178 young people from every corner of Hexham and Newcastle Diocese have responded to YMT’s invitation to join them on a very special pilgrimage and are eagerly preparing to travel to London in September for the Papal Visit.

The group will travel overnight to be at Westminster Cathedral by 8.00am on Saturday 18th September where Pope Benedict will greet 3,000 young people in the piazza. They will then process through central London to Hyde Park for an open air concert followed by the Prayer Vigil with the Pope. 20 of the young people, all members of the Diocesan Youth Council, will spend much of Saturday rehearsing in Hyde Park for their part in a special procession during the Vigil when they will represent our diocese.

On Sunday 12th September the Young Pilgrims and their leaders met at Cardinal Hume School, Gateshead for a afternoon to prepare for the pilgrimage in London. The afternoon included a time to get to know each other, activities reflecting on the theme of the visit, time for prayer and a security briefing. The young pilgrims also received the  Pilgrim Packs to be used on Saturday.

[Show as slideshow]

12►

Also:

Watch Bishop Seamus Cunningham talks about what ‘Heart Speaks Unto Heart’ mean to him here.
Declan Stokle, a pupil from St Mary’s School, Newcastle will be speaking at Hyde Park.  Read the story here, and here.

Hi everyone from St. Mary’s, Newcastle and a big thank you for coming to the Youth Village this week!

Did you enjoy your overnight stay here? What are the messages you will take with you? What do you remember the most?

Share with us your thoughts. We’d like to hear from you.

And remember – keep this page alive, it is yours!

“Hi everyone! Hope you all enjoyed yourselves over the last night! Congrats to Fran and Howard’s team for winning the final ever Yori Yori Quiz! It was great to meet you all and chat with you! Hope to see you soon here and good luck for everything in your futures!” – Phill

A big HELLO to everyone from St. Joseph’s RC Comprehensive School, Hebburn!! We hope you enjoyed your stay here at the Youth Village on your retreat. Please use this page to leave all your comments and messages.

Share your thoughts: What was the best thing about the retreat? What messages will you take away from the two days you were here?

Keep this page alive – it is yours!

“Hey! It was great to meet you all. I hope you enjoyed your stay at the Youth Village and had the chance to have fun and reflect. You were all fantastic and I hope that you will come back! Well done to Morena, Joy and Kiwi Paul’s teams for winning the quizzes throughout the week – but remember it’s not the winning, it’s the taking part! ” – Phillip

[Show as slideshow]

123►

Ant, Bishop Emeritus Ambrose, Bishop Seamus, Fr. Dermott and Dec ‘push the button’ to the officially open the Youth Village.

Photo Gallery avaibale below.

The 5th July 2010 will always be a special day for youth ministry in the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle because of the official opening of the Youth Village by Ant and Dec and blessing by Bishop Seamus Cunningham. Over 400 people, representing schools, parishes and community groups from around the diocese gathered to celebrate and mark the opening of the Youth Village which houses the Youth Ministry Team (YMT). The Youth Village has en-suite facilities to provide opportunities for over 90 young people to stay at any one time.

The official opening was presided over by the diocesan Bishop, Seamus Cunningham who addressed the crowds and spoke of his dream to allow every young person in diocesan schools the opportunity of a residential retreat at the Youth Village. Fr. Dermott Donnelly, Director of Youth Services, paid tribute to the many volunteers who over the years had made a fantastic contribution to the youth ministry in the diocese. He also thanked the fundraisers and those who supported the work financially. He thanked his younger brother Dec and his other half Ant for their support with fundraising.

After the speeches a moving liturgy took place focusing on the Gospel of John 10:10 when Jesus said ‘I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full’. After the Gospel was proclaimed by Bishop Ambrose Griffiths, Bishop Emeritus, the site was blessed and the opening plaque was unveiled by the family of the late Bishop Kevin Dunn, the former Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle.

Ant and Dec then came forward with the two bishops and Fr. Dermott and ‘pushed the button’ to officially open the Village, balloons and confetti canons marked the occasion and the celebration concluded with the singing of ‘How Great thou Art’.

The button was the actual button that is used on Ant and Dec’s TV show, ‘Push the Button’ and was borrowed for the day’s celebration. The TV celebrities, when giving interviews to the waiting media, said how they watched the youth village move from a dream to a reality and how proud they were to be part of it.

