Diocesan Youth Service
Message from Jack Regan, Director of Youth Services for the Lancaster Diocese:
This Sunday (23 Nov) is World Youth Sunday, a day when the Universal Church celebrates young people and the work that we do with them.
By agreement with the Bishop and the Trustees, we use World Youth Sunday in this diocese to promote the work of the Youth Service and as something of a fundraiser. We are extremely grateful to the diocese and its parishes for that fact that this Sunday’s retiring collect goes to the Youth Service and I want to thank you in advance for anything that you are able to give, no matter how small, as well as for your prayers during this weekend.
We are the lowest funded active youth service in the country but also, I personally feel, one of the more dynamic and innovative in terms of the work that we do. We have a wonderful team at the minute doing some brilliant work, both up here at Castlerigg and also out and about around the Diocese.
To many, it seems as though more and more young people are falling away from the faith these days. Overall, that is sadly true, but we are convinced that if you know what to do and if you have the right people, it is completely possible to get young people and young adults excited about the faith and to keep them in the Church.
We have had an active youth service in this Diocese since the early 1960s, and it has been based at Castlerigg Manor since 1969. Right now, there is a ministry team of eleven people working in the youth service, most of whom are young adults from the towns and communities in our diocese who have given a year of their lives to work voluntarily.
Each year, we welcome more than 3,000 young people for retreats at Castlerigg Manor, and we also visit a large amount of parishes and schools around the area.
Through our SPARK programme, we have already planted a vibrant youth group in Carlisle, and we are working to plant two more in different areas in the coming year.
In the next year, we will also be launching an innovative new award scheme for the diocese aimed at schools and parish youth groups.
Among other things, we also work in partnership with Youth 2000 to provide a vibrant retreat day every December, in partnership with 'The Ascent' to provide one of the world's best discipleship programmes for young people, and we actively support the Flame events, the Lourdes Pilgrimage, and many of the World Youth Day pilgrimages. We also provide resources and training for leaders and catechists.
These are just a few highlights of the work that we're involved in.
This work is simply not possible without the generous support of the people in our parishes. Anything you feel able to give during today’s retiring collection will be put to good use. Our aim in the youth service is simple: we want every young person to know that there is a God who loves them and has a beautiful plan for their lives. We want to call them to the joy of life in Christ and to build up our parishes in the process! We are seeing some real fruits at the minute, and we're excited about the future.