Lasallian Association for Mission in Bristol

YOUTH WORK - A VISION FOR THE FUTURE

By Mark Quinn

"I encourage the Church in Europe to give greater attention to the training of young people in the faith."

"To this end there is need for a renewed youth ministry, organised by age groups and attentive to the varying situations of children, adolescents and young adults. It will also be necessary to provide this ministry with a more organic structure and consistency, and to be patiently concerned with questions raised by young people."

"In this process opportunities should be provided for encounter among young people, so as to foster a climate of mutual listening and prayer."

Pope John Paul II - The Church in Europe - No 61 - 62 (28th June 2003)

Aims of this document

The aim of this document is to present before Bishop Declan and any other concerned parties a vision for future youth work in the Diocese of Clifton. It assumes that the diocese recognises the need for change, growth and development of its youth service if it is to not only implement the wishes of the Holy Father but to provide a youth service which answers the fundamental calling of Christ to all His disciples "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs the Kingdom of God." (Mark 10:14b) To this aim this document identifies where the Youth Service must be in ten years' time:

It reflects on where youth work is today and recognises the importance of an audit to fully celebrate what is being achieved
Reflects on the needs of different age groups as they grow on their journey
Looks at the opportunities to develop youth ministry in conjunction with our schools
Highlights the importance of developing youth work on a regional/deanery basis
Identifies the importance of peer ministry and forming communities of young people in mission to others in the diocese
Identifies the need for leaders to develop and co-ordinate teams to deliver opportunities to young people
Identifies a framework and specific targets for implementation of our youth policy over the next ten years
Identifies the need to have closer collaboration between all agencies concerned with youth ministry and education

What do we want?

There are perhaps as many answers to this question as there are people in the diocese, but I think most of us would broadly want the same sort of things:-

Something that guides our young people down the paths of truth and holiness in a world that offers a myriad of choices but little effective guidance
A framework that supports young people in their own quest to seek the eternal truth from the confusion of modern life
A Youth Service that is highly visible, communicating well not only with young people but with the whole of diocesan life
Something that is led by young people for young people, nurturing and training its leaders of the future
A Youth Service that is responsive to the needs of young people
A Youth Service that is outward looking and evangelistic in nature, not simply ministering to the converted but is inclusive of all people

So that we have a Church in which:-

Young people are alive and active as the Church of today and who will form the Church of tomorrow
The Youth Service is a ministry to young people that is seen by the young themselves as relevant, great fun, involving and spiritual.
Jesus is seen to be alive and active in all its members especially the young.

Don't we already do this?

At present this is done in credible but haphazard ways, which are both wasteful of resources and of personnel. In all parishes there is some attempt at catechesis either in preparation for the sacraments or as part of parish programmes, for example, "Alpha for Young People". Catechesis is often the only contact that our parishes may have specifically with young people. Of course, contrary to popular beliefs, young people are at mass to varying degrees on Sundays but, with few exceptions, Sunday mass is not geared up or orientated to the aspirations and needs of young people. The finding of most reports and surveys is that young people at best find mass "boring" at worst they cease to attend as soon as they have the possibility of doing so. Is this really what we want? Shouldn't we be offering them more than this?

Few, if any, parishes employ youth workers to deal with young people. On the whole the people dealing with the youth of our parishes are unpaid volunteers, usually parents, who are doing this in addition to full time jobs. "Burnout" or lack of incentive once their own children have "gone through the system" mean that these leaders may come and go quite quickly, and finding replacements can be difficult if not impossible.

Provision of youth ministry, although done very well in some places where clergy and/or youth leaders are active in promoting it, is "patchy" or "non-uniform" across the diocese, ranging from good in some places to non-existent in others. If this were access to the sacraments then we would quite rightly be shocked and describing this as a crisis. Instead, our young people don't complain and we choose to look the other way. This lack of effort on our part will "catch up" with us and indeed as our numbers decline perhaps has already done so.

What should we do about this?

