouldn’t make sense to me. Another thing is that recently I was looking through my ‘friends’ list on Facebook and well over three quarters of my contacts are Catholic and I have made life-long friends from being more involved with the Church. Basically, being a Catholic is awesome!

Chris Lee, 19 (Lancaster): God can do amazing things

Well i have been brought up in a catholic family and attended church on a weekly basis but never really understood my religion until i started to attend youth events such as impact and going on pilgrimages to Lourdes and WYD 08. These events changed everything for me and made me realise what my faith meant to me and how God can do amazing things in my life. However, more recently i was part of a ministry team at a camp in california working for the salvation army. This was again a life changing experience for me, i experienced the differences and similarities of two different denominations of christianity. I was also able to preach about my religion and allow others to start to understand different concepts such as transubstantiation and the importance of mother mary in our lives. A brilliant moment was when i realised the importance of the scriptures and how praying to god through the bible can help you get through some very stressful and difficult times in your life, these which i experienced helping under-privileged children from the inner city of San Francisco. All these things have allowed my faith to grow a great deal and allowed me to develop a personal relationship with God instead of just turning up to church once a week.

Rebecca Kendall, 21 (St Annes-on-the-Sea): Refreshment for the Soul

My parents brought me up with a really strong belief in God and of His love for His people. Their example led me to my own understanding and deepening of my faith. So the foundations of my faith were built on rock, and when the winds of my parents splitting up blew and the rain came, my faith stood strong. Yes, there were definitely rough patches and my beliefs about sex and marriage in particular were thoroughly shaken and there were times when I couldn’t feel God: I just felt lost and hopeless, but I kept believing that He was carrying me through, and that He did. Matthew 11:28 was a verse that kept appearing at these times when I was ready to fall apart, and was a much needed lifeline: ‘I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls’. So though I have endured struggles and hardships, these have in fact only brought me closer to God. Though I feel close to God, I often need to remind myself of this fact, and the fact that I should be placing God in the driving seat of my life, rather than letting myself get swept along with not much thought. So that’s where I’m at the moment, trying to place all my trust in God…

Daniel Etienne, 20 (Lancaster University): Not a burden but a grace.

Being a young Catholic today has become increasingly more difficult with pressures to conform to a very unreligious society from which young Catholics can feel alienated and like myself are persecuted for their faith, and the challenge is to listen to what Christ said, ‘If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too’ (Jn. 15:20). These words are very familiar to me as my parish priest was always reminding me of them; Christ gave us these as a warning and is a reference to all who believe in Christ that you will endure hardships in the name of Christ which is the struggle of being a young Catholic today. This message however is of great hope and comfort that Christ was telling us of how with His crucifixion He shares in our sufferings and hardships. In knowing the confrontation that He had throughout His ministry in dealing with society reminds us young people to hold firm to the Truth which is Christ and manifested in His Church. It is a call to follow Christ more closely, which we all try to do but speaking from experience there are times where as a young person you can find yourself immersing yourself into society as it seems the easiest option and seems the most desirable. To do this we are indirectly rejecting Christ by accepting a society that has rejected Him. It becomes a challenge and a great pain to know that you have the truth but no one can see and they laugh it off. The secular and the sacred move further apart and it is young Catholics’ job to determine how to strike a balance between the two through prayer, the Church and hope in the risen Lord who gives us hope through having overcome persecution by rising from the dead, so I know that holding on this we can be saved. I have always believed that the best way to live out faith in this way is for young people to get as involved in their church communities as much as possible otherwise they will not only be distanced from society but also fellow Christians which can lead to a loss of faith. Coming together as young Catholics today is hugely important and at home and here in Lancaster I have been very lucky that there are many opportunities for sharing faith and living out faith together but we need to always be renewing our faith and bringing others to faith who are willing to endure the hardships of being a Catholic today with us not as a burden but as a grace.

Hanna Craig, 22 (Morecambe): Loved!

The last year wasn’t a particularly easy one for me. After receiving my A-level results and not gaining my place at university I decided to repeat my last year at school, despite many people telling me it would be extremely hard. It wasn’t until my friend went off to university themselves that it really hit home and I felt very lonely. At the same time, home wasn’t very peaceful with arguments pretty much the norm. I found it increasingly hard to concentrate to believe that this was God’s plan. After all I felt like everyone was disappointed in me, why would God be any different? With my friends off at university, the people I always talked to about everything gone, I bottled everything up inside. Church became more of a chore than a choice and I felt like I could no longer feel God.
I got asked if I would do the ‘Philip course’ and agreed as at the time I didn’t have much else to do. One of the things we looked at whilst there was all about the Father’s love. One line stuck in my head; ‘no matter what you do, I shall always love you.’ I realised that God hadn’t left me, He wasn’t disappointed in me, and I had turned away from Him! After this I began to take more interest in church again and it no longer felt like such a chore.

Will Hince, 23 (Lancaster): The reason for life.

I love being Catholic. Before I took my faith seriously, life was good, and I was happy, but looking back, I see that something was missing, and there was an emptiness inside me. Now my faith is a big part of my life, and it doesn’t hold me back from anything I want to do, but it gives me so much more to live for. I know I have a reason to live, and it’s to love and to serve God. It is often a massive struggle within – to love God, and follow His teachings given to me through the Church, even though everything the world tells me often seems to go against that… But when I’m praying, I feel strong and close to God. I have found that we can serve God in everything that we do. Not just for one hour a week in Mass; but whether I am praying the rosary, or out for a ride on my motorcycle, I know God is always there with me, and we can offer Him all that we do.