As a Church community we need to embrace the call of the Pope Francis: To give real time to accompany young people in the midst of their lives. To come alongside them, in real proximity to them and, with a heart of mercy, to accept and love them with no expectation of return. In this context we seek to incarnate the kerygma, proclaiming the Christ who lives and who loves them. And we show them that the Church is with them and for them. From this flows the basis needed to offer young people community and to help them to discern their place in the world – their mission in life.
COVID-19 - How have we responded?
Million Minutes wants to accompany parishes in the call posed by Pope Francis to accompany young people, resourcing parishes and communities with our tools and experience, and staying with you for the long haul. During the pandemic we’ve been doing all we can to support youth ministers, youth workers, volunteers, chaplains, clergy and teachers. See some of the ways - and the resources we produced - below. You can read more about our work with parishes here.
Online Conversations
Over the course of the pandemic we have convened online discussions for those seeking to reach out and journey with young people. Topics we have unpacked include trauma, mental well-being, the Black Lives Matter movement, discernment and so much more. We took a short break over the summer holidays, and are re-convening the conversations for Autumn 2021. Find out more here.
You can read summaries of all our conversations here and you can also see the collated resources here.
Online training program: Extending our youth ministry - Million Minutes accompanyed local Catholic communities (over June and July 2020) in the call posed by Pope Francis to accompany young people in the parish and beyond, resourcing them with our tools and ten years of experience. You can find out more here.
Prepare the Future: We’ve launched ‘Prepare the Future’, inspired by the Pope’s call to create the future we wish to see now - not be passive recipients of tomorrow’s future formed by others. The resource is made up of 12 units, and it includes reflections, questions for discussion, prayers and useful links. Our hope is that it will help educators and youth ministers in their work, supporting young people to collectively reflect on what has happened and what lies ahead, keeping the Gospel as our source of hope and inspiration.
PROXIMITY: You can learn more about our process of accompaniment over the course of 2020-21 here: https://millionminutes.org/proximity
USEFUL RESOURCES:
Well-Being - Accompanying our young people using the wisdom of our tradition - Br Richard Hendrick, a Capuchin Franciscan Friar, shared his thoughts on how the tradition of the Church - especially drawing on his Franciscan heritage - can offer us a basis for caring for well being. Read more about it here.
Discerning our mission: finding ways to accompany young people on their unique journey - David Wells, Abbot Christopher Jamison OSB and Ruth Holgate explored ways of how we can accompany young people as they journey on their own unique paths and discern their place in the world. Read more about it here.
Renewing the promise: https://iceont.ca/news-and-updates/renewingthepromise/
Bill Huebsch: The Art of Accompaniment
Why facts don’t change our mind: https://jamesclear.com/why-facts-dont-change-minds?fbclid=IwAR2Nl84CgsI5fWBLcNMziyIpA2uuAW3kZSgWHPzxEL4nVvQ2wTiWMjI4ncw
Spiritual Discipleship book: https://www.amazon.com/Spiritual-Discipleship-Principles-Following-Believer/dp/0802416691
Useful Parable reflections: Road to Emmaus and The parable of the sower
Useful chapters in Christus Vivit to read through:
Chapter 4 - A great message to all young people
Chapter 7 - Youth Ministry
Chapter 9 - Discernment especially versus 291 to 298.
Ideas of ways you can engage with your young people now, in the context of Covid-19 - Explore our ideas page here.
Other useful links:
Our Catholic social teaching resources can be found here.
Pledge your time dedicated to young people: Tell us about the time you take to understand and accompany your young people - pledge your time here.
(Accompaniers) must have the farsightedness to appreciate the little flame that continues to burn, the fragile reed that is shaken but not broken. The ability to discern pathways where others only see walls, to recognize potential where others see only peril. That is how God the Father see’s things; he knows how to cherish and nurture the seeds of goodness sown in the hearts of the young. Each young person’s heart should thus be considered “holy ground”, a bearer of seeds of divine life, before which we must “take off our shoes” in order to draw near and enter more deeply into the Mystery - (Pope Francis, Christus Vivit, 67).