Firstly the diocese has to make a decision or commitment. Is youth work going to be a priority or is it simply going to be a "problem" which has to be dealt with or addressed? In the first case it becomes an on-going concern of the diocese at all levels and commitment to it a matter of policy from Bishop to Parish. In the second it is seen as a problem which we need to spend some time and money on to solve, but once we have done so then it ceases to be a concern. The structures are in place for discussion of youth issues; Diocesan Pastoral Council, Deanery and Parish Pastoral Councils, the embryonic Youth Committee that has already met a few times. There has to be a collaborative responsibility for this by the whole diocese. Having discussed these issues decisions need to be made and a commitment made to spend money on something that is seen to be a pastoral priority.

Secondly, the diocese needs a vision of where it would like to be in however many years with regard to its youth work. However unrealistic that vision might seem to us now without it we are aiming too low and doing a disservice to future aspirations. This vision needs to take account of what we see as the best practice of both the present and the past, both in our own diocese and elsewhere, and not simply within the Catholic Church either. It needs to be a clear vision if it is to have any chance of being successful. It must look at and define its "target" group or groups so that it can best meet their needs. Lastly, and most crucially, it needs to have clear steps of implementation so that unrealistic expectations are not allowed to get in the way of real "progress" and clear targets can be made.

Thirdly, the diocese must look to its own resources to see what can be used for this task rather than hoping the "miracle" will come from somewhere, or someone, else. Therefore it needs some sort of audit in order to assess what those resources might be. This does not have to be some expensive commissioned report but a commonsense look at who, or what, is working with young people so that valuable and sometimes expensive resources are not overlooked or worse, duplicated.

Where to start? -Towards A Youth Vision

As obvious as it sounds we need to start with the young people themselves. Which young people are we thinking about? Different age groups have different needs and qualities. Is the Youth Service going to attempt to meet all these needs or should it home in on one particular group? What are these groups?

The under 11's
The 11 - 14's
The 15 -17's
The 17 - 21's
The 21 +

Each of these will have particular needs and therefore will need to be treated differently. This will determine the sort of activities we can do with each age group.

Providing activities for the under eleven's is often about games, parties/food or leisure activities with parents. There are often a lot of practical activities, artwork, creativity and so on. There is much contact with this group for sacramental preparation. This group is already well catered for in the parish and the primary school. They are enthusiastic, positive and willing to get involved. They are perhaps more accepting of our weaknesses as leaders. As a group they tend to be easier to work with and are perhaps very affirming to the minister who works with them.

The 11 - 14 age group are becoming part of a wider world with a broader experience. This raises issues, values and lifestyles in conflict with parents and parish community values. The challenge here is to engage young people in fun activities with a balance of social and reflective experiences. They need acceptance for this stage of the journey, which can be very challenging because of the desert experience of doubt and becoming more autonomous. Nevertheless, they have a great deal to offer and immense talents that need to be tapped into so they may become the peer leaders of the future. They are not afraid to express their experience if they feel disappointed.

The 15 -17 age group no longer want the same social activities as the younger age groups, although if the younger age groups are not present then this might change. These young people are looking increasingly at "being involved", although many would not want to be involved in our liturgies in church. They are asking questions about both their faith and themselves for the first time and they are beginning to discover their identities, particularly sexually. They are developing socially, intellectually and spiritually therefore the activities with these young people need to reflect this. Both they and the next group see a real need for "Fun". However they are sensitive to the seeming lack of "Joy" in our parish liturgies and a common response of many in these groups is that "mass is boring." If they are not listened to they will vote with their feet and may be lost to the Church.

The 17 - 21 age group are the young adults of the Church. They are looking at independence and how they fit into the wider community, including the Church. It is this group who will be our youth and peer leaders of the future. They need to feel they have a part to play in the Church while at the same time recognising that the traditional structures of the Church are not necessarily helpful to their spiritual growth. Both they and the 21+ group can offer time (perhaps in the form of "gap" years) and through their example are the best means of spreading the Good News amongst their friends. To be successful however this group need to be given responsibility especially for other young people.

Perhaps the only way to really understand what these age groups want from our church is to ask them and those who care for them. To this end discussions have already been held with young people from across the diocese.

What pastoral strategies can we use for these groups?

"If the mountain won't come to Mohammed..." Waiting for these people to come banging on our door (or even at our altars) is no longer a successful option. It hasn't worked in the past and is unlikely to do so in the near future. We must then look for them. Where are they? If we are not to disperse our efforts we ought to look for them in the places that they are normally to be found in numbers. We have large institutions where hundreds of all ages gather almost every day: our Catholic Schools. Surely these hold the key to our work with young people in the future?

