19: Abundant Blessings

Episode 19: Such fantastic energy and joy from Yemisi in this episode - while she generously shares her experience and insight on engaging young people,  marriage and family life, and making time for encounter.


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Kenelm Youth Trust
Maryvale Institute
Bishop Barron's Homilies

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Transcript

You are listening to All Kinds of Catholic with me, Theresa Alessandro. My conversations with different Catholics will give you glimpses into some of the ways, we're living our faith today. Pope Francis has used the image of a caravan. A diverse group of people travelling together. On a sometimes chaotic journey together. That's an image that has helped to shape this podcast. I hope you'll feel encouraged and affirmed and maybe challenged at times. I am too in these conversations. 

So joining me on the podcast today is Yemisi from the Archdiocese of Birmingham. She's a young woman who I saw on a video made by the diocese, and I felt really inspired to invite her to be a guest on the pod. And here she is. So welcome, Yemisi.

 Hi. Hi, Theresa. It's a pleasure to be here.

Thank you. Okay. So, let us begin then. Where to start? Often, I ask people about, you know, whether they've always been a Catholic, whether they've made a decision to become a Catholic later in their life.  What's happened to you? 

Okay. So, no, I haven't always been a Catholic. My faith journey actually began as a Pentecostal Christian. I played quite an active role in my church on campus at university, and I, you know, I really enjoyed it. But as I kinda got close to God and I met my now husband who is a Catholic, his example of the faith really inspired me. You know, he invited me to a youth group, and, I met Sister Catherine and his parish priest, Father Solomon, and I was kindly invited to World Youth Day Panama in 2019. That was an incredible, incredible moment for me. It completely solidified my decision to becoming a Catholic. I saw thousands and thousands of young adults and young people worshipping the Lord, being completely filled with the Holy Spirit. You just saw so much joy. You heard from Pope Francis. He had so much faith in us. Honestly, I left Panama feeling on top of the world, and I said yes, you know, in my searching for faith and my searching for depth, that experience of World Youth Day, Panama completely did it for me.  So I became a Catholic 2020, and I haven't looked back since. I generally felt, you know, walking into that church and, you know, meeting Father Solomon, Sister Catherine and the investment in my spiritual life. I generally felt like I was home. I felt like the fullness of my faith was in the Catholic faith. So I'm really pleased.

How wonderful. What an inspiring start. That's fantastic. And then what has your faith journey been like? Because in some ways, that's a really powerful way to begin, but I hope it hasn't felt a bit flatter after that.

So, no. It definitely hasn't flattened. I think it's just gone higher and higher. You know, during COVID, that was an interesting time. I was encouraged by Sister Catherine to study.  So I went through Maryvale Institute. I'm actually currently doing my Masters in Catholic Applied Theology, specialising in marriage and family, and that has been an incredible journey. I am married, and I also have a daughter. And, you know, reading through the material and the books and the scriptures, just the core, the whole MA is just so rich, and it's really edified my vocation as a married woman. So I'm really pleased and pleased that my faith has flourished in such a way that I can genuinely, you know, have a different outlook on marriage, for example. I never realised the depth of marriage and the vocation of marriage and what it means, you know, where we're called to be an icon of God's love. That, honestly, just learning more about my faith and more about theology. He's just called me deeper and deeper into, my relationship with the Lord, which is beautiful. 

That is fantastic. And it's really interesting that I was just saying to you before we started recording that it's lovely that you are a mother. What is it like being a parent in the church today? I mean, I think your daughter's quite little at the moment, but what is it like bringing a child to church, being a family who are Catholics together? 

What is it like? I've got really strong spiritual mothers and fathers in my life, you know, people who guide me in the faith. I have always been welcomed at my parish. My parish priest, Fr Solomon, he is so full of joy. Like, hearing a baby crying or they're having a bit of fun in church, it doesn't bother him at all. You know? We also have a children's liturgy in our parish. So Lydia is always, like, playing in liturgy, whether it's paints or games or whatever they've got planned for her in there. I think being a parent as well, especially with, obviously, my husband who is just so involved and so hands on with Lydia has been beautiful because I'm looking at her and I'm like, wow! Look at the product of our love. It's beautiful to know that at the end of the day, you know, the church needs families, and our role as parents is valued and important, and Pope Francis speaks of that a lot. I feel very like I said, I feel very comfortable in my parish. I feel very welcomed, and children are a blessing.

