Another Juventutem Chapter in H&N (Hexham & Newcastle)...

Three years ago Andrew (the ‘Tie’ of this blog), two teenage girls (Rachel and Miriam) and a young man from Durham University, were ready to establish themselves as a Juventutem Chapter. Seeking a Church with good access they contacted the Cathedral, well supplied by bus routes, trains and the Metro system. Sadly the Cathedral was unable to accommodate them by reason of ‘lack of resources’ and because they ‘already have a prayer group catering for the youth’. They then requested the chapel in the Metro Centre shopping mall which was offered and accepted. They were just about to go ahead when the Diocese closed the chapel. They decided to wait until clergy moves were made before trying again.

In August this year, commenting on a post on  a post on Fr Brown’s ‘Gateshead Revisited’ about a possible Juventutem chapter in Gateshead, I noted that that Andrew was planning another attempt and wondered if we should get our young men (Andrew and Philip Dillon) together. Philip saw this and contacted me via this blog. Gateshead also being well supplied with bus routes and the Metro system Philip, along with Mr and Mrs Armstrong, saw the possibility of establishing themselves as a group with support from the LMS Reps (Mr and Mrs O’Neil) and Fr Brown. For the glory of God and the good of the youth their chapter was thus established. Our Diocese being long in length however (stretching from the Scottish Border to Middlesbrough) it makes good sense to have two Juventutem chapters, one for the more Northern in Gateshead, and one in Durham for the more Southern end of the Diocese. As such Andrew and Paul Duffy, another of our Thornley parishioners, arranged an enquiry meeting at St Cuthbert’s Durham, to set up a Chapter there. Seven people came together to form the core group and it has now met three times. We are thus a Diocese blest with two Juventutem Chapters, one in the County of Tyne & Wear and one in Durham County. It remains possible for more Chapters to be established within parishes, but this requires more active support from the clergy than is generally found.

That we have two Juventutem Chapters in the Diocese must say something about the attachment of young people to Traditional Liturgy, Spirituality and Catechesis. Besides H&N, perhaps only The Westminster Diocese is at present likely to have multiple chapters, but I’m sure that at more will achieve it as the movement grows. That H&N has two chapters in two of its counties is a great witness to those folk (and to those Bishops) who, in regard to ministering to the youth, dismiss the usefulness of the TLM and the Church’s liturgical and spiritual Tradition. This unfortunately leaves many of our youth in a position of being unable to gain awareness of or access to their liturgical and spiritual heritage.

Andrew’s post describing the beginning of the Durham Juventutem Chapter is linked below for your edification. You will see that the group not only promotes the Traditional Liturgy but that its members are active in their own parishes and dynamic in the corporal works of mercy -as has ever been the practice of the Catholic Church. I reproduce one paragraph here:

While Juventutem is geared towards youth who are attached to or attracted to the Traditional Liturgy (which we seek to promote), our group, by working with the homeless, fundraising for the Developing World and active in our parishes, illustrates the fact that the vision of such young people is much wider than is supposed by those who disparagingly speak of devotees of the Traditional Mass as ‘odd’ or ‘eccentric’; as ‘engaged in a passing fad’ or as ‘only interested in Latin and Lace’. Devotees of the Traditional Mass are in fact people with a social conscience involved in everyday parish life who simply value the Tradition of the Church and wish to see it promoted. Read the whole thing here.

This sounds a very rounded and active group to me and deserves to be applauded for that fullness, and despite the fact that Andrew has been mainly a background voice so far, I am proud of his efforts and achievements in all of this, as I am of Paul who has entered into it despite the pressures of running his own business and moving the family home. May God bless all our young people, especially our Juventutem chapters in the North and the South of this Diocese of Hexham & Newcastle.

I should finish with a poster for the  Missa Cantata arranged by the group for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception...