Living Joyfully is a collaborative project organised with a group of religious based in the UK. The project aims to give young people access to religious life so as to experience the joy of Religious Vocation. The invitation for 18-19 April said: A celebration of religious Life in the UK! In preparation for Vocations Sunday we invite young adults to come along and meet some of the HUNDREDS of religious communities present in the UK.
More than 2000 students had online conversations with small groups of Religious sisters, brothers and priests from diverse congregations with communities in the UK. Many Primary and Secondary Schools from the UK joined the sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday spanning the whole of the school day, with some schools taking whole year groups off timetable in order to participate.
The students were very keen to participate, asking questions and listening to the perspectives from different communities. For many, it will have been their first experience of speaking to a religious! Schools were free to approach the sessions in whatever way was helpful to them – some let the students ask spontaneous questions, whilst others were well prepared with questions related to areas of study in their RE Syllabus. All of the participants were interested to see how religious life is structured in our daily life, and of course they were fascinated by details such as whether we can have a mobile phone or laptop and how we spend our holidays! There were questions about formation, Eucharist, liturgy and spiritual experience.
It was wonderful to be part of a team of about 40 sisters, brothers and priests working together with joy and enthusiasm. We had apostolic, missionary, enclosed, and monastic congregations. Many FCJ sisters also contributed their time and energy including a very early morning start for MaryAnne and Audrey, who joined from Canada as well as Lynne, Ramona, Rowena, Marguerite and Mei who connected from Liverpool.
The teams of religious were grouped to reflect the diversity of congregations, and each group was asked to join the Zoom call ten minutes before the meeting in order to talk and get to know each other.
“Listening to each one’s sharing, and our vocation stories, made me reflect on my own journey and to see some similarities. Being in small sharing group with sisters and brothers from all over the world encouraged me on my journey and recharge my batteries. I can see the beauty of God and it gives me a great appreciation, admiration for all those who have been able to say YES and to follow him. I felt that we were all together united for the same purpose to serve God and God’s people.
Living joyfully, gave me joy, energy, and hope for the future. I believe that some of the students will remember this meeting for the rest of their lives. We plant the seeds, but it is God who cares for those seeds of faith and goodness from the earliest years making them grow and to widen our circle of love.” Ramona fcJ
“A massive thank you from St Aidan’s Academy in Sunderland. All pupils involved, thoroughly enjoyed the interactive zoom calls with all those involved. Pupils have been asking more and more questions about different religious orders which has greatly given more depth to their learning.” H. Gordon
“It was a lovely and joyful experience to be part of the Living joyfully Event! The religious nuns and priests were able to share their vocational call to the young people to help them understand more about religious vocation and to give awareness of what the religious life is all about. Through our sharing they were able to express their curiosity and confusions. There were some interesting questions that were raised. I hope that in my simple way of sharing I was able to respond their questions and help them to grow in understanding.” Rowena fcJ
“I was quite happy to have the opportunity of being involved in the Living Joyfully activity. This was my first experience in ‘vocation promotion.’ Even though I have a limitation in my language, I tried to be involved. Thanks be to God, the students were quite active, they asked many questions. I pray that one day some students will decide to be a religious. Hopefully I can join the next activity.” Mei fcJ
