groups
YOUNG CATHOLIC ADULT NETWORK UK
For some time YouCAN has had in person young Catholic adult groups in Birmingham and Clifton Dioceses, but we have expanded!
We hope that many more of you UK young Catholic adults will join one of our Regional WhatsApp Groups! Then you can start to meet people who live your way and maybe even get involved in organising more and more events, so that we can connect with more and more young Catholic adults! This is no time to be shy or be on your own, so please get in touch, and you too can be added to one or more of our Regional Groups. There is no charge, no fee, nothing at all!
To apply to join a YouCAN WhatsApp Group, please contact Rina rina@youngcatholicadultnetwork.uk You will also be added to our main UK WhatsApp group so that you start to get a “feel” as to what YouCAN is all about. This helps to build our young Catholic adult community in the UK. We all need to be connected!
These are the groups, admins and where they live, and the groups’ Spiritual Homes… so far;
YouCAN+ (a UK group for those aged 30 to 45)
Sian – Bath
Oli – Bristol
Chris – Maidstone
Spiritual Home – Various
Scotland, in time to divide into east and west.
Anna – Glasgow
Christina – Dumfries
Spiritual Home – Pluscarden Abbey
Northeast
Andrew – Wakefield
Luke – Newcastle
Spiritual Home – tbc
Northwest
Callum – Liverpool
Louis – Manchester
Rachel M – Keswick
Spiritual Home – Hyning Monastery
East Midlands
Marcin – Northampton
Alicia – Milton Keynes
Spiritual Home – tbc
West Midlands
Rachael – Oxford
Si – Coventry
Spiritual Home – Belmont Abbey
Southeast
Juani – London
Joelle – London
Raphael – London
Spiritual Home – Douai Abbey
Southwest and Wales, hopefully in time Wales to be a separate group
Nali – Bristol
Glaxy – Shepton Mallet
Angelo = Bristol
Spiritual Home – Brownshill Monastery
You will be given the following information before joining YouCAN, and asked to agree to YouCAN's ethos and guidelines, which are as follows;
YouCAN+ and our Regional Groups are subsidiary to the main WhatsApp Group to which everyone belongs and to which you will be added when joining. This is so that we develop a single community and help you better understand the work of YouCAN, which is simply connecting young Catholic adults.
Before being added you will be asked to provide your full name, email address and mobile number. You will also be asked to provide contact details for your Parish Priest. YouCAN may seek a reference from him in order to ensure the continuing security of the group. Please mention if you wish to be added to one or more of our Regional Groups, or YouCAN+.
The Chaplain of the main WhatsApp groups is Fr. John McGowan, who is a Discalced Carmelite Friar based in Chalfont St. Peter. Also in the group is Sister Elizabeth Mary Mann, Prioress General of the Bernardine Cistercian Order, and Fr. Valens Ngiruwonsanga, who is based in Rwanda. There are also a number of Seminarians in the group and a few International Catholics. The International Catholics joined when the group was first set up in March 2020.
We ask that you please bear in mind the following guidelines when chatting in all of the YouCAN WhatsApp groups;
1. Love God and your neighbour
2. Remember we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Thus let’s help each other get to heaven and grow in holiness
3. We are predominantly a social group. However, sometimes it may be fruitful to discuss theological, political, moral and other issues in order to understand more deeply our Faith and the teachings of the Catholic Church. These are contained within the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1994, and summarised in YouCAT. Such discussions must take place in a spirit of humility, and respect that others may hold an equally valid, but different, view.
4. Remember we stand for The One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and submit to The Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis. Young Catholics in the group come from all different backgrounds, and we have to respect that others may hold different views, and in particular celebrate Mass in a different way, to ourselves. We can learn from each other.
5. Please pray for each other and especially for Fr. John, Sister Elizabeth Mary, Fr. Valens and our Seminarians.
6. Rina tries to send out information about the Saint of the day each morning, together with a relevant Prayer. In this morning prayer we pray to the Patrons of the group, Saint John Paul ll and Sister Clare Crockett. We also pray to Our Lady Queen of Peace especially for persecuted Christians in so many places in our world, to the Holy Martyrs of Ireland, to Saint Edmund the Martyr, former Patron of England, for his intercession to end the coronavirus pandemic, and to Saint Gregory the Great, to help the English Benedictine Monks, formerly of Downside Abbey but now at Buckfast Abbey, co- founders of YouCAN.
7. Sometimes it is more appropriate for a conversation to take place outside of the main group. This is certainly the case if you and just one other are chatting about something over a period of time, or where you wish to dispute something with someone that could cause upset or embarrassment.
8. The WhatsApp groups are not for the promotion of other groups, or events not organised by YouCAN. Sadly some people have joined the group, advertised their own group, and then left! Please check with Rina before posting details of events or other groups. If you do not do this, you will be asked to delete the message.
9. Rina, in consultation with Fr John, will remove anyone from the group whose behaviour is considered to fall below the standards set out above.
10. As with any WhatsApp group, your mobile number will be seen by others in the group. Rina will not divulge either your mobile number or email address to anyone else without your permission.
11. The WhatsApp groups are only part of the wider YouCAN network. Rina keeps in touch with the wider group, particularly event updates, by WhatsApp Broadcast. You will not receive these unless you enter her ‘phone number in your ‘phone book, so please do this if you want to stay up to date!