That's great. And you're really capturing there the richness of the church's teaching about family life and marriage and children being a gift from God. In today's world, marriage is less common than it was. People are getting married less often. What would you say to young people embarking on this stage of life? What would you say about marriage? 

And the first thing I'll say is that marriage is beautiful. Marriage is beautiful. Marriage is all ordained by God. Like, he is the author of marriage.  And I would encourage young people to be open to the love of God first and be open in God's will for their lives. And remember that in marriage, when you're with the right person  - when I say that, I mean someone who shares your outlook on life, that it's so much easier. Like, you're constantly edifying each other in your journey of faith. And everything you're doing is, like, is surrounded by God, the principles that are biblical principles. So I would encourage young people to remain firm in what you believe, but also remember that love is at the heart of it all. Now when you have children, it just becomes even better. Looking at my daughter just brings me so much joy. It's being open to family and growing together and building with one another, is actually a beautiful thing. So be open, be open to marriage. Marriage is ordained by the Lord, and he wants the best for you. I just pray. Yeah. I pray for the grace, honestly. I know that it's not common, and I know that we don't have the best examples. But you know what?  It's your life. It's your marriage. So be that example for the other person. You know? 

Great. Thank you, Yemisi. But I know that supporting young people in the church is important to you now, that that's a big part of what you do. So perhaps you'd like to talk to listeners a little bit about what that looks like for you.

I am the Encounter and Evangelisation Youth Ministry worker for the Kenelm Youth Trust. My role is to work with parishes and to create moments of encounter for young people to meet Jesus, really.  So we have different events going on throughout the year that helps engage young people in their faith. And, you know, one of the things that we're doing is Theology on Tap. And Theology on Tap is an opportunity for young adults in particular to come together to discuss issues within the church in an open and safe setting. We meet in a private room, and we unpack, you know, scripture. We unpack topics. Just on Friday gone, we actually spoke about fasting. We were guided by Father Marco. He came and he spoke on it a little bit, and we really explored it. And I think young adults are feeling inspired. They've gone on to join Team, which is something that is another branch of what we do at Kenelm.  We have young people who, you know, join the Mission Team up at the castle and get involved in all the retreats at Alton Castle or Soli House, which is incredible. A colleague of mine, she's planning a pilgrimage to Rome, for example. So there's just so many things that Kenelm does to help young people and to accompany young people in their faith. We even work with schools as well with chaplaincies. But for me, I focus on parishes and meeting young people and do my best to inspire them through events. We have a football event coming up, which is gonna be really fun for our young people. And it's just incredible to meet priests as well, speaking to priests and seeing what their vision is for youth ministry in their parishes. And you'd be so surprised. You know, they really want to see young people flourish. It's just, where are they? Let's go find them. Let's bring them back to their parishes. And that's kinda my role, to help them on that journey. 

And what kind of thing does help? The priests who were saying, you know, I'd love to see more young people in my parish. Where are they? Are there things you can suggest, or is it case by case? What do you do in that situation to help those priests? 

Yeah. I mean, definitely, I think it can be, you know, case by case, but I think ultimately, it's actually looking around and seeing who is there. Because I think they think, oh, you know, young people is 15, 16, 17. You know, they wanna see older young people. But a lot of the time, our parishes are filled with really young people, whether toddlers or Year Fives, you know, Primary School. And they think, how we're meant to help them. But it's about creating, for example, children's liturgy, moments that you can start to cultivate their faith. It's about speaking to their parents even, you know, build volunteers. Are you interested in youth ministry? Do you want to get involved and put back into your parishes? And a lot of the time, they do. So you may have one family that does have a teenage son or daughter that may have left their faith. Having a convicted parent to say, you know what? I really wanna make a difference, can change everything. Talking to their children, bringing them back to the faith. You may have teachers in your parish that wanna get involved and bring young people from their schools, you know. So there's so many different things that we can do.  You know, we have chaplaincy groups dotted around different schools that would be a way forward, building that relationship between the parish and the school. So it's seeing how we go back to the roots and back to the basics and actually look at our parishes and think, where can we cultivate youth provision here? Where, who can we inspire? You know, how can we speak with conviction, with faith to our parishes, to our congregation? You know, beginning there, beginning with a priest that has a vision for youth ministry, doesn't matter whether you only have that one altar server. One is enough. You know, let's begin there. 