There are 55 Primary Schools, 10 Secondary Schools, 1 Sixth Form College, 9 Independent Schools, 2 Special Schools and one "Christian" School listed in our current directory. Our secondary schools in particular are places where young people from many different backgrounds and places meet and they cover at least two if not three of the identified age groups above. To not use this valuable resource would be very wasteful and surrender a golden chance to work with young people in an environment in which both they and we can be on equal terms in.

Many of our deaneries have both in the recent and the more distant past provided useful occasions for young people to meet. There is some discussion in the diocese as to whether there should be greater cooperation within deaneries over things like preparation and celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation, youth involvement in deanery pastoral councils, and so on. Greater cooperation between parishes within deaneries is likely to be an increasing trend as time goes by. We believe there should be another avenue or approach to youth work within the diocese: through the deaneries or regional areas. In the past working at this level has been both positive and successful. If we approach our work along these twin tracks of school and region/deanery then we might be able to formulate pastoral strategies that have a real impact on the young people of this diocese.

There are other interested groups who work with young people within our diocese. Chaplaincy groups that work in colleges and universities are one such. The Junior SVP is a growing movement. Some groups aspire to be working with young people in pastoral and spiritual capacities such as Youth 2000 and the Lasallian group LAMB. There are probably lots of groups who have contact with young people but who do so without any real reference to any other group doing similar sorts of work. A first and vital step is to see what groups there are out there and what they are doing.

What works?

Many of our parish youth groups function well as social groups, particularly if they are for the "younger" children., (the under 11's?). Our problems in youth work tend to be with those of secondary school age and beyond: the ones who seem to "disappear" from our parishes perhaps never to return. What are we going to provide for them?

If of course we look at them as being in our secondary schools then they haven't disappeared at all! Here they are still thirsting for spiritual stimulation and are still growing both physically and spiritually. Our biggest need is to provide for them, spiritually, within our schools. This of course is chaplaincy work.

There are many models of chaplaincy. In some of our schools, especially our primary schools, the chaplain is a priest. He might come in once a week, perhaps more, perhaps less, and his visit could well be tied to celebration of the sacraments and so on. In many other schools the chaplain is a lay person, perhaps backed up by a priest for provision of the sacraments. In some schools or colleges the provision of chaplaincy is full time, in others part-time. It seems then that all of our schools have some sort of chaplaincy provision so do we need anything in addition to this? If we wish to involve the pupils in the wider community, rather than simply ministering to them in school, then the answer is "Yes."

Perhaps the most daring, and successful type of chaplaincy, if it can be called that, is that of "Peer Ministry." This is the type of work pioneered by the De La Salle Brothers at Kintbury and much in evidence at other retreat centres. It is also the style of ministry used by Youth 2000, The House of the Open Door, the Sion Community and other such groups that work within youth ministry. In essence committed young people take a year out, in effect a "gap" year, in order to work with young people, normally a little younger than themselves, but not so much younger that the young people on either side cannot see something of themselves in each other.

There is an inestimable value in the young ministering to the young. They can communicate in ways that even people ten years removed from the target age group cannot. If we wish our youth work to be truly effective rather than "window dressing" or going through the motions then we must involve young people in the process itself. If we want our youth work to make the maximum impact on our young people, and to provide our leaders of religion in the years to come then we must use their gifts and talents in the very work itself.

However school based mission is only one of the strands of the work of the Youth Service. The other important strand is that of regional events. If the work of the Youth Service is to be seen by others then it needs highly visible forms for it to be recognised. If there were regional events, perhaps centred in Bristol, Swindon, Cheltenham/Gloucester, Taunton and Trowbridge/Salisbury then these would also constitute a "reaching out" to young people and can involve those youngsters who are not in our catholic schools and colleges. Perhaps these events, organised by the Youth Service, could be in a "Road Show" form, which could tour the different regions of the diocese. There would need to be a "Team" consisting of the Youth Co-ordinators, key clergy and adult lay people with specific skills, for example, music or sporting talents. Perhaps, initially, there will be a need to find those talents outside of the diocese, if the audit reveals that our own diocese is lacking the necessary skills.

