Last week, the Youth Ministry team went to St Charles’ and St Benedict’s colleges for their Sixth Form inductions. Both were fun-filled days, whilst contrasting in their content.
At St Charles’, we provided team-building and participatory exercises for students, principally through the entertaining Dress-your-student-as-a-Mummy competition, which involved nominating a member of each of the teams to get wrapped up as an Egyptian mummy – in toilet paper, of course.
The results were often quite funny to look at; though perhaps more entertaining were the ‘Mummy races’ afterwards, with students dressed head-to-toe in toilet paper hopping their way to the finish line.
At St Benedict’s we organised more spiritual and contemplative activities. Fr Greg, a visiting Australian priest, gave an inspiring talk about the preciousness of time, finding the meaning of our lives and fulfilling our vocation. Beginning with a story from CS Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, he told the students that the most powerful weapon the Devil has is to make us think that we have plenty of time. On the contrary, Fr Greg charismatically articulated how time is precious and that rather than just following the secular narrative, we should aspire to live our lives with much greater purpose – because only when we root ourselves in God can we truly find happiness and meaning.
The two school inductions were great occasions, and it was wonderful to be able to be present in supporting these students in their faith journey, wherever they are in that process. With another induction on the way this week, it is truly a blessing for the team to be able to support these young people in their spiritual maturity.
