Siobhan Denny has been the Pastoral Youth Worker at Sacred Heart for a decade. Below she shares what the youth groups get up to and the impact youth ministry has had on her parish and the wider community.
There has been a long tradition of youth ministry at Sacred Heart Parish encouraged by various priests over the years. However, 10 years ago, Fr Duncan created the first paid role for a youth worker at the parish, raising the profile of youth ministry. At that time the aim was to engage the youth at times in their life when they seem to disappear from the pews. Mainly bridging the gaps between First Communion and Confirmation and Confirmation and Marriage or adult life. Over the last 10 years the youth ministry has grown and adapted to offer faith development, pilgrimage experiences, leadership development, volunteering opportunities and awareness on social justice issues.
As the youth worker, my aim is to create opportunities for young people to have an experience of God in their lives, as that experience for me was when my faith came alive.
Having so much on offer for the youth has encouraged the other parishioners that our church is not dying, in fact there are many in the next generation who are interested and engaged.
My favourite thing about organising the youth ministry is that every day is different, and how much the young people can suprise you.
We have three different aged youth groups at the parish for young people aged 8-16. Those over the age of 16 and young adults do not meet weekly but have the opportunity to join one off events like the Lourdes pilgrimage and FLAME as well as events offered by the diocesan youth ministry service. The youth ministry also covers our altar servers social experience and youth RCIA.
The most recent event that our parish youth were involved in was the jubilee of teenagers pilgrimage to Rome. We offered this to our teenagers who are involved in a parish ministry like altar serving or reading. A group of 15 travelled to Rome where we eneded up attending the Pope’s funeral. It was an enriching experience for them and great for them to see and talk to other teenagers from around the world.
On a smaller scale our youth group activities involve learning about Catholic Social Teaching, and then planning and taking part in social justice projects (for example: our sponsored sleepout raising money for the homeless shelter, cooking meals for Olympic house homeless shelter and delivering care packages to the homeless in London); having lots of fun with outings to places like the trampoline park, Thorpe Park and the escape room; and developing our prayer life by exploring different ways to pray and learning about prayer.
We have a new exciting project this term where the young people will be interviewing senior parishioners about their faith life. You’ll be able to keep up to date on our parish YouTube channel!
Reflections from Rome
Our pilgrimage to Rome was a beautiful, transformative experience – a true testament to God’s glory. I hope that these words can adequately reconstruct and replicate the image of greatness, and that you too can understand the beauty of pilgrimage and be transformed by it. I wish for the pilgrimage’s message of hope to be echoed back to you.
For me to have been part of this pilgrimage was a blessing in itself. So many people were divided by a language barrier yet united by their faith – truly a special experience. We visited so many beautiful places but the most magnificent had to be St Peter’s Basilica which really reflected God’s triumph. Each painting depicted much more than words could express with each one even being adorned by intricate golden decorations. It was a once in a lifetime experience that I believe everyone should have the fortune of having. The feeling of being fully encompassed within God’s peace.
It has to be said, that one of the best aspects of the trip was the introspection which has, I can confidently say, rejuvenated and replenished my faith. Thank you so much to everyone who organised the trip and helped make it into such a significant experience. I loved every moment: the sightseeing of the Trevi fountain and Spanish steps, the pizza, the gelato, the sunshine and the friendships formed.
Originally on this pilgrimage I had planned to attend the canalisation of Carlo Acutis. Due to the last-minute turn of unfortunate events, the itinerary for this trip had changed. I was no longer attending the canalisation of Carlo Acutis, but Pope Francis’ funeral.
As well as this, I also had the opportunity to visit multiple other significant places to Catholicism, which I thoroughly enjoyed seeing.
I had many opportunities to pray and reflect over the course of this pilgrimage, which I am thankful for, and the sacrament of reconciliation was also available to the pilgrims.
My favourite part of the pilgrimage was seeing St Peter’s Basilica, it was very beautiful.