UPDATES OF JULY:
DIFFERENT FAMILY SMALL GROUPS COMING TOGETHER FOR PRAYER
There are various family small groups formed in different places of UK following Manoj and Beena's family retreat in Liverpool in May this year. Small groups are meeting up regularly currently in Birmingham, London, Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester. The groups meet more or less every two -three weeks in one of the houses and spend three to four hours together. The main focus of these groups is to grow in spirituality and as a family through prayer, fellowship and learning about the various teachings of the church regarding various aspects of a family. There are more and more families getting added to the existing groups and even certain groups are planning to do pilgrimages locally as a part of this small group. This is a great step in the growing phase of the family ministry in UK.
-Vinitha Joby
‘THE CHANGE’ YOUTH RETREAT AT BIRMINGHAM
The resource persons were Fr. Sebastian, Jose Mathew and Abhy Thomas. The retreat took the participants through realising God’s Love, understanding sin, asking for forgiveness and accepting Jesus as Saviour.
A highlight was the Rosary ‘walk’ through the lush castle surroundings, which ended with Praise and Worship in a 1000 year old cave. On Sunday, the Eucharist was celebrated by the chaplain of the University of Birmingham, Fr. Julian Green. The inner healing adoration and a heart-to-heart discussion on issues the participants face in their daily lives, was also a blessed time. And lastly, the importance of the Holy Spirit and the ‘constants’ were shared. As a result, a central monthly youth prayer meeting commenced at St. Catharine’s Church, Birmingham.
-Hazel Crasto
YOUTH FORMATION PROGRAMME LONDON- MODULE 1
Bridgettine Guest House, Uxbridge, London, run by the Bridgettine Sisters was the venue for the unique Youth Formation Program led by the Jesus Youth National Team (JYNT), UK. The program started on 29th July and ended on 1st August and aimed at helping youth grow into youth ministers. The program had close to 30 youth, ranging from places such as London, Bristol, Birmingham, Leicester, Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, Chester, Cardiff, Bishop Auckland, Belfast and Germany. The program was very different from the usual programs and was wonderfully facilitated by five families – Sunil Simon and Jayamma, Jose Mathew and Deepa, Sibi and Mini, Joby Mundackal and Vinitha, Joby Thomas and Ani, and JYNT coordinator, Abhy Thomas.
The program comprised of group and personal sharing’s, testimonies and gave more insights to personal prayer, holiness, discerning God’s will and importance of intercession. The program was blessed with the presence of His grace Abraham Viruthukulangara, Archbishop of Nagpur and Ecclesiastical advisor of Jesus Youth India for two days, Bridgettine Sisters and their Chaplain, Fr.Dangerfield. The program concluded with the formation of four groups, each supported by a family and a strong decision to meet once in two months for a year to continue to grow in the Lord.
Link to the photo Album http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/
-Anto Paul
JOURNEY OF THE JUBILEE CROSS
A major event in connection with the Jubilee Year of Jesus Youth, is the journey of Jubilee Cross through various parts of UK. The Cross has travelled to most of the North-West and East during the first 5 months of its journey. This icon of faith brought people together in prayer everywhere it travelled. Being at its Foot was a time for many to reflect on the blessings of the Cross, along with blessings received through Jesus Youth. Many have testified experiencing the presence of God, and much peace while having the Cross at their homes. The cross travelled to midlands region including Leicester, Peterborough, Nottingham and Birmingham. In Northampton the cross was welcomed by the parish prayerfully with the presence of the whole community. Many homes were blessed to have the cross with them. Small prayer gatherings were done at the houses where the cross travelled to.
-Priyan Abraham
NORTHAMPTON CATHEDRAL CHURCH FUN DAY- JULY 4TH 2010
Jesus Youth had joined hands with the cathedral church on the FUN DAY on 4th July 2010. The main of the church was to raise fund for charity. JY had arranged the games and entertainment to reach out to the local people in Northampton. It was a great exposure for our movement. We could provide more information about the JY to the local people through leaflets, prolife charts, one to one sharing and the vibrant music and moves of Rexband. The main attractions were the blue Jubilee T Shirts, which was worn by 30 JY’s on the day.
