|
Outreach weekends
This pitch follows a proposal made by Fr
Chris Hughes and Ely Leg a few years ago after a successful
‘mission’ in Scotland.
Proposal
The proposal is that three or four of
the Student Cross ‘reunions’ that take place each year should be
‘Student Cross outreach weekends’.
Rationale (in brief)
1. Student Cross outreach weekends
should:
-
act as a reminder that Student Cross is
part of a wider church
-
enable a student cross experience to
happen outside Holy Week
-
help with recruiting for Student Cross
2. If we have gifts (and Student Cross
is a huge gift in itself, and has many gifts within it), then they
should be shared
3. What Ely Leg offered in Ross-shire
was really appreciated. In particular seeing young (ish) people for
whom faith, and the community that is derived from, that is so
important. For many of are parishes there are few people in the
18-40 range. Many parishioners are down-hearted at the fact that
their own children are disaffected to the church and see no
relevance in it, so it really was a tonic for so many in Scotland to
see people for whom faith was alive, important and integral to our
lives.
Proposal Outline
-
Student Cross outreach weekends should
hook up with one or two neighbouring chaplaincies (or parishes)
and spend the weekend with the students/parishioners.
-
The weekend should be based around a
theme and invite people to engage in a bit of reflection/thinking,
this can be done through a myriad of activities such as:
discussions, creative activities (art, music, poetry) reflection,
game playing, liturgy
-
Activities should also include typical
student cross stuff ie a walk and a few visits to support the
local pubs
-
Student Cross should propose four
centres for outreach weekends at the AGM (thus ensuring that we
move this outreach around the country in different years).
-
A group should be established to offer
guidance or support in planning the outreach weekends. Fr Chris
Hughes is willing to be a part of this group.
-
A couple of people should put themselves
forward, or be nominated at the AGM, to co-ordinate one of the
outreach weekends.
-
Those who join the outreach weekends
should be ready to do a bit of planning of the Friday night and
bring their instruments so that everyone can take part and offer
their talents.
If it all goes well we should get a
healthy bunch of new recruits and share a bit of Student Cross
fellowship with the rest of world!
Want to know more? Contact
outreach [at] studentcross.org.uk
|
|
A few useful websites with
inspiration and practical ideas for an outreach weekend:
www.cafod.org.uk/resources
The CAFOD resources tend to focus on
‘real world’ issues. The website provides some really up to
date, eye catching resources and lots of ideas to cater for a
wide age range.
ignatianspirituality.com
This website produced by American
Jesuits introduces Ignatian spirituality. Ways of praying such
as imagining the scriptures and reviewing the day (the examen),
which are part of Ignatian Spirituality, could be good things to
do with people during a mission.
www.ycwimpact.com/page.php?page=5
Getting people reflect on their lives
and what God could be calling them is an important focus of any
mission. One way to do this is the ‘See, Judge Act’ method
created by Cardinal Cardjin, founder of the Young Christian
Workers. This website introduces you to this method.
www.vatican.va
On the ‘Resource Library’ page of the
Vatican website, there is a version of the Bible on line (New
American Translation), the Catechism of the Catholic Church and
the documents of the Second Vatican Council. On the ‘Papal
Archive’ page all Papal teaching going back to 1878 is on this
site.
www.catholicchurch.org.uk
The ‘Prayer and Spirituality’ and ‘what
does the Catholic Church Teach’ pages on the website for the
Catholic Bishops of England Wales could also be a useful
resource.
www.revealedonline.co.uk
Revealed is a great starting place for
hunting out youth ministry related sites, it contains lots of
links.
www.cymfed.org
This website has information about the
Catholic Youth Ministry Federation, including a free summary
report of recent youth ministry research.
www.ncvys.org.uk
The National Council for Voluntary Youth
Services is “The independent voice of the voluntary youth
sector” and their site is a useful one stop shop for a broader
perspective.
|
|
