It's a bit late to start blogging but we had such a good meeting with Ray Mooney this evening, I just thought I'd put down a few of my thoughts whilst they're still fresh in my mind.
Just a small group of young people, mainly those who have just been confirmed but also some of our new Confirmation group, came along to hear what Ray had to say about youth activities in our diocese.
It was quite cosy as we decided to move into our small meeting room rather than in the large parish hall.
We were very fortunate that Ray brought with him the special National Symbol for Youth Ministry that was blessed by Pope Benedict outside Westminster Cathedral during his recent visit.
Once that was set up and the candle lit, display boards arranged around the room, Ray showed us a very well put-together video presentation produced by last year's Lourdes Redshirts.
I don't think any of us present could fail to catch the enthusiasm of the young people in the video. It was quite inspiring and I hope that it inspired some of our young people to seriously consider applying to be a Redshirt next year.
As well as talking about the A&B pilgrimage to Lourdes in some detail, Ray also gave an overview of other youth activities such as Youth Gather, World Youth Day and the Flame Youth Congress to be held at Wembley Arena in March 2012.
You can find out all about youth activities in our diocese by checking out the special Diocesan Youth web site.