The Jubilee Logo on the t shirt was one of the main topics of discussion among local people. We could invite all to our JY prayer meeting.
ST. THOMAS DAY CELEBRATION WITH BISHOP PETER ON JULY 11TH 2010- JY CONTRIBUTION
JY took up many responsibilities including the decoration and in choir ministry. They were really at the service of the church! This initiative helped JY to be more attached to the parents and elders in the Indian Community in Northampton.
Many parents did provide great feedback about JY after this event and were happy to encourage their children to become actively involved in our movement.
JY JUBILEE CROSS JOURNEY- 10TH JULY- 25TH JULY
Cross was welcomed to Northampton with an opening mass which was celebrated by Canon Fr. John (Parish priest Cathedral Church) on 10th July 2010. Short note on JY and Jubilee Cross was shared by Rev. Deacon Philip to the local people in the mass. It was a wonderful experience for everyone in Northampton to take part in the journey of Jubilee Cross. Elders - Tomy, Sunil and Benny helped a lot in the transportation and we could take the cross to around 20 houses in the first week and to different local parishes in the second week. The Cross was accompanied by JY’s all the time and had a wonderful time of prayer at every home. This had helped in knowing each other and building a fellowship. We could feel that this journey was spirit led. The closing ceremony mass was celebrated by Fr. Andrew (Parish priest St. Gregory) at St. Gregory’s church. Bishop Peter (Bishop of Northampton) and JY had great time along with JY Jubilee Cross on Sunday Mass on 11th July 2010.
JY PRAYER MEETING ALONG WITH ELDERS PRAYER MEETING- 17TH JULY 2010
JY and Elders prayer meeting was clubbed together on 17th July 2010 to provide an idea to the parents and elders about JY Prayer Meeting format. Elders & parents did provide good feedback about the prayer meeting after that.
-Nivin Felix
“AGAPE” LONDON 2010
The London Jesus youth conducted a 3 day initial youth retreat for a group of 19 youth aged between 13 to 15 years, at the Bridgettine guesthouse at Uxbridge in London from the 9th to 11th of July 2010. This spiritual encounter was called “Agape” and focused on giving the youth a taste of the selfless love of God.
The beautiful venue; vibrant music; thought provoking session by Jose Mathew and team; along with practical personal sharing by the rest of the team helped set an ambience of interest among the youth helping each and everyone present there to have a spirit filled experience during their stay. “Agape” helped set a foundation for the budding Jesus Youth’s in the city of London.
YOUTH TEAM AND DTP TEAM MEETING AT RATCLIFF, LEICESTER
A few of the youth team members along with the DTP team got together over the weekend from 2nd to the 4th of July 2010, at Ratcliff in Leicester to spend time in prayer and fellowship with the aim of vision building for the youth in UK. This was lead by Abhy Thomas, Jose Mathew, Freju Sebastian and Anson Pearson. Among the various topics discussed and debated upon, the fruits of this gathering were the plans on having a Youth Formation journey for a selected group of youth in UK mentored by JY families, using new contemporary ideas focusing on the need and trends of the society today, and mainly focusing on living a lifestyle with personal prayer as the foundation.
It was a truly a great experience for those of us present there, reflecting at our calling as youth leaders and also dreaming dreams for the Lord’s kingdom.
-Jocelyn Fernandes
UPCOMING PROGRAMMES:
1) There’s a Summer Camp taking place from 12th till 14th August in Aberdeen at Holy Family Church. Around 18 teens/ pre-teens are taking part
2) Papal Visit- Our Holy Father is visiting UK this September. A big group of JY’s will be making their way to Birmingham for the Beatification of Cardinal Newman at Crofton Park on 19th September. Some of them were blessed enough to receive seats for this great event.
The Holy Father will also be making a public appearence at Hyde Park, London on 18th September for the evening vigil.
3) The UK version of the mega Jubilee conference will be on 23rd October at Ratcliff college, Leicester. The programme starts at 11am and will finish after Holy mass by 5.30pm followed by dinner at 7pm. It will be a day of joy and reunion. We are expecting around 700 people.Make sure you don’t miss out, we guarantee it will be a day to remember!
