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 team of young people who could minister to young people. Animate is currently in its sixth year, and fifth year of having a team of volunteers who offer a year or more of their life to live in community and to work with young people in the diocese. Each year we are successfully working with over 9,000 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, Retreat work and much more. The development of animate over the last five years has led to the conversion of the lower hall at our neighbouring St Mary’s Church. It has transformed from an unusable ‘storage’ space into our new Life and Soul Café. This development has led to animate being able to deliver youth ministry in a purpose built setting that has also provided the perfect setting to start our weekly Youth Café night – TGI Friday - in May 2009.

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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Ireland

At the end of May the team had a few days to spend together over the sea in the wonderful surroundings of County Kildare and Dublin. After a half term of hard work it was a great chance to chill together and at a bargain price (partly due to a 4:30 start on the Monday MORNING, and also the kindness of Gav’s family over there who sorted us out with accommodation)! Although we live and work together it was nice to be away together and to relax ready for a new half term.

BBC Radio 4

Young people from the diocese will led Sunday Morning Worship on Radio 4 on Palm Sunday, 28th March at 8.10 am. The focus was on Barabbas and was the last in the series of looking at people on the edge of Jesus’ pain. Jo Boyce, Mike Stanley and crew were wonderful as ever. It was a great experience for all involved. Many thanks for Ann Mare Harrison, and young people from De La Salle school and everyone who made it a great success.

Celebrate

Celebrate is a Charismatic Catholic Conference held in Ilfracombe, Devon. The team all went down on Easter Sunday for the week and had great fun. The conference involves talks from various speakers, praise and worship, daily mass, workshops, activities, evening entertainment and more! It was a packed week but we were all able to get something from it to help us on our faith journey. During the week we were able to chill together too having our meals together in our chalets and having a day out together on the Wednesday where everybody got to shop off their driving skills at go-karting and their skittle-tumbling skills at bowling as well as fitting in time to visit Barnstaple for an hour! A great way to end the term!

Isle of Man

We recently had the pleasure of returning to the Isle of Man for a second year to work with confirmation candidates. Due to the long journey, thankfully we don’t make it a one day round trip, instead we stayed there for the weekend. We got there late on the Friday but had a chance on Saturday to explore a bit and it was a nice little break from the busyness of the office! In the morning we explored the main shopping streets of Douglas and found one of the best chocolate/ice cream shops ever, as well as having a little stroll along the sea front. We then hopped into the mini bus and had a bit of a drive around the island taking in another beach in Ramsey (unfortunately couldn’t find any good rock pools to explore!) and also went to see the Laxey Wheel (known as Lady Isabella), which is a huge waterwheel in the town of Laxey. The only problem being that the place was closed as it was out of season. Although we didn’t get the full experience we could still see it, from a distance! It was a great time and a relaxing weekend!

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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.