Young People

Pope Francis teaches that the Church needs to see herself as young with a heart that is eternally young like Christ’s. He makes clear that at the heart of all youth ministry there is to be an invitation of love to show Christ is a person who loves immensely and who asks for our love in return.

At this time, for all time, people need an encounter with Christ, who is the source of life and love. ‘For being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction’ (Christus Vivit, 129)

It is only in response to this encounter that our young people will truly grasp the love that God desires to share. It is through this experience that young people will trust and turn to the Church as a place of relevance and truth. Pope Francis teaches: ‘I wish simply to emphasize that youth ministry involves two main causes of action. One is outreach, the way we attract new young people to an experience of the Lord. The other is growth, the way we help those who have already had that experience to mature in it’ (Christus Vivit, 209)

“The community should feel collectively responsible for accepting, motivating, encouraging and challenging them. All should regard young people with understanding, appreciating and affection, and avoid judging them.’ (Christus Vivit, 243) ‘Youth ministry has to be synodal; it should involve a “journeying together” (Christus Vivit, 206).

The Church also needs to form its young people, which is the responsibility of the whole community. Pope Francis encourages us to not consider young people as passive members of the Church community but to help them to actively discern their gifts. They need role models for this, people who are witnesses and teachers of the Kerygma. Young People need to be loved and affirmed and led to a discovery of their own personal vocation as a task given uniquely to them. They need elders who ‘radiate life’ who are there ‘with them and for them’ who live their life with integrity. (Christus Vivit, 211)

‘We aim to encourage young people into a relationship with Christ and fully into the life of the Church’ – YMT Mission Statement.

At the heart of the Diocesan strategy for Youth Ministry, is the Emmaus Youth Village. Set in the centre of the Diocese in the Derwent Valley, the Emmaus Village is a centre which houses an international community providing formation, training and outreach. Just as Jesus walked with the disciples in the original ‘Road to Emmaus’ story, the Diocese aims to accompany the young people of the Church so that, like the first disciples, their eyes are opened and they ‘go’ without delay to live out their calling.

Hexham and Newcastle Diocesan YMT offer a young person’s intern programme inviting young people from all over the world to live in community and minister at the Emmaus Village providing retreats and opportunities for young people to explore and deepen their faith. YMT also provide outreach and support parishes in developing their ministry to young people.

The Diocesan Youth Council brings together young people representing secondary schools, colleges, universities and partnerships throughout the Diocese. The Council is the ‘voice’ of young people to the Bishop and shares its thoughts directly with him.

The Council provides a forum for young people to voice their thoughts and ideas, to offer their gifts and energies and to take their place in the Diocese.

Members of the Council aim to help each other to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ and the Church and to share their faith and hope with others in their schools, universities, parishes and the wider community.

Youth Forum

The Forum brings together all those who provide ministry to young people in our Diocese.

The Faith in Action Award encourages young people from Year 6 to Year 10 to reflect on their faith and to see how it connects to their life as they take action to serve others.

Flame 2023 theme: beLoved

Saturday 4 March 2023 at Wembley Arena, London.

The biggest Catholic youth event in the UK is returning to London, as CYMFED organise Flame 2023. Many exciting speakers will be present and the day is expected to be a fantastic opportunity to celebrate our shared faith on a grand scale.