Structure

How can we structure our provision of Youth Events throughout the diocese? As much as we might like to see a rejuvenation of the youth scene at a parish level it is unlikely that this can be done effectively with limited resources by the Youth Service, even with two Youth Co-ordinators. With over100 parishes in the diocese, to attempt to have thriving youth groups in all of them is unrealistic. To provide it in only a few of them will result in a further uneven distribution of youth ministry and opportunities.

We would suggest therefore that these events should be provided on a regional basis, initially at least quite large regions as mentioned above. A "team" would provide a day of fun, activity, prayer, workshops or sport, depending upon local need, in each region. This team would have a basic "core" group of youth co-ordinators, clergy, adults and young people with "extras" who might have the necessary skills or be in the right region to help. This core group would have all necessary training and cover in Child Protection Procedures and would form the basis of the first events to take place. This sort of structure would enable events to happen with the necessary expertise to make them attractive to the young people themselves so that a steady demand and expectation could be built up over a relatively short period of time. These regional events would build into larger diocesan events as regions come together. Those young people who become involved should be encouraged to take up ownership of events in future years. They will become the peer and youth leaders of the future youth service. They could equally become the source for our youth and peer ministry within school, thus touching the lives of young people not simply once or twice a year but on a weekly if not daily basis. In this sense the youth ministry within our diocese would be continually growing and would be truly "organic".

How can we structure our vision of peer ministry within our schools so that it might work? To have these valuable and committed young people visiting our schools in an unplanned and haphazard manner is worse than useless, it will turn them off and make schools reluctant to accept them. These youth workers must be properly prepared and fully sensitive to the sort of work they can do. For this they need effective guidance and coordination.

It is critical that Specialist Educators are brought in as often as possible to run Youth Culture Awareness Training with as broad a spectrum of staff and volunteer youth workers as possible from across the diocese. Without such specialised training, uninformed attempts to work with young people are likely to fail.

They will need chaplains who will introduce them into working within schools and guide them in the sort of work they can realistically perform. There has to be proper involvement and liaison with the school so that they are seen as effective youth workers not "lackeys" or student teachers. These youth workers would need not only financial support but also moral and spiritual support too. There needs to be effective use of these young people in the youth events of the diocese by people who can clearly see the role and limitations of these young people.

If these youth workers could live together in community, providing mutual support and affirmation for each other then imagine the powerful effect this could have on other young people. "Isolated, lonely people do not make good evangelists. With careful nurturing and support, they become powerful advocates of the Gospel in their own culture." (Avril Baigent -Tablet 14th June 2003). It is an experience of "community" that all Christians crave especially the young. For Christians this has to be a community which is alive and active with the Spirit, a community full of the joy of the risen Christ. If this community can be seen as a real community by the young people in our schools and regional areas, then we have already begun to kindle the spark which will galvanise and "grow" the youth ministry of the future.

How many of these youth communities would we want? Ideally we would like to see a community for each of our catholic secondary schools or regions. There might be anywhere between four and eight youth volunteers working and living in each community. The emphasis within each community would be on Christian Community and outreach to the young people within our schools, both secondary and primary. In this way they reach out to all the young people within our target groups.

To achieve maximum effect each community should work closely with the deanery/region that supports it. In this way the work within school bears fruit out of it as our "young people are active and alive as the Church of today and the Church of tomorrow." This "active part" may not manifest itself in Sunday mass participation in our parishes (although it might) but it will be seen in the increase of regional and diocesan wide events for young people and it should also provide a framework for young people to develop a spiritual life in accord with the Christian Gospel.

What are all these Youth Workers actually going to do?

They are not going to take the jobs of existing chaplains and make them redundant! Instead we should see them as Chaplaincy Assistants who will work with existing chaplains to further the excellent work already being done within our schools and colleges. Neither are they there purely to serve the young people but rather to "empower" them so that they become more involved in the Church outside their school.

All youth work should be based on the "Head", "Hands", and "Heart" model. This means we engage young people in creative as well as spiritual and discursive activities. This is the basis of chaplaincy work in many of the schools in the Bristol area. Peer Ministry relies on the use of small group dynamics, and so our Youth Workers would be people who could lead small groups of youngsters. This could be done within curriculum time in conjunction with RE Departments so that the impact of these young people is felt not simply in "chaplaincy" time at a lunch time with the relatively few who come along to lunch time activities, but by all the young people they are encouraged to meet and work with.

