Welcome to Katerina - Our Communications Volunteer

We sat down with Katerina, our communications volunteer, to talk about what inspires her and her favourite Christmas traditions.

Q. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Thirteen years ago, I came to this country driven by curiosity and a desire to explore. Now, I’m a proud mum to a young daughter who attends a Catholic school, where she’s learning the values of compassion, community, and dignity—values that resonate deeply with me. 

After spending six years raising my family and pursuing further education, I felt it was time to focus on my own personal and professional growth. That’s why I took the chance to volunteer with Million Minutes, and it’s been an incredibly rewarding experience. 

Q. Why did you decide to volunteer with Million Minutes?

I decided to volunteer with Million Minutes, because I wanted to be part of something meaningful. I believe we are raising a generation of smart, alert, and inquisitive children who have a voice and a vision for the world they live in. These young people are deeply aware of the importance of fellowship, justice and mutual respect, and we must ensure that their voices are heard. By providing them with the necessary resources and support, we empower them to make positive, lasting changes in the world. While I am not a Catholic myself, I’ve seen the positive impact faith and community support can have on young people which is why I was driven to get involved with its mission and help engage more parents and families in supporting the cause.

Q. What have you enjoyed about volunteering with Million Minutes

What I’ve enjoyed most about volunteering with Million Minutes is the variety of exciting and meaningful projects. Whether it’s writing a press release for the launch of Adventurous Accompaniment, summarizing impactful reports like the Synod on Synodality document or the Boundary Breaking project, or drafting content for social media and newsletters, each task has felt purposeful. 

One of my favourite moments has been our team brainstorming meetings. There’s something so energizing about working together to find solutions or spark new ideas. Everyone contributes, building on each other’s thoughts—it feels like solving a puzzle as a team (and I love puzzles). Those moments of collaboration remind me of the power of shared creativity and how much we can achieve when we work together. 

Q. What’s the most frequently used app on your phone?

Hmmm, apart from Yahoo mailbox and What’s App, I think it’s Ebay as I am always buying something for my daughter.

Q. If you could meet anyone (famous or not) from the past/present, who would it be and why?

If I could meet anyone, it would be Mother Teresa. She is an incredible inspiration for compassion and humanity, embodying selflessness and a deep commitment to serving others. Her dedication to helping the most vulnerable in society is a powerful reminder of what it means to live a life of purpose and love. I would love to hear about her experiences firsthand and learn from her wisdom about finding strength in faith and kindness in even the smallest acts.

Q. With the festive season being upon us, do you have any traditions that you look forward to at this time of year?

I absolutely do. My mum is visiting us from Bulgaria for Christmas, and I am really looking forward to spending some quality time with her. My favourite moment of the festive season is Christmas Eve when the whole family gathers to share a traditional vegan meal. It’s a special tradition where we prepare a specific number of dishes- 7 for the days of the week, 9 for the months of pregnancy or 12 for the months in the year. We also bake a special soda bread with a coin hidden inside. Whoever finds the coin is believed to be blessed with health and prosperity for the coming year. It’s such a meaningful tradition filled with love and gratitude, and I cherish these moments of togetherness. 

Q. What would you say to anyone who might be thinking about volunteering?

This experience has been both inspiring and transformative, showing me, how you can contribute to something bigger, while growing personally and professionally. It’s a sharing of knowledge, skills and perspectives that creates a feeling of unity and mutual support. I’ve also seen how effective communication can inspire action and make a real impact.

If you’re interested in volunteering with Million Minutes, get in touch by completing the ‘Contact Us’ form on our website and be part of something meaningful! Let’s build a community that strives to put the voices of young people at the heart of positive change. 

Press Release: Million Minutes launches Adventurous Accompaniment

Million Minutes are excited to announce the launch of Adventurous Accompaniment, an opportunity to explore the art of accompaniment through research-based, high-quality resources and bespoke facilitation. Work with us to explore how this may deepen understanding of Catholic communities and enhance pastoral areas of work. 

We need only to accompany and encourage them, trusting a little more in the Holy Spirit.

Pope Francis, Christus Vivit (2019)

In 2019, Pope Francis released the post-synodal exhortation Christus Vivit, where he emphasised the call for the Church to walk at people’s side - “a church which accompanies” (World Youth Day, 2013). Then, following personal experiences of the need for accompaniment during lockdown, Million Minutes and friends (Aseel Gilbert, Amy Cameron, David Wells, Danny Curtin, Phil Callaghan and Abbot Christopher Jamison OSB), together with the generous support of Jesuits in Britain and The English Benedictine Congregation, came together and commissioned research to better understand how accompaniment was practiced within Catholic spaces. 

