Young Adults share views at Big Listen event
Wednesday 15th November 2023Young people across the diocese are helping to shape the future of our local Church after taking an active role in our diocesan synod.
Last weekend, almost 30 young adults from parishes across the diocese gathered at St Augustine’s church in Manchester to take part in the Big Listen exercise for our young adult community.
Fr David Yates, director for Salford Youth and Young Adults Ministry, began the session by celebrating the monthly young adults Mass, before the group came together to learn more about the diocesan synod and their role in developing the Church across Greater Manchester and Lancashire.
The exercise was led by Young Adults Synod Members, Rachel Li and Maureen Usiagwu, who guided the group through the four questions of the Big Listen and collected their responses.
These questions, which have been shared with Synod groups across the diocese and are available on our Synod portal, invited the group to reflect on their core values, the mission of the Church, and its role in the 21st-century.
After sharing their thoughts, the group sealed their individual responses in an envelope, which will then be fed into the portal by the Young Adult Members over the coming days.
Reflecting on the exercise, the group gave fantastic feedback, reporting that the session helped them understand more about our diocesan synod and the role we’re all being asked to play in the future of our Church.
One attendee, Efe, said: “I liked the structure of the session and the whole thing was better than I was expecting from a church meeting! It gets you to think seriously about how we live our lives and our faith, which is a good thing.”
Another group member, Mary, added: “What I liked about the questions is that there are no right or wrong answers and by talking about these things openly with other people, you come to realise that a lot of people see things the same way.
“Before this evening, I didn’t have a clue what a synod was, what the questions were, what the diocese was asking of us, but just looking at the questions, I realised that it’s just asking us what we’ve always been asked: how can we live out our faith today?”
If you would like to find out more about our diocesan synod or respond to it online, please click here.
Tagged | Diocesan Synod | Diocese | Events | Salford Youth Ministry | Synod