That's really helpful. I can hear so much in that. I think what's coming across to me is you're talking about people having conviction, not just laying on entertainment and waiting for people to come, but to have those conversations, to give their own time. I've met lots of people now on the pod who are doing some work of service in the church, and I can really hear what a difference that makes to others when they're talking about that service that they're giving. And I think there's so much there for everybody involved, you know, for the person who is prepared to give that a go as well as for the people that they're going to make space for and encourage in their faith. And, I also meet lots of people for whom the parish community is really important. I could hear when you were speaking earlier how much your parish means to you and how much your life is enriched by being part of the parish. I can hear too how you're encouraging other parishes to try and build those relationships with the people who are there. I can hear the consistency, in that this is something that you value. This is something that you can help other people to value, how you can show people how they can build those powerful, meaningful relationships. 

I think it's also important to take responsibility for your faith as well.  Try it, especially as young people, try and seek after these, like you said, events or opportunities that the parishes or diocese has. I know that there's so many parishes out there who are doing incredible work, but we may not hear about it. But if you're interested, you will. So it's just about encouraging young people to seek these pockets of joy, you know, in different parishes. Can't stress it enough, but clergy are steering the direction of the church and the faith. And I've come across incredible people, like, for example, Bishop Timothy Menezes. You know, he's a great supporter of Kenelm, our meetings at Theology on Tap. Just him just inviting other young adults, really helped. If young people can look for these pockets of opportunities, they will be definitely edified and then have the confidence to share these pockets of opportunities with others, and I think that's the key. Slowing down, talking to others, not rushing away after Mass. No. Try your best to stick around. You know? Take that time. Have a coffee. Speak to people. You never know what that person might be going through. You know? Let's slow down. Let's be mindful of others.

That's really useful actually and really insightful, thank you, Yemisi. And you mentioned about Theology on Tap and, you know, having a chance to talk about topics. And I think one of the things that can feel challenging for older people in the congregation is when younger people are asking difficult questions, you know, knowing how to respond. So it's a really good idea to bring young people together and not be afraid of having those conversations and bringing up those topics and thinking about them together. Tell us a bit more about what that might look like on an evening. If somebody plucks up the courage and came to a Theology on Tap session, what would they find? 

Okay. So this is an 18 plus event. So you're gonna find adults, young adults there.  We go up to around 29 or so in age. You come into a private room. You've got your refreshments. You order some food. There's moments to mingle, to meet other young adults. And then we sit down, and we hear, we have some icebreakers as well. And then we hear from our speaker for the day, and he speaks from, usually from a priest. He speaks with conviction. We're all, like, fired up. We're ready to go. And then half of the room is for a particular, statement, and half of the room is against. So after our speaker has spoken on the topic, for example, like last week, fasting, we may have a scripture that says, Jesus said, you don't need to fast, the bridegroom is here. And then the statement may say something like, I don't need to fast. So what's the point? What's my benefit? And then half of them will say, yeah. I agree with that. I don't need to fast. There's no benefit to fasting. The other half will say, no. I disagree with that. There is so much benefit to fasting. So each team, they can't choose whether they actually agree with the statement or not because this is an exercise to engage their intellect, to challenge them, for them to see different perspectives. So they have maximum 5 minutes to just come up with ways to defend their argument. And then we hear back from each group. They have an opportunity to counter. And this is so fun because you can immediately see who doesn't agree with what they're saying, but it's just nice to hear them think outside the box. So, anyway, so we have that dialogue, and then we finally have an opportunity for an open forum. So now everybody can speak. Anybody can say what they like, and you can speak from your own perspective. And, you know, if you're a bit shy, you don't wanna speak in the open forum, you know, at least you've spoken with the person next to you. That just goes kind of back and forth. We're laughing. We're joking. We're learning. Obviously, our guest speaker, you know, who manages the conversation, and he's there for us to ask him questions. And then finally, we, you know, end with a prayer. So we begin with a prayer as normal, and we end with a prayer. And we also end with an invitation for young people, anyone, who wants to know more about the faith that they can. They can, you know, reach out to me, and we can kind of accompany them in the faith. And praise God, you know, we've had a young person actually begin, learning about the faith. Hopefully, they will, you know, become a Catholic at the end of it all. But it's gonna be, it's a blessing. It's an opportunity for young adults to genuinely ask the questions that they've they will never really have the courage to ask a priest maybe in a parish. 

