We are called as Marists to 'discover new ways of sharing our Charism'.
In the Region of Eurafrica, Sector of England, Sisters Anne and Helen accompanied by voluntary workers in the Youth Centre in Manchester which opened in September 1996 tell their story.

Marist Youth Centre, Manchester
September 8th, 1996 –

Our Mission Statement:

“The Marist Youth Centre exists to gently challenge children, young people and adults to take time out to discover and wonder at what God is doing in and through them!”

 The Centre Prayer, prayed before the groups arrive each day, sets the framework and atmosphere for the day:

  “Bless all who use our centre, Lord.

May each find a still point within themselves.
May each hear, as Mary heard,
Your special call, Your word of love,
and may they leave our centre in peace
and confirmed in their mission
as Your co-workers
and Kingdom-builders. Amen”

From around 9.30a.m. until 2.45/3p.m. the centre is alive with the sound of chatter, questions, laughter, song and prayer as we work through the day’s theme with the children and young adults.

The centre welcomes primary and high school classes from across the Salford Diocese, Monday to Friday, September through to July – the school year!

September through to November sees an influx of Year 7 pupils and introduces the theme “Go M.A.D.”  (Make A Difference!) as the young people begin to settle into high school, make friends, find their feet and build community.
November/December also bring Year 3 pupils (7 year olds) as they prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Nature  outside and the nature of the sacrament the children are preparing for encourage the theme
“Turning over a New Leaf”

December brings the beautiful season of Advent. This school year Advent arrived rather prematurely as we prepared for 40 teachers to arrive for their twilight session “Step into Advent …. Prepared!” Every corner of the chapel and room in the house were filled with purple cloth and different styles of focal points and the air just buzzed with talk and exchange of ideas as the teachers shared together how they might best use some of these ideas in classrooms, assemblies and around their schools.

(“Step into Lent” and “Step into Ordinary Time … with Mary” followed later in the year and left us all feeling slightly out of kilter with the rest of the Church!!

January ushers in “New Beginnings” and New Year themes and February/ March lead us into the theme “We are Christ’s Hands” as we reflect together( usually with Year 4 and Year 8 pupils) on the beautiful Michael Talbot song “St Teresa’s Prayer”, role-play the various ways we can be the hands of Christ for one another and bring the day to a conclusion by walking some of the stations of the cross together.

April is our “Alleluia Month” as we journey with Year 5 pupils the stations of resurrection. We also walk a little of the Sacramental Journey with a number of Year 3 pupils
(around twenty different primary schools) who are preparing for the sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist. May brings more Year 3 and it also brings our “older” young people – Year 9 – and the theme “ If not YOU.. who? If not HERE… where? If not NOW … when?” This month can also bring a couple of 7 day weeks as the next diocese along, Shrewsbury, has discovered the Marist Centre and invited us to work with some of its Confirmation Groups (13-15 year olds)

The months of June and July complete the cycle of groups with Years 6 and 2. Year 6 are preparing to move on.. to let go of the known and step into the next phase of their journey. So we like to equip them with their very own “Carry-You” Bag… full of memories, talents, strengths, friends, family, wise words, beliefs and dreams! And the Year 2’s … well, they’re only six so we encourage them to “Grow in Love”!

That’s the Marist Centre, Manchester… or is it? We haven’t mentioned yet the “Chain of Love and Prayer” we have formed with our Marist sisters and Marist mission in the Gambia. Thirteen primary schools in all responded to the rosary challenge and shared mission rosaries with families and friends thereby raising money and the promise of prayer for St Charles Lwanga School, and the follow on work with young Gambian women. Katie Richards, a year 13 pupil from St Bede’s College, Manchester, provided a living link in the chain when she spent part of her summer in the Gambia, working alongside our sisters in school and in the far reaching corners of the parish! What an impact it made on Katie… and what an impact it had on the young people back here as Katie shared her experiences with them on her return.

Nor have we mentioned the vibrant group of young people who accompanied us to Lourdes last summer… and those who will accompany us this year, 2010, as part of the Salford Diocesan Pilgrimage. Last year we had the wonderful privilege of meeting up with the North American Volunteer Group … accompanied by Brother Pat fms… another link on our Marist chain. We even managed to get ourselves invited to his birthday celebration!!

And then there is our day with the Year 6 pupils at the Marist Preparatory School in Sunninghill… where we receive a great Marist welcome, and marvel at the confident young ladies we encounter there!

There are, also, the adult groups we have had the privilege to pray, share and spend time with – Eucharistic Ministers, Readers, Catechists, U.C.M. Groups (R.C and Anglican), and groups striving to retain their community identity in the absence of a resident priest.

The venture continues to unfold and develop our own sisters, from the sectors of England and Africa have been part of the richness of the centre for a while, and moved on to pastures new!

For six years sister Ann, a Presentation Sister, gave of her gifts, creativity, wisdom, time and friendship before moving more deeply into parish ministry on the other side of the city.
A good relationship has been established with St Bede’s College and each Wednesday afternoon a young person faithfully turns up at the centre to work with our groups .. first there was Bernie and now we have Vicky! While these last couple of years have brought first one, then two and now four lay volunteers – Ann, Marie Louise, Bill and Mary – each brings a newness, a freshness, a life… and each brings, too, the question “Are there aspects of our work we could do differently, more effectively, more Marist-like?”

There’s no going back, only forward…our outreach continues to widen and grow… this school year has brought Liverpool to Manchester… in the form of St Teresa’s School (where Colleen -  Wayne Rooney’s wife – went to school!) And in the midst of all the World Cup fever the little seven year olds wanted to know “Do they support England in Manchester?”

Between September 2009 and July 2010 between 5,000- 6,000 young people will have passed through the door of the Marist Centre… they will have left a little of themselves here and, hopefully, taken a little bit of us… and the Marist Dream… with them!