Colm Fitzpatrick
Personal Profile
Young people will open up to God if we bring the message to them, Colm Fitzpatrick learns
With an increasing number of young people no longer formally and institutionally identifying with the Catholic faith, being in the business of evangelisation can be a tough job. What’s needed are novel and captivating approaches that bring the Gospel story to a new generation who are growing up in an Ireland apathetic towards Catholicism. It’s a big mission, but for youth worker Tony Silcock, bringing that message of hope is all in a day’s work.
Tony is CEO of Youth Initiatives – a Belfast-born organisation that draws together Christian youth workers to help young people in marginalised communities to develop socially, mentally and spiritually.
“We work with highly disadvantaged young people, young people on the margins. We work massively across the ages and the classes with unchurched young people and try and find a way to reengage them in a conversation of faith,” Tony explains.
The organisation began in 1991 and continues to thrive, reaching out to young people not only in the Colin Area of West Belfast but also East Belfast, Downpatrick, Banbridge and Derry.
Belfast has seen profound change over the last 30 years with the sectarianism and violence of the past no longer as prominent as it once was during the Troubles. Tony was born in Belfast in 1977 and lived out his “early and teenage years” during that tumultuous time.
“It was hard, that’s for sure. Lots of British army, police patrols, checkpoints – not able to go into town without having your bags checked, you car checked, continuous stories of people being murdered or bombs going off or even they moved you out of your house because there were bombs going off,” Tony says.
He adds that while the North has “moved on” in the greater sense of the word especially since the implementation of the peace process, the last few years “have been a bit of sticking point” given that Stormont has remained dormant for last three years and Brexit is throwing up all kinds of uncertainties about identity.
But these aren’t the only problems Tony sees.
“There’s a lack of vocations, we have a Church where not many people have had a personal encounter with Jesus. I think there’s absolutely a significant lack of investment in youth.
“I think we’ve shifted our priorities to being in safeguarding and health and safety and management of buildings, not that those are not important but I think we are missing telling the story of Jesus.”
For Tony, there is room in the lives of young people to embrace Christ because although they’re not religious, he believes they’re still spiritual.
“I think they’re interested in truth and being challenged to think about that, but the faith of their parents that has been offered to them or passed down is often superficial. Do they know actually know Jesus? And that in one sense can actually transcend Church – do they know Jesus?” Tony says.
For Tony, Youth Initiatives is one of many ways of achieving this aim as it brings the Church to young people rather than the other way round.”
He adds that as Christians and evangelisers, we have to stay true to the message of the Gospel but present it in a “more creative way that young people can engage with”.
For Tony, Youth Initiatives is one of many ways of achieving this aim as it brings the Church to young people rather than the other way round. He got involved with it as teenager and saw something different in the way they connected with the youth.
“These churches weren’t doing faith work with young people, these guys were but they were doing it in such a way that was creative, dynamic, informal and relational. They were doing it through prayer gatherings, drama, football and GAA,” he says.
Inspired by his experience there, Tony travelled to Detroit to do some missionary work and “became really awoken to what the Holy Spirit was doing” while there. He later worked for a law firm for eight years but during this time really felt God calling him be more active in his faith and work alongside the Church to bring about a sense of renewal.
“I essentially started off as junior youth worker walking the streets, engaging with young people, going into schools, delivering RE and Learning for Life and Work classes, doing personal social development, mental health and emotional well-being, looking at how we can develop resilience,” he says, noting that he eventually became part of the management system. In 2017, he was appointed CEO of Youth Initiatives.
Alongside this role Tony is also Chairperson for the largest gathering of Catholic youth ministry workers in the North of Ireland called ‘Encounter’. This is a movement that strives to build unity among the Church and provides a space for ministry workers to dream, grow in relationships and be inspired for the mission of the Church. He also sits on the diocesan pastoral council for Down and Connor which is lead by Bishop Noel Treanor.
“I’ve worked here for 13 years; I’ve never felt that I’ve had a day of work. I love coming to work, I love the mission…I love the way it sits alongside our Church in developing young people and evangelising young people.
For more information about Youth Initiatives, see youthinitiativesni.com.