This research highlighted a need for a renewed vision of accompaniment, one which allowed each person (the accompanier and the accompanied) to be led by the Holy Spirit on an “adventure” – walking along, side by side. 

Over the last few years, we have worked with parishes, dioceses and organisations to pilot and develop a set of resources and facilitated workshops to understand and explore the uses of Adventurous Accompaniment. 

Synodality seems to sit really well with Adventurous Accompaniment...[it] also involves a change in mindset...to one which involves us all being open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. 

Adventurous Accompaniment, Pilot Feedback

We are excited to work with Catholic communities across the country, to explore how Adventurous Accompaniment can lead to community-building, participation and mission in your diocese, school, parish or organisation. If you want to find out more, please visit www.accompanier.co.uk. 

The synodal process has renewed the awareness that listening is an essential component of every aspect of the Church’s life: administering sacraments, in particular that of Reconciliation, catechesis, formation and pastoral accompaniment.

XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Final Document (2024) 

Young Caritas Europa Forum 2024

Million Minutes and CSAN staff recently participated in the Young Caritas Europa Forum, hosted by Caritas Europa in Athens.  This was a weekend gathering of young adults from organisations across the Caritas Europa network to share experiences, learn more about the work of Caritas in Europe, and to discuss how to encourage young people to be involved in volunteering throughout the Caritas Network.

Photo courtesy of Rebecca Rathbone, Caritas Youth

Bernie Goddard reflects: “We spent a morning learning about the work which Caritas Hellas does throughout Greece, and in particular the work that the Adama Project does with refugees and migrants. This includes supporting people through the asylum process, especially in looking for work. We then had an opportunity to learn about ways that young adults are working with refugees and migrants in countries such as Italy, Slovenia and Lithuania.  

Many of these volunteers are involved in creating activities for children and families and delivering educational resources in schools, informing young people about the journeys refugees take and the difficulties they often face. 

Our second day started by looking at what motivates us and how we can build charity in our communities. This involved a group activity that addressed how we can engage young people and young adults to actively participate within our organisations. This was a great opportunity to share ideas and look at how Caritas organisations work in each country and enabled us to reflect on our own methods of youth and young adult outreach in England and Wales.    

We ended the afternoon with a scavenger hunt using scenarios which people often face when they are fleeing their countries, where my group looked at fleeing from climate-related impacts on livelihoods. 

The weekend was a fantastic opportunity to learn, network and share the work which we all do within the Caritas social justice networks. 

We wish to thank CSAN, Caritas Europa and all its affiliated organisations, for their hospitality and for providing us with an inspiring and thought-provoking weekend. 

Towards Impactful Youth Ministry and Outreach - UCM Study Days 2024

In June, Million Minutes and Diocese of Hallam Youth Ministry were invited by the Union of Catholic Mothers (UCM) to facilitate their annual study days. The theme this year was ‘Towards Impactful Youth Ministry and Outreach’.

We discussed our hopes for the outcome of these study days, which included (but was not limited to): knowing more about the issues young people face, how to engage specifically with young people in parish settings and how to attract young people to be active members of church communities.

We reflected on the life span of young people aged 11-18 today, looking at the years 2006-2024. We discussed the many significant political, economic, religious and cultural events that have taken place in that time. Thinking of the UCM members’ own experiences around similar events that have happened in their lifetime, we were able to highlight how significant events and times shape the trajectories of the lives of all young people.

At the start of the second day, we opened by talking about the existing youth ministry work across England and Wales. We used this as a starting point to talk about opportunities that we can pass on to young people in our own settings; taking those existing opportunities for young people, we then considered the systemic changes that we could make in order to enhance existing opportunities or create more of them.

At the end of the final day, we invited small groups to reflect on what they had heard so far. They were encouraged to think again about their motivations for working with young people, where it became clear that they were now better equipped to articulate these motivations. They spoke about how they value young people as individuals, how they must meet young people where they are (and not where they think young people should be), and how they celebrate young people for their joy and enthusiasm.

“We need to recognise that for young people life is not a continuous party. We shall hold them in our prayers to give strength and courage as they encounter difficulties in life”

We are grateful to the UCM for the invitation to facilitate over these study days. It has been a real joy to work with the youthful energy of UCM members. We would welcome any future opportunities to work collaboratively with members of the UCM to accompany young people.

