Coming Home, What Next?

After World Youth Day is over there many things you can do to keep the spirit of the week alive. Here are a few suggestions:

- Keep in contact with new friends that you met at World Youth Day. Thank all of the people who helped you get to WYD, other young people may need their support again next time. Tell people about your WYD experience if they ask you, especially young people who may want to come to the next World Youth Day.

- See if you can think of going to the next WYD in 2011 if you’ll be between 16 and 35 then, and take some friends with you! The host city for the next WYD will be announced at the Closing Mass in Sydney on 20th July 2008.

- Get involved in your parish. There may be groups you can join or you could offer your help in some way. Ask your parish priest for information about what’s going on in the parish. To find information about your diocese or parish, click here. It can be hard if you don’t know many people who share your faith near you, but be brave, do what you can to find others—we all need the support of others and it’s a real blessing to have friends who will encourage you in your faith and help you stay on the right track.

- As well as your parish there may be other groups that could support you in your faith such as Catholic Youth Services, new movements or religious communities. Many of these groups organise retreats and meetings for young people. The Catholic Agency to Support Evangelisation ‘CASE’ has produced an Evangelisation Directory. This has a good section called ‘Youth Initiatives and School Missions’, which lists groups involved in supporting young Catholics in their faith, including youth representatives for each Diocese and communities and new movements. The Directory is online; to view the youth section, click the link above and scroll down to p 40-64. See the links below for many other resources to help you in your faith.

- Keep alive your relationship with Christ. Remember that God loves you deeply, you are precious in his eyes, and if you stick close to him and follow his way you’ll find a peace and a happiness that lasts. This doesn’t mean that life will always be easy, but that you’ll be guided by the Holy Spirit and helped by God's grace, through ups and downs. Christ hasn’t left us alone and gives us his guidance and life through the Church, through her teachings and Sacraments. All of the following suggestions will help you in keeping your relationship with Christ renewed:

Prayer is our essential lifeline to God and helps us to be open to his gentle guidance. If we pray a little each day we are helped to see more clearly what we are called to be and to do for God, and for others, and to see the areas of our lives which may need changing. St. Thérèse of Lisieux said that prayer is "a surge of the heart, it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy". Through prayer we can give praise to God, say sorry for our mistakes, give thanks, and ask for God’s help. The prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints are powerful.

We can imitate Jesus by being loving, truthful and kind to those we come into contact with - including our family, friends and workmates. We can be a blessing for people by trying to help and support those we know who are suffering or are in need in any way. We can try to treat others as we would like them to treat us.

Remember how much we can be helped by the Mass and the Sacrament of Reconciliation (‘Confession’). The Mass is a living memorial of Christ's death and resurrection, and through it Christ is made truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. It's amazing, that however tired or distracted we may be, he is close to us in the Mass, offering us his grace. In Confession, we can receive forgiveness and healing, there's such a peace in receiving the Father's loving mercy. The Bible and other good spiritual reading can offer us great encouragement.

It can be easy to find ourselves gradually drifting away from Christ’s way, so we need actively to try not to do wrong, and to stay close to him. If we make mistakes, God’s loving forgiveness is always there for us, time after time. It’s important to stay in touch with friends who share our faith, this way we can encourage one another, especially in times when our faith may be weak. It is God’s grace that keeps us going in our faith, not our own efforts alone, and in all our struggles we can rely on his love. Obviously there are many other things we can do to nourish our faith, but these are just some of the basics. See links below for more info about these areas.

"We can do no great things, only small things with great love." (Mother Teresa of Calcutta)

USEFUL LINKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

Catholic groups involved in supporting young people in England & Wales:

• The CASE Evangelisation Directory has a comprehensive section called ‘Youth Initiatives and School Missions’, which lists many groups involved in supporting young Catholics in their faith in England and Wales. It includes youth representatives for each Diocese, Catholic Youth Services, and communities and new movements. To view the Youth section, click the link above and scroll to pages 40-64
• Catholic Youth Ministry page on the website of the Catholic Church in England and Wales
• Youth 2000 organises retreats and spiritual events in England and Wales for young people (16-30), with a strong emphasis on the celebration of the Mass and Adoration of the Eucharist, and also evangelization & catechesis

World Youth Day links:

• Official WYD site
• WYD Information sheet from the Vatican
• East Anglia Diocese WYD page
• Plymouth Diocese WYD page
• Southwark Diocese WYD page
• Westminster Diocese WYD page
• MAGiSUK is a group going to WYD organised by eight religious congregations in Britain who share Ignatian spirituality and vision
• Watch ‘Get with the spirit’ promotional video about WYD, at this link
• Watch thirty minute TV programme about WYD08 by Salt and Light TV (Catholic TV Channel)

Websites about the Catholic Church

• The Vatican
• The Catholic Church in England and Wales, with info about being a Catholic, prayer & spirituality, what does the Catholic Church teach, events and much more
• Find the website of your Diocese

Prayer and Catholic Spirituality:

• Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales ‘Prayer & Spirituality’ page
• Sacred Space prayer site, updated daily, which guides you through a ten minute session of prayer, centred on a passage of scripture
• ‘PRAY-AS-YOU-GO’ Daily prayer for your MP3 player
• Basic Catholic prayers from EWTN prayer page
• How to pray the Rosary, EWTN prayer page
• Catholic.com, articles about prayer
• Daily Mass readings
• Daily Mass readings PODCAST

Discerning vocation; and dating:

• National Office for Vocation
• Pure Love Club, about dating and chastity. Pure Love Club is the chastity outreach program of Catholic Answers
• UK Priest.org, website about Diocesan priesthood in England and Wales
• Conference of Religious, lists the religious communities in England and Wales

Catholic Multimedia/ TV/ Podcasts:

• SQPN (Star Quest Production Network) is a multimedia organization specializing in the production of audio and video programs faithful to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Its mission is to respond to the Church’s call to use the media for religious information, for evangelization and catechesis and for formation and education. Watch online
• Salt + Light TV. Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation is a not-for-profit, charitable organization whose goal is to use modern media in its many forms as a tool to connect Catholics to their faith. Supported by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Salt + Light TV was founded after the success of World Youth Day (WYD) 2002 in Toronto. Watch online
• EWTN, Catholic TV, watch online

Culture:

• Godspy, online magazine for Catholics and seekers
• Catholic Music Network
• Catholic Goldmine (Catholic Link Directory)

Learn about and share your faith:

• CASE resources for evangelization and prayer
• Life4seekers for those seeking to know more about the Catholic Faith
• Catholic Answers, articles etc about Catholic belief and practice
• Papal Encyclicals Online
• Catechism of the Catholic Church

Social action/ Justice & Peace/ Charities:

• Some of these groups are listed on this Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales page
• To find out more about what’s going in your area, visit the website of your Diocese

Social Networking:

• www.xt3.com

Reading:

• Catholic Truth Society - home
• Catholic Truth Society - cheap booklets for young people about the Catholic Faith
• Catholic Truth Society - free downloads
• St Pauls Multimedia
• Redemptorist Publications
• Family Publications - page about publications for young people

There are many other good websites for young people, this is just a selection. Many of these pages listed will have their own 'links' pages which may be useful.

Disclaimer:

Whilst we've taken the utmost care in sourcing the links on these pages, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales cannot be held responsible for the content on external sites. Inclusion of links on this site does not imply approval of content by the Bishops’ Conference. Whilst we endeavour to ensure that all the sites listed on this website are faithful to Catholic teaching, we distance ourselves from any that are not. Most images © WYD08, WYD Logo © Copyright and ™ WYD 2008 courtesy of WYD2008