Great. And also, I think sometimes you can think something. And when you say it out loud, actually, you realise that it's not as complete as you thought it was. It doesn't land the way that it did in your own head. And so it's really useful to have an opportunity to talk about things in an environment that's, you know, is safe, that everybody's learning together, that it's okay to say something that you later realised was a bit daft. And be open to thinking about things differently. You know, I think that sounds like a valuable environment for young people, in some ways for all of us, especially in such a polarised society that we live in. 

Honestly, I think that model can be implemented in parishes as well. Like you said, the older people who may feel a bit intimidated in answering this question, my advice could be maybe if an adult, a youth worker, in parishes wanted to do this, you know, they can pick some of the topics first, you know, see what they're really passionate about, what they're really knowledgeable about, and then go and do a bit of research, or even invite the parish priest to come in and say a couple of things to help. It's important. It's important that we raise young people in our parishes.

Of course. And then just coming back to you more personally, Yemisi. I can hear so much energy in in your faith and in your life, but what kind of thing nourishes your faith in terms of liturgy? You know, what kind of Mass is the sort of Mass that you really appreciate? 

I haven't been to a Latin Mass, for example, to compare.  I've been to just a normal, ordinary Mass. For me, the best part is the Eucharist, obviously. Having Jesus with me and knowing that I'm not the same is incredibly powerful for me. And also listening to the, the homily, like, listening to Father preach with such conviction is just really inspiring. But what I do to prepare for Mass, this is how I kinda get myself ready and my heart and my mind in the right place before I actually get to Mass. I like listening to podcasts. So I actually listen to Bishop Barron, and he has his homily for Sunday Mass. So I listen to him. I pray in the rosary. I just pray and just ask God to enlighten me and to help me that, you know, when I do go to Mass, speak to me. I wanna hear from You. I wanna know You. I wanna be refreshed by the homily, by my encounters, and He never disappoints. You know? You go to Mass. You sing. I'm in the choir in my parish. I'm part of the reading team as well and the cleaning team. But, I go to Mass and I listen to the homily, and I also make a point of actually speaking to people after Mass. So I do my best to notice someone who's new and try and, like, welcome them and speak to them and engage with them, and I get so much out of it as well. These are the moments of encounter I'm talking about, allowing God to use you. 

Wow. There is some energy in being part of all those ministries while also having a small person in the family to manage through Mass. 

Yeah, she comes with me. She's there for the ride.

I think as someone who's been involved in lots of ministries too in the parish over the years, it does in some ways make the Mass more meaningful, doesn't it, when you're there participating in a particular ministry because you really aren't able to have it wash over you. But, I haven't heard many people who listen to a homily to prepare. Certainly, lots of people will look at the readings ahead of being at Mass on the Sunday perhaps in different ways. But that's quite an interesting idea to listen to Bishop Barron's homily. People might be interested to follow-up on that. I can put a link to some of the things in the episode notes. Okay. So as someone who's come to the faith as a young adult, is there some piece of scripture that has been really important to you from that the beginning of that journey? 

