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New Youth Resource for Teenagers
June Palmer from Catholic Evangelisation Services, tells us about the exciting new Youth CaFE video/DVD resource material that they have developed for youth groups.
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PLUGGED
IN!|
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In the leadership material for the new Youth CaFE resource 'Plugged-in', Diocesan Youth Workers describe how in their experience issues such as family breakdown, depression, self-harm, drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders and teenage pregnancies affect many young people's lives today. If their Catholic faith is going to mean anything it has to help them to understand and deal with these issues. Young people today live in a very interactive culture that is constantly asking for their views. They are used to texting their choices to television reality shows, e-mailing their stories to magazines, and phoning in to interview their favourite celebrity on the radio. According to Avril Baigent, Northampton Diocesan Youth worker and author of The Y Church report, "Any organisation not actively seeking the views of young people today comes over not only as old-fashioned but downright unapproachable." Generally among young people there is a hunger for "spiritual things". They are open to the 'nice things of religion' such as the existence of a loving God, heaven, angels, and praying but there is real difficulty in accepting the harder concepts of sin, death and doctrine. By providing a safe environment in our parishes where young people are allowed to voice their concerns and air their questions about the Catholic Faith, we can provide some of the answers and help them to make it more relevant in their lives. They need to know that in this ever-changing world there is a loving God, a solid foundation in whom they can place their trust. Many Catholics in their 20s and 30s feel that they missed out somewhere along the line in finding out about the basics of their faith. The feedback from people who have attended CaFE courses in their parishes certainly testifies to this. For many this is the first time that they have considered their faith as an adult and had a chance to discuss it in a safe environment. Part of the problem seems to be that there is an assumption that Catholics have levels of knowledge and faith that are just not there. This is particularly true of teenagers and was brought home to us when we went round Catholic Secondary schools asking "normal" Catholic teenagers what questions they had about their faith. Plugged-in - Youth CaFE is the result of two years hard work by the team at Catholic Evangelisation Services. They worked with diocesan and parish youth workers, school chaplains and many others to produce a six session DVD resource for parishes, schools and colleges. It is a very interactive resource with each session having one or two main testimonies. Young people are being touched by the personal stories that they hear in the series. Typical teenagers appear asking the questions that are on their hearts and the "Grill the Priest" section gives some of the answers to the questions raised. This is supplemented by some short in-depth teaching and songs from Fr Stan Fortuna, a very inspiring Franciscan Priest from New York and a very talented musician. It is a challenging series with sessions on God (Anyone out there?), Jesus (The Man was God), the meaning of the Cross (Born to Die), The Holy Spirit (Get Plugged In), The Church (Soul Food) and Discipleship (Alive and Kicking). The Leaders' Guide included in the pack gives all the information that you need to run the sessions with suitable ice-breakers, discussion questions and prayer responses to use with the video input. It also gives very useful advice on how to set up the hall to be welcoming and how to publicise the course. Drinks mats, credit card invitations and table centrepieces are available to help to create a welcoming atmosphere but the emphasis on the course is fun. It must be enjoyable or the young people will not come back. For those new to Youth work the Leaders' Training Sessions will be invaluable. The first one focuses on youth culture and spirituality and is designed to help leaders understand the pressures that are facing young people today. The second one covers the practicalities of running the course. This includes an informal chat with teenagers asking what they would like to see in a parish based course. All this is included in the pack with a free CD containing some great music for prayer responses and to play as background music. 'Plugged-in' is an easy way to start a youth ministry in the parish and there are suggestions in the Leaders' Guide on how it could be followed up for those who want to continue meeting and go deeper.
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For more details of Plugged in - Youth CaFE or any
of the CaFE resources please contact:
PROMOTIONAL TRAILER |
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