Young People Want to Feel at Home in the Church – 10th October 2024
Two of our sixth-form students, Dumebi Umesofor and Tobe Iroegbu-Duruh, were invited by the Kenelm Youth Trust, part of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, to a conference for priests and deacons on the importance of youth ministry within the Church. The day included talks from keynote speakers including Archbishop Bernard Longley (Archbishop of Birmingham), and Dr Julia Sadusky from the USA who spoke about trends in youth culture and questions of faith. Moments of prayer, reflection and song were led by the fabulous Jo Boyce.
Dumebi and Tobe were part of a panel of people involved in youth ministry in different ways, who spoke about their experience of being people of faith, and the importance of that in their day-to-day lives. They also gave fantastic testimonies about how they have been able, with the grace of God, to evangelise other young people, both in school and in their parish (Blessed Carlo Acutis – Wolverhampton). Two of the major themes that came out of the panel, and which were explained by both Tobe and Dumebi, were that young people needed to be invited to become involved in their faith communities, and feeling that they have a right to be there. Both are very much involved in the life of the parish and also with the Catholic Life and Mission of St Edmund’s. Through serving, reading, acting as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion in school Masses and sharing their love of singing praise to the Lord.
The response to their witness, from the clergy and members of the KYT team was wonderful to see and hear, and bore out what they had both said: if we give young people the opportunity to become more involved and to feel that they belong, then we may just be very pleasantly surprised.
If you would like to find out more about how you can get involved in the Catholic Life of our academy or your local parish, please pop down to the Chapel and have a chat with Rev.
Dumebi and Tobe with Bishop Timothy Menezes (left), and Mgr Canon Mark Crisp (Blessed Carlo Acutis Parish – Wolverhampton)
