Animate... Inspiring Life and Soul

Animate was set up as a response to people in the Diocese naming youth ministry as one of their top 3 priorities to be addressed.  It was decided that the best way to address Youth Ministry in our diocese was to set up a tem of young people who could minister to young people. Animate is currently in its third year, and second year of having a team of volunteers who give up a year or more of their life to live in community and to work with young people in the diocese. During these two and a half years we have already successfully worked with over 5,000 young people from the diocese through our work in schools and parishes as well as through the youth section of the annual Lourdes Pilgrimage, Youth Alive Masses every month, ReBoot (our weekly youth group), Retreat work and much more.

Why we chose the name ‘Animate’

Animate comes from the Greek word pneuma which means spirit, breath of life, to revive, to enter your soul, to inspire your heart, to bring new character to you.  We thought that this word, which is used many times in the New Testament, was appropriate to the work that we aim to do.  Here are a few examples of where the word pneuma is used in the New Testament:

In Luke’s Gospel when Mary visits Elizabeth after hearing the News from the Angel that she will be the mother of God’s son

 “My spirit exults in God my saviour.”  Lk 1:47

In John’s Gospel Jesus talks about how true worshippers will “worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23
In John’s Gospel Jesus also talks about the importance of being “born of water and the Spirit” John 3:5 and he looks forward to the day when “the Spirit of truth comes.” John 16:13
In his second letter to the Corinthians St Paul says that “the Spirit gives life” 2Cor 3:6

As the Youth Ministry team for the Diocese we believe that our job is to ask God to bring this Spirit and new life and to inspire the lives and souls of ourselves and all the young people in the area with whom we work.

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Media Training

Once again the team had some more media training as Animate looks towards creating an Animate DVD to show all the different things we all do over the year here at Animate. It was a good few hours and I almost feel like a professional cameraman!

BBC Radio Merseyside

we were lucky enough to be able to head to the BBC studios in Liverpool just the other week to record the Animate versions of ‘thought of the day’ for the week 21st to 25th April. It was an exciting time being in a real life Radio studio and we had great fun recording and then doing the strange thing of hearing your voice on the radio, it never quite sounds how you think you sound!

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Liverpool Nativity Did you see the Team taking part in the Liverpool Nativity? They were promoted from extras to ‘thugs’. The actual drama was performed at 9 locations in the city including St Georges Hall and Dr Duncan’s Pub. All of the action was presented by Geoffrey Hughes (as the Angel Gabriel) on a main stage and shown on a big screen at the bottom of William Brown Street. The Animate Team was in one scene at the Cruiser Terminal. The Liverpool Nativity has won much acclaim for how it portrayed the Christmas story and has had record viewing figures not only in this country but abroad as well.

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Animate Team's trip to Cologne

We all went to Cologne for a whistle stop tour of Liverpool's twin city. We met up with our friends, the three kings are star bearer who came to Liverpool for the Epiphany and opening celebrations of the the Capital of Culture year. We had a fantastic time in the city having a VIP visit to the Cologne Cathedrals treasury, shrine and special walk around the outside of the roof...scary!

We also went to an incredibly exciting ice hockey match and even better lego shop. Our hosts were wonderful and we hope to see our friends in Cologne again very soon. There is certainly never a dull moment being a member of the team!

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Celebrate Weekend

What a fantastic weekend at St Bede’s College, Manchester. The team led a stream which included, workshops, discussion, art, faith sharing music and most importantly prayer and worship. It was wonderful to work with such a lively and engaged group.

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Eucharistic Ministers Youth Training Course

Congratulations to the 17 young people who were commissioned as Eucharistic Ministers early this month. In a busy two day training period they looked at the church as community, what Christian service means, Eucharistic theology and practical aspects of being a minister. These young people will serve in parishes and schools throughout the diocese. In the past 6 years nearly 100 young people have been commissioned for the diocese and shows how young people want to take am active role in the life of the Christian community.

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Boyce and Stanley Age to Age Concert Tour

Jo Boyce and Mike Stanley came to Lowe House for a special concert to mark their 10 years of musical service to the Church. Composers of such greats as ‘Bread of Life’ and ‘Taste and See’ they are at the forefront of contemporary Catholic worship. They were joined for the concert by a youth choir and a string and brass section all made up of young people from the diocese. It was great to see so many people there at the concert taking such an active role. Special thanks to Jen and Aileen for coordinating all the behind the scene work and to Sean for signing his way through the concert.