They could lead activities such as sport, discussion, creativity, prayer, residential retreats, etc, on a deanery or regional basis. To some extent many of these activities already occur within the diocese, but our youth communities would give them the edge of not only having full time youth workers to help or even run them, but also the essential contact with young people that will encourage more young people to attend these sorts of activities. Thus the work of the youth communities in school would feed into the regional and diocesan events, which in turn would encourage more young people in school to become involved with the youth service.

How do we go about this?

Communities of young people living in the regions of our diocese, working within our schools, providing the necessary element of peer ministry in our youth service, is not going to happen over night. Quite apart from the cost there are considerations of recruiting the right people, accommodation, training, child protection and sharing the vision. All of these would take time and a lot of sceptical people would need convincing. To bring about this sort of sea change in our vision of youth work we need a youth team in place that shares this idea and knows how to go about doing this sort of work and organisation.

Although these communities would have, to some extent, to find their own way of working within the school and deanery/parish that suits them best, there does need to be some sort of overall coordination and direction. This is the role of the Youth Coordinators for the diocese. Their role, if you like, is to ensure the youth work builds up into a diocese wide network not just a local provision, and to support the deanery based efforts so that they can do their jobs efficiently. In order to do this the diocese needs people at the helm who are prepared to lead events; teach and inspire others by example; share their vision and drive with others; have a realistic understanding of the problems of working within our catholic schools; have experience of working with young people and be comfortable in that. The role requires a preparedness to work with existing structures and personnel and to encourage all persons who work with young people within the diocese to co-ordinate their efforts. It needs to be a creative partnership with Adult Education, Schools and Chaplaincy.

This is a demanding role, too demanding for any one person to do it efficiently. This role is not simply one of administration but a key role of leading, galvanising, sharing and empowering others. This is a large diocese, both in terms of number of parishes and geographically. It has already been suggested to the diocese that it has two coordinators in this role. Above all the role requires creativity and drive, particularly in the early days, if progress is to be made. Creativity in committee is not impossible but is improbable. Committees meet too irregularly for effective garnering of ideas nor can they meet often enough for a coordinator to feel effectively supported in what is otherwise rather a lonely as well as demanding job. A youth committee, however well intentioned or set up, can never replace the drive of a properly focused team. We believe therefore that there should be two coordinators so that creativity and drive can be fostered and nurtured, and so that the coordinators can work with each other. Every piece of evidence at our disposal whatever the discipline suggests that a team will always work more efficiently than a solitary individual. Surely our youth work is too important to not use the best methods available? Jesus himself sent his disciples out in twos. Surely it would be prudent of us to copy His example?

Funding

The current level of funding is inadequate to the task. If we offer only £30,000 for all youth work then we will not move forward, indeed we won't really stand still either. This is the level of funding that a single Head of an RE Department can expect in a school, and no one would expect a school to pay for only a single teacher, no matter how gifted or able, and claim that they had provided for the religious, moral and spiritual well being of all their pupils. Neither can we. To begin with, the diocese must find enough money to pay for two coordinators. Then there has to be money and resources made available to fund youth activities. Of course many activities will hopefully pay for themselves but there will still need to be money spent on providing resources, to "buy in" other expertises as and when necessary and of course travelling and other expenses. We are not looking at running expensive trips abroad here accessible only to a minority.

Funding communities is something which needs to be negotiated at the local level, not so much in order to get "the best deal", but because the needs will vary from deanery to deanery and school to school. To expect deaneries and schools to contribute to or perhaps even fund these developments is not unreasonable. Ultimately we will have to resort to fund raising from different avenues and perhaps the diocese will need to investigate charitable trusts and the like in order to secure funding. If this is done slowly, incrementally and in a planned manner then it does not need to be a daunting or exhausting business.

If opportunities are taken when they present themselves, for example the De La Salle Brothers are considering setting up just such a community in Bristol in the near future, then there is no reason why we cannot plan first and then look for the resources to make it happen. With the number of diocesan properties, such as empty presbyteries, increasingly becoming available, we are already in a good position to find accommodation for our communities without incurring further expense. We simply have to think differently about their use!

A Proposed Timetable for implementation