More online:
A tribute article from Fr . Lawrence Jones with photos here.
More photos and article from Karen Burbridge of the Diocesan Website here.
Read the Journal Live article here.
Read the Chronicle Live article here.
View Chronicle Live Video of the Opening here.
More from the Chronicle Live here.
Read article with photos from Northern Echo here.
Read and post your comments on Ant & Dec’s Official Website here.
View Photos and Caption from BBC Website here.
Read Article from the Sisters of Mercy here.

Post your messages below.

[Show as slideshow]

123456►

After almost a year of looking forward to Summer Festival ’10, I arrived back to the Youth Village yesterday feeling quite emotional and sad that it was all over. It was one of those clear events like the Sister Helen conference, and our trip to Celebrate that I knew for sure was coming and would be one of the absolute highlights of the year. I wasn’t wrong.

This year’s Summer Festival was my first, and I had heard a lot about it from friends from my secondary school who had been and also from a couple of the team members who had also been in previous years. The thing I was most excited for was seeing all of you who came to the Youth Village at some point throughout the year again, as well as meeting lots of new faces. I was also really excited for working with my small group and for the workshop that Sasha, Robert and I led.

As the Summer Festival went on, all of these thing were amazing, but it ended up running so much deeper than that. I was so inspired to see everybody enter into everything with such enthusiasm and through this you are really taking steps towards living your lives to the full. Remember God is with you all the way, and I hope that you can step up to the challenge of allowing yourself to live up to your full potential.

And so I want to say a big thank you. Thank you to each and every member of my small group, and everybody else who came along to Ministeracres for the event. You have all really made my experiences worth it, and my highlight doesn’t just remain as Summer Festival, but indeed working with all the young people like yourselves whom we have worked with on retreat, on missions and during events over the last ten months. Without you, there’d be no Summer Festival so thank you all for coming along and being open to the experience.

Throughout the three days we were exploring the notion of our own personal journies and although Summer Festival marks perhaps the end of the biggest journey of my life, I’ve now realised that it’s opening up a journey for myself which is perhaps just as exciting. As I depart the team in two weeks, the passion inside of me has been lit and I want to continue working and fighting for truth. And I invite you to take up the same challenge. If we all bottled up our experiences, nobody would learn anything. Without YMT, I’d have never had such amazing encounters and I want to share them with people. Tell people about what happened at Summer Festival, let them know what you experienced, what you learnt. Who knows what may come of it – all of our experiences affect other people as much as other peoples’ experiences have an effect on us.

“Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great” – we can all belong to that great generation, and we can all let our greatness blossom.

Thanks for such a great three days everyone, and the best of luck to each and everyone of you for your futures.

God bless,
Michael.

Some people call the end of a day the evening, some people call the culmination of a journey its end, and some people stand on the edge and take a step back. Others call the end of the day a new dawn; the same people call the culmination of the journey a new beginning, and some people stand on the edge and jump.

I have been wandering around the Youth Village today as it is prepared for it’s opening on Monday and as I wandered I pondered, I thought how lucky I am to stand with YMT and the Young people of Hexham & Newcastle as their Village is opened.

A great many people have been a part of YMT, a greater number have supported it, and the number gets greater still when we consider how many lives YMT has changed. As a team member today I stand on the shoulders of the scores that came before me, and I stand with those who serve in the here and now. And those who will come in the future will stand proudly on the solid ground that we build.

And so I say this, Christians are people who call evening the dawn Christians are people who call the end the beginning, Christians stand on the edge and jump, they look to the future as an opportunity to build the kingdom some more. And on Monday the 5^th of July 2010 we build some more.

The World Cup may be over but there is still time to relive the Diocesan Secondary School Summer Festival! Tell us what you thought of this year’s Summer Fest. What did you enjoy most? What would you remember most in all the activities? What message will you be taking back to your family, school and friends? Did you enjoy making the making the music video? What is your hope for the future? What is the truth?

(If you want to watch your Summer Festival video, please tell your School Chaplain or Pastoral Co-Ordinator to make a request to Xavier.)

Post your messages below.

[Show as slideshow]

1234567►