A new website has been launched in the UK with the hope that it will “help support and form a new generation of confident, grass roots, faith-filled evangelizers.” Designed by the Catholic Agency to Support Evangelisation (CASE), an agency of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, www.yfaith.co.uk, caters for 10-13 year olds who want to learn more about their journey of faith.
His Eminence, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, has already thrown his support behind the innovative site.
“Children need a sense of belonging to a wider Catholic community, especially during the transition years between primary and secondary school, when things can be unstable,” the cardinal said.
“During these years, for a variety of reasons, young people’s faith is often challenged and undermined. Some parents struggle to know how best to communicate the Catholic faith to their children in a way that they can understand. The new ‘Yfaith’ website is therefore a welcome and timely resource for the Catholic community, providing creative and invaluable support for children, parents and teachers alike.”
The interactive site was designed, with the help of several youngsters, to enable “tweenagers” to engage with, explore and express their Catholic faith.
The exciting new tool features more than 20 interactive pages covering music and film, ‘girls only’ and ‘boys only’ topics, book reviews, the Bible, and a questions area.
There's even an interactive quiz entitled what gospel girl are you?, in which participants answer questions about their personality and likes and dislikes in order to find out which woman in the Bible they are most similar to.
Answers include: Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany, Martha of Bethany, Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, or Photina, the woman at the well.
Girls similar to Mary Magdalene, for example, are described as “independent and self-confident. You don’t always get things right but are sure that you will be forgiven and you are prepared to ask for mercy. You are brave and sometimes do the right thing even if it seems risky at the time.”
After each description, there's a set of gospel verses indicating where children can read more about each woman.
‘Step Ahead’ interviews are likely to be particularly popular, featuring teenagers of 14-16 who serve as role models in terms of being open about one’s faith.
“We’ve called Yfaith ‘One Big Adventure’ because that’s precisely what it aims to provide,” said Emily Davis, one of the Yfaith creators.
“It covers the questions that children are asking: ‘Am I good enough? How can I be a good friend? What’s faith got to do with my life? What does the cross mean anyway?’ We have high hopes that the site will become a regular topic of playground conversation and help form a new generation of faith-filled and confident Catholic evangelists.”
Creators say it was key that the site was co-written by the target age group who have “energetically given input and feedback every step of the way.”
The new site, they added, “showcases a wealth of talent from a pool of budding young writers.” James, aged 12, attended a pre-launch children’s party and had the following to say about Yfaith: “It’s easy to understand. The things they say you can really relate to whereas at Mass sometimes, it can be hard to understand.”
Mary, aged 12, said: “I think it is very good and interesting. It will appeal to people who aren’t Christians. It has pages about pets and things like that.”
Yfaith is to be used primarily in the home to enable children, perhaps along with other family members, to express their faith in a creative way and to help them realise that they’re part of a wider Catholic community.
Overall, creators hope the site will enable children, as Catholics, to make a greater contribution to the world at large.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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(Source: CIN)