From St Peter’s Square: A Final Tribute to Pope Francis

Reflection written by Kate Wilkinson, CEO of Million Minutes

Today, as I sit in St Peter’s Square, surrounded by people from every corner of the world and to my delight a huge amount of young people, I find myself reflecting on the extraordinary life and pontificate of Pope Francis. The weight of this moment is hard to put into words. 

We have lost a pastor, a teacher and for us at Million Minutes: a guiding light. The atmosphere here is quite solemn, but there is a huge feeling of gratitude. That gratitude was shown so beautifully to me in the many rounds of applause that echoed around St Peter’s square as the Pope’s mortal remains were processed into the square at the beginning of the funeral mass and at the end as he made his final journey to his resting place. The crowds of young people, originally here for the Jubilee of Teenagers sum up for me the incredible legacy of Pope Francis. 200,000 of them are here, with flags and banners thanking Pope Francis for all he has done for them and the Church. Speaking to some of them, they see Pope Francis as someone who created space for them in the Church, a place where they could belong and be themselves. Many speak of how he has inspired them to strive to make the world a better place and stand up for the rights of others and against injustice. Many speak of his witness and the love that he showed to others, particularly the poor and the marginalized. I can’t help but feel that it is absolute providence that the Pope’s death and funeral coincided with this Jubilee of Teenagers, it showed the true reach of his pontificate and example. The crowd gathered for this funeral Mass shows the diversity of the Church and the diversity of all those deeply affected by his life and example. The presence of the young people in St Peter’s square this morning brought a hopeful atmosphere; although a sad and solemn occasion, the young people wanted to celebrate the life of this wonderful man, and their witness to the resurrection hope and joy was felt by everyone gathered.  

From the moment Pope Francis stepped onto the balcony in 2013, he made it clear that his mission would be one of simplicity, humility and radical closeness to people, especially the young, the poor and the excluded. He didn’t just talk about young people; he listened to them. He made space for them. He believed in them. For all of us who work with young people, that belief is something more than comforting, it was a challenge to do better, a call to action. His words in Christus Vivit still echo in my mind today. He reminded the Church, and the world, that young people are not ‘the future’, they are the present. They have dreams, voices and ideas that are needed here and now, and our job is to walk beside them. That belief has shaped the work of Million Minutes in many ways. It gave us permission to think bigger about what young people could do, and it reminded us that the Church should always be a place where they are seen, heard and celebrated.  

Pope Francis spoke often of accompaniment, about walking with people on the adventure of their life. That’s what we strive to do in every conversation, every project and every partnership. His example of leadership, a leadership rooted in mercy, compassion and deep listening, set a standard we will continue to aspire to.  

Today, as I sit here after his funeral, I know we haven’t just lost a pope. We’ve lost a friend to the young, a voice of the voiceless, and a leader who truly believed the Church could be better, braver and more loving if we let young people help to shape its future. Pope Francis’s final gift to us is the ongoing challenge to build that kind of world. His legacy lives on every time a young person is given space to lead, every time their voices are heard and every time the Church opens its doors wider than before.  

On behalf of everyone at Million Minutes and the many young people whose lives have been touched by his words and witness, thank you Pope Francis. You walked with us. You believed in us, and we will carry your vision forward.  

May you rest in peace, good and faithful servant.  

Welcome to Kate - Our Incoming CEO

Kate joins us as CEO with over a decade of experience in Catholic education and Catholic youth ministry; she has worked to inspire action, nurture spirituality and create opportunities for meaningful change. Kate is a former National President of the Young Christian Workers, has been involved in work nationally linked with the Universal Synod on Synodality as well as the Archdiocese of Liverpool’s 2020 synod and has worked as a school and college chaplain. She holds a BA in Theology from Heythrop College, University of London, and is currently completing an MA in Catholic Theology at the Centre for Catholic Studies, Durham University. Kate is also the current Provincial Coordinator for the Salesian Cooperators in Great Britain. 

Originally from Manchester, Kate now lives in Blackburn and is excited to bring her passion for empowering young people and promoting Catholic Social Teaching to Million Minutes. 

Press Release: Million Minutes launches Adventurous Accompaniment

Million Minutes are excited to announce the launch of Adventurous Accompaniment, an opportunity to explore the art of accompaniment through research-based, high-quality resources and bespoke facilitation. Work with us to explore how this may deepen understanding of Catholic communities and enhance pastoral areas of work. 

We need only to accompany and encourage them, trusting a little more in the Holy Spirit.

Pope Francis, Christus Vivit (2019)

In 2019, Pope Francis released the post-synodal exhortation Christus Vivit, where he emphasised the call for the Church to walk at people’s side - “a church which accompanies” (World Youth Day, 2013). Then, following personal experiences of the need for accompaniment during lockdown, Million Minutes and friends (Aseel Gilbert, Amy Cameron, David Wells, Danny Curtin, Phil Callaghan and Abbot Christopher Jamison OSB), together with the generous support of Jesuits in Britain and The English Benedictine Congregation, came together and commissioned research to better understand how accompaniment was practiced within Catholic spaces. 

This research highlighted a need for a renewed vision of accompaniment, one which allowed each person (the accompanier and the accompanied) to be led by the Holy Spirit on an “adventure” – walking along, side by side. 

Over the last few years, we have worked with parishes, dioceses and organisations to pilot and develop a set of resources and facilitated workshops to understand and explore the uses of Adventurous Accompaniment. 

Synodality seems to sit really well with Adventurous Accompaniment...[it] also involves a change in mindset...to one which involves us all being open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. 

Adventurous Accompaniment, Pilot Feedback

We are excited to work with Catholic communities across the country, to explore how Adventurous Accompaniment can lead to community-building, participation and mission in your diocese, school, parish or organisation. If you want to find out more, please visit www.accompanier.co.uk. 

The synodal process has renewed the awareness that listening is an essential component of every aspect of the Church’s life: administering sacraments, in particular that of Reconciliation, catechesis, formation and pastoral accompaniment.

XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Final Document (2024) 

Celebrating Young People: Revival 2024

This year we launched Celebrating Young People: Revival (CYPR), a project that seeks to put youth voice at the heart of change in communities. We worked with seven schools over the year, seeking to better understand young people's perspectives on issues that affect them within their communities. We have taken them on a learning journey to consider how young people can effect change through social action, prayer, and dialogue.

The 6 steps of CYPR have allowed an open platform for students to speak up and be heard. These steps have included asking questions directly, rather than presuming answers. The responses we received have been insightful, honest and challenging.

Importantly, at each stage, the young people's responses have been fed back to each school to give an understanding and perspective on the issues their students are concerned about. The young people have followed, not only by praying for some of theses issues, but also looking at what Catholic Social Teaching says on some of these topics. We also recorded a webinar with young leaders, to ask them about the importance of leadership, and how it feels for them to be inspiring others to be a change in the communities around them.

We celebrated the sixth step of our programme 'Dialogue', with an event at St Vincent's MissionHub in Sheffield. This was an opportunity to thank, encourage and celebrate the young people who were a part of this year's CYPR programme. We spent some time reflecting on the issues that had been raised over the previous steps, affecting both their local communities and the rest of the world. We delved deeper by looking at how young people can - and already are - making positive changes within schools, communities and the world. By calling the group to action in this way, it gave them the opportunity to look at and start planning what could be done to make change within the communities around them.

We hope to continue building relationships with Catholic schools, colleges and students over the next year, journeying with them and continuing to accompany them, guided by their voices on what young people want, need and feel is important to them.

We wish to thank our 7 schools that we have journeyed with this year, as well as Pax Christi and the Diocese of Hallam Youth Ministry for their collaboration and partnership.

We will be running our CYPR programme again over the next academic year. We are currently looking for schools and partners to work with us on this project. For more information contact bernie@millionminutes.org.

Towards Impactful Youth Ministry and Outreach - UCM Study Days 2024

In June, Million Minutes and Diocese of Hallam Youth Ministry were invited by the Union of Catholic Mothers (UCM) to facilitate their annual study days. The theme this year was ‘Towards Impactful Youth Ministry and Outreach’.

We discussed our hopes for the outcome of these study days, which included (but was not limited to): knowing more about the issues young people face, how to engage specifically with young people in parish settings and how to attract young people to be active members of church communities.

We reflected on the life span of young people aged 11-18 today, looking at the years 2006-2024. We discussed the many significant political, economic, religious and cultural events that have taken place in that time. Thinking of the UCM members’ own experiences around similar events that have happened in their lifetime, we were able to highlight how significant events and times shape the trajectories of the lives of all young people.

At the start of the second day, we opened by talking about the existing youth ministry work across England and Wales. We used this as a starting point to talk about opportunities that we can pass on to young people in our own settings; taking those existing opportunities for young people, we then considered the systemic changes that we could make in order to enhance existing opportunities or create more of them.

At the end of the final day, we invited small groups to reflect on what they had heard so far. They were encouraged to think again about their motivations for working with young people, where it became clear that they were now better equipped to articulate these motivations. They spoke about how they value young people as individuals, how they must meet young people where they are (and not where they think young people should be), and how they celebrate young people for their joy and enthusiasm.

“We need to recognise that for young people life is not a continuous party. We shall hold them in our prayers to give strength and courage as they encounter difficulties in life”

We are grateful to the UCM for the invitation to facilitate over these study days. It has been a real joy to work with the youthful energy of UCM members. We would welcome any future opportunities to work collaboratively with members of the UCM to accompany young people.

Million Minutes is featured on ‘Padre’s Hour’ on Radio Maria England

Last week, Fr Sam Randall, Director of Radio Maria England, based in the Diocese of East Anglia, interviewed Million Minutes’ Director, Daisy Srblin as part of his weekly ‘Padre’s Hour’, for broadcast in Holy Week, in a special interview focused on Youth Engagement.

