In Our Own Words: Agents of Change Invite the Church to Listen
Reflection written by Kate Wilkinson, CEO of Million Minutes
On Wednesday 15th July, the Million Minutes Agents of Change gathered online for In our Own Words, an event designed and led by young people to share their experiences of faith and invite the Church into a deeper conversation about what it means to listen to young people.
Agents of Change is Million Minutes’ youth leadership programme for young people aged 15-18, equipping them to become leaders for peace and justice through formation, mentoring, Catholic Social Teaching and opportunities for advocacy. The online event was the culmination of their journey together.
The event began with an observation shared by the young people themselves: the faith they experience is not always the faith that the world sees.
In a time when Christianity can sometimes be associated with division or exclusion the Agents of Change wanted to offer a different perspective. Their faith, they explained, is rooted in love, service, justice, solidarity and hope.
Rather than adults speaking about young Christians, this was an opportunity for young Christians to speak for themselves. Patrick, Dylan and Emily shared personal reflections on what being a Christian means to them, where they see their faith misunderstood, and how their faith inspired them to love, serve and act.
Their stories were followed by small group conversations, where young leaders and adult participants explore what they had heard.
Participants were asked:
What surprised or challenged you?
Where do you see disconnects between Church perspectives and lived faith?
What does the Church need to gear more clearly from young people?
The conversations were then brough back together by the young leaders, who reflected on the themes emerging across the different groups.
The response from the attendees was incredibly positive. One participant commented on “the depth of knowledge of the faith” demonstrated by the young leaders and their ability to articulate it, while another highlighted their “commitment to their faith and how they were able to clearly articulate what their faith means to them.” Several people spoke about the hope they took away from the event.
At Million Minutes, we believe listening to young people is about more than giving them a microphone. It means creating spaces where their experiences can genuinely shape the conversation. The event gave adults the opportunity to hear directly from young people about their lived experience of faith, while also creating space for dialogue and reflection.
The young leaders had already tested a shorter version of their workshop at the Archdiocese of Liverpool’s Social Action conference earlier in July. Archbishop John Sherrington, who attended their workshop, reflected that the Church needs to create more spaces for young people to be heard and to engage in conversations with adults. He also highlighted that there is much the Church can learn not only from young people’s voices, but from the way they facilitate conversations. The online event built on that experience, bringing together young leaders and adults from across the Church and Catholic social action networks.
The online event concluded by asking participants to identify one concrete action they could take as a result of what they had heard whether it meant listening differently, creating more opportunities for young participation to changing something within their own community.
The response to the Agents of Change programme had left the young people keen to remain involved. Many of the current cohort want to continue contributing to Million Minutes’ work and to help shape the programme for future participants. This is perhaps one of the most exciting outcomes of the project.
Our hope was that the Agents of Change programme wouldn’t simply be a one-off leadership programme but a programme that would help to build a network of young Catholic leaders who are confident in their faith, passionate about justice and equipped to use their voices to make a difference.
As Million Minutes looks towards the next cohort, we want to continue creating opportunities for young people to lead, to question, to challenge, to dream and to act.
Because young people are not simply the future of the Church, they are the Church NOW!
Dilexi Te Young Adults Reading Group
Reflection written by Chris Knowles, Programme Manager, Bon Secours Young Adults GB
Over six weeks a group of young adults came together to explore Dilexi Te, Pope Leo’s first teaching document which focused on our love for the poor. The opportunity to explore the document together and share our own reflections on the text, enabled by Bon Secours Young Adult Ministry and Million Minutes, helped us engage with the document at a much deeper level.
Dilexi Te, an Apostolic Exhortation published by Pope Leo in October 2025 but started by Pope Francis before his death, focuses on how central the poor are to the Church, both its mission and its identity. “I often wonder”, Pope Leo laments, “even though the teaching of Sacred Scripture is so clear about the poor, why many people continue to think that they can safely disregard the poor.” This document challenges both the wider Church to take Christ’s call to serve the poor seriously, but also each and every individual, that each, according to their own ability need to take this commitment seriously and not leave it to others.
Twenty people came, whenever they were able, each Thursday night for 75 minutes over a six week period having engaged with the chapter being explored that week. As rich and deep as the conversations were, there was plenty of opportunity to keep things light and build relationships with others who also cared about the Church’s mission in this area.
Joe Wells, Co-Founder of One Hope Project, a project of young adults encouraging creativity in music and other areas of ministry said “Joining the Dilexi Te reading group was a real blessing. As I read through the book, I found myself both inspired and challenged. Having the opportunity to unpack the content together online and hear the insights of others helped me to reflect even more deeply on Pope Leo’s writing. I’m involved in music ministry in the Church and undertake projects that help people to lead music and engage with it as a way of praying and encountering God. Following this reading group, I feel inspired to think more deeply about how our work can be a blessing to those on the margins and a place of encounter with the poor.”
The relationships built through the course of the six weeks have led the group to want to meet again, to both take on Magnifica Humanitas with a wider group of young adults, and come together in person to deepen relationships and explore how we God is calling us to bring to life the calls Pope Leo is giving us.
If there are those in their 20’s and 30’s interested in going deeper into where Pope Leo is calling the Church, reach out, stay in touch and keep eye out for upcoming opportunities!
CSAN Leadership Conference - Rome
Reflection written by Kate Wilkinson, CEO of Million Minutes
In the final week of May, I had the privilege of joining colleagues from across the Catholic social action network in Rome for the CSAN Leadership Conference. Bringing together leaders from charities, diocesan Caritas agencies and Catholic organisations from across England and Wales, it was a chance to step away from the day-to-day of our work and discern together about how we, as a collective, can build more compassionate communities.
For me, one of the greatest strengths of Million Minutes has always been our willingness to work collaboratively. Spending time with others who share a commitment to Catholic Social Teaching, justice and human dignity was both encouraging and energising. And in many of our discussions and times of discernment it was great to be able to bring in the voices and experiences of young people.
The conference invited us into four working groups: one on young people, one on the dignity of work, flourishing communities and the challenges facing our organisations.
Unsurprisingly, I found myself in the conversations around young people. We discussed the importance of l listening to young people but also and importantly moving beyond listening towards genuinely sharing power and responsibility with them. It reinforces something we strive to do every day at Million Minutes, to ensure young people are not just beneficiaries of our work but active partners in shaping it. This workstream greatly affirmed the work that we do and I was delighted to be able to share our work to help develop youth engagement across the network.
Alongside the workshops, we heard from inspiring speakers from across the global Caritas family and the wider Church. Each talk left me inspired with new ideas and dreams for the future of Million Minutes and many reinforced the need for our work and the way in which we work. It was great to hear, for example, from Rebecca Rathbone who is responsible for youth at Caritas International. To hear that internationally they are championing youth participation at trustee board level and beyond was great to hear and their call encouragement to each organisation to include young people and their experience was really encouraging.
A highlight was also attending the Papal audience and being able to visit the dicastery for integral human development as well as Caritas International. To hear from Pope Leo, and to meet with leaders in the dicastery and caritas international was a wonderful reminder of our connection with an international community who are also committed to the work we do.
I headed home after a truly wonderful conference feeling extremely grateful to be part of such a vibrant network of people committed to the common good. The conversations has during the week have already sparked new ideas and partnerships that I hope will benefit Million Minutes and, most importantly, the young people we exist to serve.
A huge thank you to the CSAN team for all their work in organising such an important and life-giving conference. I would also like to thank my colleagues who attended for their generosity in sharing and commitment to collaboration working for the good of all our communities.