Black History Month 2021

This Black History Month 2021, Destiny Odogiyan, aged 17 from the Diocese of Salford, reflects on what the month means to her, and the ways in which Catholicism implores us to treat every person with dignity.

“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a room for you?” John 14:2

There seems to be this common misconception at times that Catholicism is a religion for white people in the UK.

But this is wrong. Catholicism is a religion for all types of people. Most of the people in the Bible (including Jesus himself) were not white.

This is the reason why I titled this blog with John 14:2 because I think it shares the most important message for all Catholics. This message makes clear that God does not discriminate. We are all God’s children, no matter our culture, ethnicity, race, sexuality or background. We are all loved unconditionally by God.

Especially as it is Black History Month this October, I want to remind people that Catholicism is universal and includes everybody. It hurts me to see that there are people who believe that Christianity is a religion that hates more than it loves.

For some reason people seem to find being Black and Catholic an oxymoron. This is because it sometimes feels that when we look around in society the representation of Catholicism seems to be mostly white people and this is wrong because it goes against a prominent part of Catholicism which is diversity and inclusion. If you go to any Catholic parish, you will find a real diversity of backgrounds in the pews.

Catholicism grew at a time of social injustice. Jesus was a social revolutionary: he healed society in many ways. There are many stories in the Bible of God giving the oppressed support to fight for their rights and freedom such as when Moses freed the Israelites.

Whenever we are faced with problems and call upon God, we are speaking up and fighting for what we believe in. Prayer is a form of campaign. Dr Martin Luther King Jr was a civil rights activist who also used Christianity as a foundation for his activism. Dr Martin Luther King Jr preached for peace and love whilst fighting for justice. He based his whole movement on peaceful protest, he never used violence as a tactic. In the end he achieved so much with his faith-based ministry and activism.

Catholicism is a religion for everybody and anybody who says otherwise is not practicing Catholicism properly. Throughout the Bible the continuous message spread is love, the main thing God wants all Catholics to learn is love because at the end of the day we are all God’s creation no matter our differences and we all have a purpose.

This is why we should treat each other with love by treating each other with dignity and respect because that is a basic right. Black History Month reminds us of that right.

Destiny Odogiyan, aged 17, Diocese of Salford

Inaugural Celebrating Young People Awards

Hundreds of young people, youth workers, teachers and supporters from across England and Wales, gathered in London's Leicester Square on 1 July, for the inaugural Celebrating Young People Awards, organised by Million Minutes. They were welcomed by Baroness Hollins, who earlier in the day had hosted some of the young people at the House of Lords for high tea and a set of workshops to support them in their work for social justice.

Baroness Hollins said: "In a society that often overlooks young people, we need to take time to celebrate them. We can't award everyone, but we are celebrating everyone. Those receiving awards are doing so on behalf of the many others working with a similar passion and commitment to build a more just and peaceful world - a world where all of God's creation, including all people, can flourish."

Awards were made in eight categories, based on Catholic Social Teaching: including celebrating human dignity, care for creation, the protection of workers, promoting solidarity and peace, fostering community and living out the option for the poor.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols gave the Pope Francis Award to Ryan O'Neill a psychiatric nursing student from Merthyr Tydfil who, in his free time works tirelessly supporting and inspiring young people. Ryan (pictured below with Cardinal Nichols and Danny Curtin) will now make a tailor-made study trip to South America to trace the footsteps of Pope Francis.

As he gave the award to Ryan, Cardinal Nichols recalled that another Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Manning had intervened to end the Dockers' Strike of 1889 - before Catholic Social Teaching had actually been defined. The Cardinal said that Mr O’Neill exemplified the same good virtues as Pope Francis, and urged the young people to use Pope Francis as a role model. He told the audience, Pope Francis said 'reality is more important than ideas.' "Don't ever lose your generosity", he said. "We need leaders of integrity and courage. All of us are missionary disciples of Jesus."

RyanONeill

A special CYMFed award for most inspiring youth leader went to Bruno Gambini a much loved youth worker from Derby. You could probably walk into any parish within the city and people would smile on hearing his name. Those who work alongside him explain "Bruno doesn't see himself as a youth worker, yet the work he continually does with young people year after year is simply wonderful. Bruno doesn't see himself as a youth minister but the amount of young people who have stuck with their faith because of Bruno's gentle but powerful witness is amazing."

Other awards were presented by Francis Campbell, Vice-Chancellor of St Mary's University, Liz Dodd from the Tablet, Margaret and Barry Mizen and their son George, Ellen Teague from the Columbans, Megan Russell from CAFOD and John Toryusen vice-chair of CYMFed.

Also awarded on the evening was Tharanay Puvanachandran, who received the Cardinal Hume Award for living out the option for the poor. Tharanay attends St Dominic's Sixth Form College in Harrow. She works as a volunteer with street homeless and organises visits to care homes for people with dementia. As a practicing Hindu Tharanay has been insured by her faith to work to give back to the community and has been taught to help those in need.

Among the award recipients was Ryan Earle, 19. As a member of the IMPACT and then Young Christian Workers groups in his parish, St Mary’s, West Croydon, Ryan came to understand the methodology of the YCW - SEE JUDGE ACT – and so became able to analyse problems affecting young people and carry out appropriate action in the light of faith. He grew in his leadership skills canvassing his local MP, and during the local elections co-chairing the Croydon Citizens Assembly, where he personally got the Labour and Conservative candidates for the council to publically commit to becoming a Living Wage employer. Following on from the assembly, the council pledged 50 work placements for Croydon’s young people. Ryan (pictured below) was presented with the Joseph Cardijn Award for the promotion of the dignity of workers.

Ryan - Joseph Cardign Award

Aysha Ahmad, a student at Ursuline High School, Wimbledon was one of the people who received the Jimmy Mizen Award for promoting solidarity and peace. She is Muslim, and one day a young boy once spat in her face as an attack on her religious beliefs. This made decide to work to promote greater understanding and peace among different faiths in her school and the wider community. She is committed to the Catholic ethos of her school and has been able to share her own beliefs to build an atmosphere of unity in the community by identifying the many values that we all share in common.

Jimmy Mizen Award recipients

Aysha is pictured, with the other Jimmy Mizen Award recipients.

The entire Year 7 class from Notre Dame Catholic College, Liverpool, won the Cardinal Hume award for their project, getting to know and support a school in Uganda The group raise money through sponsored silences, run a fair trade shop during lunch times and write letters to the children, making links and sharing their own experiences. Their teacher said: "It has been inspiring for me to watch a class of twelve year old children showing such ambition and drive to help other pupils in this way"

Read more about all the recipientshere

After the event, Danny Curtin, CEO and Co-Founder of Million Minutes said: "It was truly inspiring to meet and hear from the amazing young people transforming lives in their local communities. From the young family carer upholding human dignity, to the teenager promoting peace by leading the campaign to eliminate bullying, all the young people we met are living out the social teaching of the Church. Their commitment and drive is infectious, mixed with real humility. Million Minutes is looking forward to continuing the journey with them. We're very grateful for all those who got behind the Awards and supported them - here's to 2016!"

The ceremony brought together leading voluntary organisations and figures from the Catholic Church to recognise young people and youth workers whose contribution reflects the values of Catholic social teaching. Million Minutes hope that the awards also celebrate and inspire young people to get more involved in social action projects, as well as helping everyone to reflect on how Catholic social teaching can be lived out everyday.

The awards, supported by St Mary’s University, Twickenham were hosted at the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square.

Francis Campbell, Vice-Chancellor of St Mary's University Twickenham said: "I am delighted that St Mary's supported this valuable event and congratulate the young people on their well-deserved awards. All the nominees are an inspiration and show how the timeless principles of Catholic social teaching remain relevant in homes and communities across Britain and the world. They are bringing light and hope to those who need it most, and St Mary's is proud to support Million Minutes and those committed to fostering the best of Catholic social teaching."

Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College go siLENT!

Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College have gone siLENT this year to experience what effect silence can have on their lives, and raise money to make a difference to young across the UK.

Each day there are lots of activities like Sacred Silence in the Chaplaincy in the morning and phoneless Fridays for 6th formers, but every day form groups have all spent 5 minutes in silence. Below are quotes from students, followed by those from teachers about their experiences of silence in form time.

Students

“The silence has made me feel relaxed and at peace and I found it easy to do. It has made me be able to think about the good things/ people I have in my life and to cherish them and not take them for granted. I also have been able to focus on what type of person I want to be and to be able to have a happy start to each school day.”

“Taking 5 minutes of silence this week has been difficult. I have thought about things. It made me realise how I need to respect silence more and it has made me more relaxed.”

“I think it has got easier to be silent each day. It created a calm and peaceful environment.”

“These 5 minutes of silence have helped me. It has been difficult but it got easier as it went on. It helped me to think how lucky I am to have 2 working parents and a roof over my head.”

“It was easy and it gave me time to think.”

Staff

“5 minutes of silence for my form has been a challenge initially as they really do feel it is their RIGHT to have a bit of a catch up and natter once all form business is done. By Thursday however once we has established some “ground rules” there was a noticeable calm in the classroom. Even latecomers were respectful to the initative. All agreed it gave them more of a focus. Very much appreciated getting used to silence.”

“I have found the 5 minutes of silence extremely effective in from. I find that not enough young people today take the time to be silent and listen to what is happening around them, they are always in a rush, texting, tweeting, etc. These five minutes have offered them the opportunity to be reflective and to take the time to gather their thoughts. Definitely something I will consider to continue with my form.”

“Some moaned, but they were fantastic. I loved it- a very quiet start to the day. I was sceptical at first about whether they’d so it, but they were brilliant.”

You can find out all about siLENT and get involved through our siLENT page!

siLENT: stay silent, raise money, change lives

Lent is just a few weeks away. But instead of cutting out sugar this year, why not use Lent to find some silence? Challenge yourself or your community to cut out the noise in life: go without Facebook or stay silent with us. Sign up now to help young people transform their lives. Sinead, a student from Manchester is taking up the challenge. Watch her video here. Getting sponsored this Lent will help us to transform young lives all over the country. So get sponsored to give up Facebook or stay silent this Lent and help us to do something amazing for young people. You can sign up right now. There are loads of resources for parishes, primary schools and secondary schools on our resources pages. Whatever you decide to do will make a huge difference to young people’s lives. siLENT starts on Ash Wednesday: 5 March. Take part for all, or some of Lent.

Silent Night - Million Minutes at Christmas

In the silence of Christmas night, Million Minutes reaches a very special birthday. Click through our Christmas card to find out more.

Delia Smith is Million Minutes Champion

I am supporting Million Minutes because it’s important to stand alongside young people. You have so much to offer the world at present.

What my seventy years on this planet can offer you is my utter conviction of the importance of allowing some time for stillness and silence in daily life. There are three main reasons for this. One is that it gradually enables us to understand ourselves more deeply.  Two: this then expands our capacity to understand and relate to others and to the world. Three: as the deeper reflective part of our human nature develops it will draw us inexorably towards God.

Why not begin with Million Minutes? Don’t settle for life on the surface of things. The world needs young people like you to take up the challenge. In the words of St Paul ‘God’s power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine’ (Ephesians 3. 20).

Here at Million Minutes we’re really excited to have Delia’s support. She has written some words to encourage us in our silence which we are really grateful for. Read them below, or as a PDF You can download it here.

I have very little space so it’s a huge challenge! What I am hoping to do is persuade you to spend some time each day in complete silence and stillness. Why? Because after many years of experience I have learned that this is the way to short circuit access to the deepest part of our human existence. We each have within us an interior resource, a reflective capacity that can be stifled by noise and activity, but if we allow ourselves some time and space on a regular daily basis the contemplative inner part of who we are begins to expand and grow.

This is not special or otherworldly. It’s deeply human. But as we progress in one area of our development another can be neglected. So just as say transport, lifts, remotes, and other push button living makes us more sedentary than we were, we need to counteract that by taking more exercise. Likewise life in the fast lane and a communications overload can drown out that very important reflective part of our human makeup.

One American psychologist once said he could cure seventy percent of mental illness in the U.S. if he could get every-one to spend 30 minutes a day being quiet and still! If the above is true, then add on Christian belief and it takes on even more significance. We have in the church a rich inheritance of contemplative tradition and it’s in the still silent moments of life that we reach not only the heart of ourselves and who we are but the heart of God, who alone can satisfy our deepest desires.

Don’t be afraid of silence. It’s OK to not feel like it, to be bored, distracted, and feel it’s a waste of time. Be content to feel nothing, to be nothing. But please, please make up your mind. Give it a go. Start with 10 minutes, then move on to 15 you will know when to add more. Stillness and silence is a natural part of living that far from withdrawing us from the world and the rest of human endeavor   draws us more deeply into it. Nothing of the above is new so I will leave you with the words of a famous 17th century Catholic mathematician, and philosopher, who said “All the troubles of life come upon us because we refuse to sit quietly each day in our rooms” Blaise Pascal.

Delia Smith