Courtney McGrailKnock, the perfect place for youth to find God
Helen Toner
I have been working in Knock Youth Ministry for seven years now and I can happily say that no two years have been the same. It is a place of work that has constant change, renewal, vibrancy and joy. There are not many people who can say ‘I truly love my job’ and I have been very blessed to be able to say this every day.
I am very aware of how lucky I am to work in a place as special as Knock Shrine. At times you can be so busy you forget where you work, you forget the amazing apparition that took place here, and you forget that people are travelling from all around the world to visit this place.
The day-to-day stories you hear from the different pilgrims and their reasons for visiting Knock is so heart-warming, and the peace that they take from here brings it home to me how privileged I am to be a part of Knock Shrine.
There is a richness to Knock that you don’t find in the outside world, it is a place where people can encounter God in a very special way.
It is certainly a place where I have encountered God in the most joyful way possible, and to see the changes in young people that come to the youth ministry is so amazing, that it is then I know that God is truly at work here.
When I first started in Knock Shrine we primarily concentrated on school retreats and organising the annual Knock Summer Festival (a gathering for young people aged 18-35). When I took over in 2008, I continued to have a strong passion for the success of the retreats and the festival, however as time moved on I felt that God was directing us towards something new.
As we sat organising the Knock Summer Festival we looked out the window onto the shrine grounds and saw hundreds of young families and youth groups coming from different dioceses and from around the world, and we felt that we were missing something.
Missing contact
We were missing the contact with the day-to-day pilgrims, and others who by some chance happened to end up in Knock while out on a ‘spin’ with their family and people who felt a pull towards the place. We began to wonder are these people going away with an experience of youth ministry in the shrine? Are their children/teenagers leaving happy or could they have had something more? When the youth ministry team really looked at the needs of the pilgrims and young people that were visiting Knock Shrine throughout the summer, The HUB was born.
The HUB (Hear, Understand, Believe) is a permanent youth space in Knock Shrine. In the HUB we run a ‘kids club’ three times a day, we have a drop in space and a prayer space for teenagers and young adults.
We want to ensure that all young people that visit the shrine feel welcome and know that they are important.
We want to provide something for people of all ages; we want to give parents the opportunity to experience the peace the shrine has to offer and their children to experience the fun and joy of the Gospel. We also host diocesan group retreats and summer camps.
It is through working in this ministry that my faith has truly grown and developed. I take something away from every retreat, workshop and programme we run for young people. I grow deeper in love with my faith and all that being a Catholic has to offer.
Confidence
Of course it is not all ‘happy clappy days’ and I also experience times of doubt, of worry, a lack of confidence in myself and in what I am doing. Working with students everyday in the school retreats is very challenging. One of the biggest challenges I face is: ‘Are these students taking anything away?’
However, in these moments of doubt God calls me out of the darkness and into the light. Someone will pop into the centre and tell us that their child was on retreat with us and how the day here helped them. Or we will receive a card from a student whose life has literally been changed by their visit to Knock and their experience on the retreat.
I am excited for the future of Knock and the future of the youth ministry here. Youth Ministry is something that our Parish Priest, Fr Richard Gibbons, is passionate about and his encouragement drives the youth ministry team to achieve more. This summer we ran Summer Camps for the first time and it was a huge success.
We ran a camp for 7-11 year olds and the Michaela Camp for girls aged 11-13. It was lovely for me to see the change in the children from the beginning of the week to the end (something that we don’t necessarily see with the school retreats). At the start of the week they were shy and quiet, but by the end of the week they were leading the prayers and songs.
“Whenever we encounter another person in love,” Pope Francis explains, “we learn something new about God.” That is how I approach my ministry and my life, and I continue to use this approach and grow closer to God, growing deeper in my faith and developing the youth ministry here in Knock Shrine.
Helen Toner is Director of Youth Ministry in Knock.