In the interview, Daisy and Fr Sam explored a whole range of different issues, exploring the ways in which Catholic parishes can improve their offers to young people via youth ministry, with a particular emphasis on engaging young people beyond the ‘visible’ Catholic community, including non-Catholics, lapsed Catholics and others. Daisy also spoke of some of the challenges young people currently face, with a particular focus on the impact of the pandemic.

Fr Sam and Daisy were also joined by Joe Beattie from Brentwood Catholic Youth Services, who discussed BCYS’s participation in Million Minutes’ annual SiLENT 2021 campaign, their motivations for joining, and where the money raised would be going.

Daisy also provided an overview for listeners of Million Minutes’ work, including our Awards, our annual fundraising, our grants, and our events and training.

You can read more about the interview here: Padre’s Hour: Spotlight on Youth Engagement in Brentwood – Radio Maria England.

And you can listen in to the interview here: https://anchor.fm/padres-hour-rme/episodes/Padres-Hour---Episode-46---Youth-Ministry-in-Brentwood-etkg68/a-a52o6hp

Please get in touch with the team on info@millionminutes.org if you’re interested in discussing anything mentioned in the conversation – and look out for Million Minutes alumni on Radio Maria England over the next few months!

Radio Maria England is a non-commercial private initiative within the Catholic Church, which seeks to offer its listeners an opportunity to pray, to learn, and to celebrate with the Church. Each day the station broadcasts the daily Church liturgy, the Mass, and the Holy Rosary. The station also provides teaching and catechesis covering faith and social issues, programmes focusing on human and social development, and news from across the world.

To find out more about Million Minutes work head to our website: millionminutes.org

Zoom youth sessions

Over the last 12 months, I have been lucky to run 2-3 youth clubs online a week with an amazing team of volunteers. Safe to say I have a love-hate relationship with Zoom now! But I wanted to share some zoom session ideas that are easy to try for your youth groups. I have split them into 3 different groups, “All about the fun”, “Educational” and “Spiritual development”. If you have your own ideas add them in the comments below!

All about the fun:

1.       “Dan’s Quirky Quiz”

We have all been on quizzes over Zoom during lockdown, but I loved to go past the traditional question and answer. Instead, I focus on making “quirky fun and creative rounds”. For example, in one quiz the young people were asked to make up a sea shanty. In another quiz, raps were made to the soundtrack of SpongeBob SquarePants. Anything fun that is a little different I have found to be popular! These quizzes became so popular, I ended up running for all family, weekly they can have anything up to 20 or so families a week!

2.       Games nights

Around once a month I run a simple games night. Here I ask the young people to plan games for the whole group, although the often favorites are:

·       Pictionary (simply share a whiteboard screen and take it in turns to draw on it),

·       Scattergories, this is an easy to plan game with a group, the following website is great for facilitating the game: https://scattergoriesonline.net/

·       Two truths one lie, the classic game, very easy to play online!

·       Scavenger hunt, give a simple list of 10-20 items which can be found around the house, see who can find them all first

· One-word stories, each person says one word taking turns to make a story

3.       Your area has talent!

A simple talent show is incredibly easy to run online, I found it was a great way for young people to be proud of their skills they don’t often get to share.

Educational:

1.       Debate nights

A simple idea, come along and debate two different views. For instance, in our youth group, we had members debate over the Black Lives Matter movement, how Churches should respond to the LGBTQIA+ community etc.

2.       Minecraft nights

If you have the skills to play Minecraft it can be a great online experience in playing games together, but it also allows the youth group to learn about history (by building ancient objects together), the Bible (by recreating biblical stories), and how to work as a team.

3.       Home arts and crafts

If people live in the local area you can drop arts and crafts equipment off at the young people’s houses, then together lead an arts and crafts activity together. I have heard baking works great like this too!

4.       Guest Speakers

Guest speakers are always great. With the internet being so accessible, it’s easier than ever to have someone from the other side of the world giving a talk to your youth group. Take advantage of this!

Spiritual development:

1.       Bible study sessions

Bible study does feel a little odd online but it is very easy to adapt to be virtual. I have found it to be great fun to ask young people to act our Bible stories etc, then we can share the biblical story, etc.

2.       Youth Alpha

The Alpha program is a very simple program where as a group you watch a video, then talk about different views and opinions. Online it really is that simple! But it is a great program to encourage the young people to think about their own views and opinions while reflecting on the bigger questions in life. It is the most simple and resourced program I have run over Zoom: https://www.alpha.org/youth/

3.       Sycamore

I personally have not used the Sycamore program just yet, however many of my friends have and report how great it is. It is another program to explore the bigger questions in life.

What is the key?

The most helpful bit of advice I can give right now, is just have fun. It sounds so simple, but there are so many pressures in the world. We are all being challenged in a new virtual youth work world, but it is something we can enjoy. It is a time to try new things and use our creativity to support young people in new ways. All good youth work is centered in the relationship, focus on that and enjoy the journey of accompaniment into this new world together.