Yes. So Matthew chapter 25 verse 29 is a scripture that I really hold very close to my heart, and it says, all to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have abundance. But from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. For me, personally, you know, my journey of faith, I think, is pretty much anchored to the scripture because I remember starting my journey really trying to decipher what my faith will look like and how it will flourish. I knew that I love God. I knew that I loved young people. I knew that I wanted to make a difference in my parish community. And the scripture rings so true to me because I genuinely feel like the Lord's saying that I've given you this now. So, you know, I've led you here. This is where I want you to be. This is where I want, I've planted you, and I'm gonna bless you. Keep going, and I'm gonna bless you. Keep walking in that, and I am going to make what you have abundant. And I've held on to that. I've held on to that scripture for a long time because I want to know more. You know? I want to know more about my faith. And I want that as I continue to know more, the Lord will continue to bless me and to bless all that I have in my journey of faith. I get a lot of opportunities in my journey of faith since becoming a Catholic. And my attitude is to do my best to say yes, to let God's will be done, really. 

That's really interesting, Yemisi. Because I would say, on first hearing that, I was thinking, well, that's quite a tricky Bible verse. But I can see how it has, I guess, empowered you to feel that God is blessing you in great abundance. And that's a good thing. And that's what has been promised rather than feeling like I've already had so many blessings, I need to pace myself now. But actually, it is promised that you, you will be blessed abundantly and even more will be given to you. And so you can have great confidence and go forward with conviction, as you say. So that, you know, that's great. I'm glad I asked you about that. 

Aw, thank you.

Now I sometimes ask people about whether they have an opportunity to share their faith at work. And of course, you're in a role where that's what you do for work. 

Yeah. 

Have you been in any other job roles previously where faith was, you know, not what the work was about? And what was that like?

Yeah. I have. Yeah. I was a hairdresser and a tutor assessor actually. You know, I love hairdressing as well. Like many young women and men. Confidence in making them look good and all that kind of stuff. For example, Ofsted came, and we needed to prepare and get everything ready. And we all agreed to meet at the academy on a Sunday. And I was like, yeah, I don't mind coming after Mass. And they're like, oh, wow. Okay. Alright. No worries. After Mass. See you then. Or, you know, during Lent. Oh, okay. Are you coming for lunch? No. I'm fasting. Oh, okay. No worries. Or, I would say, oh, you know, I really need to go and get my ashes, it's Ash Wednesday. Sorry. I can't be here. It was these key moments that I felt was necessary, really, and I just spoke up, really. I also I usually wear a cross as well, like a cross necklace, so that kinda just speaks volumes without me having to say much.  And it's interesting really because when I said to my colleagues, oh, I'm fasting, it was really funny the conversations that came up because I had some colleagues that would say, like, Oh my goodness. Okay. It is Lent. I was baptized as a Catholic. Gosh. I haven't I haven't practiced in years. And it just sparks, lovely conversations. Sometimes you need to speak up a bit. I know as Catholics, we're generally quite reserved, but you just never know in sharing.

And I think it's really good to focus on the positive side that, you know, you don't know who you might inspire rather than having fear about getting a negative reaction, you know, that actually something really good might come of this encounter. These are opportunities to mention to people and see where that goes. 

The scripture says, greater is He that's in you than he that's in the world. So Christ in you is greater than any opposition that's out there. Any rejection, any fear of shame, any fear of judgment, Christ is greater than all of that. 

Well, I think people are gonna be really inspired by listening to you, Yemisi, and some of your energy and positivity is gonna rub off, I'm sure, on listeners. Thank you. So we're drawing to a close now in this conversation. And I just wanted to say that it's been really interesting talking to you. And I think there's lots there that people will be interested to hear and also that will resonate with people, will inspire people and encourage people. And that's to God's glory.  So thanks very much, Yemisi, for being here today to talk on this pod. 

Thank you so much for having me.

 Thanks so much for joining me on All Kinds of Catholic this time. I hope today's conversation has resonated with you. A new episode is released each Wednesday. Follow All Kinds of Catholic on the usual podcast platforms to be sure of not missing an episode. And follow our X/ Twitter and Facebook accounts @KindsofCatholic. You can comment on episodes and be part of the dialogue there. You can also text me if you're listening to the podcast on your phone, although I won't be able to reply to those texts. Until the next time.