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London: Cardinal presents Celebrating Young People Awards at Barbican


Cardinal with Matthew Martin who received the Pope Francis Award. See more pics on ICN's Facebook page

Cardinal with Matthew Martin who received the Pope Francis Award. See more pics on ICN's Facebook page

Outstanding social action by young people was recognised at the second Celebrating Young People Awards presented in a glittering ceremony at the Barbican Centre.

The awards are the initiative of Catholic Charity Million Minutes and delivered in partnership with St Mary's University, Twickenham. They 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.

In the award ceremony, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, Rt Hon Ruth Kelly, Pro Vice-Chancellor of St Mary's University and Baroness Hollins, member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, awarded prizes to young people who are making a positive difference in their local and global communities.

The awards are intended to inspire other young people as well as to reflect on how Catholic social teaching is being lived out, and how we can all embrace the guidelines it promotes.

Danny Curtin from Million Minutes, said: "Through these awards we are celebrating all the inspirational young in our Catholic communities. Too often young people are overlooked, or even blamed for societies' problems. What we want to say through the example of the young people we are celebrating tonight is that young people can be the difference in this world, and sometimes the rest of us just have to take time to stop to realise this."

Baroness Hollins said, "We need to take time to celebrate young people, to celebrate all of you gathered here tonight and the hundreds more who have been nominated. We are celebrating all of you. Thank you for your commitment to build a more just and peaceful world - a world where everyone can flourish."

Rt Hon Ruth Kelly, Pro Vice-Chancellor of St Mary's University, said: ""I'm so delighted that St Mary's is involved in these awards and partnering with Million Minutes. It reflects our commitment to the Catholic community and to helping to transform young lives".

Among the winners was Helen Olorunsuyi, 12, who received the St Josephine Bakhita Award for celebrating human dignity. When Helen arrived in Year 7 at St Angela's Ursuline School in East London, she immediately had to look after her older sister, Michelle, who is on the autistic spectrum. Helen ensures that Michelle knows she is loved and will always challenge her to be of her best. Helen finds the questioning of other students really hard, especially the often negative judgements regarding Michelle's autism.

Helen has been able to support her older sister both at home and at school, helping Michelle when she has difficulties with other students, counselling her and generally making Michelle much happier at school through her constant encouragement, her willingness to listen and her ability to reason situations through. Helen has taught the adults in the school as she has given us an amazing insight of how to work with Michelle in different ways, how to engage Michelle and how to make Michelle feel even more secure.

Mark Johnson, her Head Teacher, said: "Helen mirrors Christ's behaviour every day, which is a remarkable achievement for one so young".

Corey Scott, 23, received the Joseph Cardijn Award. This award celebrates young people who uphold the dignity of volunteers, students and workers. Corey is from Lancashire and has worked tirelessly over the years to improve the living standards of those who live with disabilities. He had a key role in representing disabled young people in the passing of the Children and Families Act. He has met several MPs, and taken the fight to Parliament to improve the lot of young disabled people.

Corey's nominator, from the Catholic Charity HCPT said: "Being a member of the disabled community himself, he truly understands the pressures and difficulties which young disabled people encounter on a daily basis in this country. I cannot begin to describe to you the amount of volunteering he does in his own time, on top of his studies. He's gained a reputation for being outspoken, with his refreshing no nonsense, straight talking approach to tackling the challenges which disabled people face day in, day out."

Cardinal Nichols awarded the recipient of the Pope Francis Award. He chose to recognise and celebrate the example of Matthew Martin's, from Holy Cross College in Bury. For the last two years Matthew has been helping people who are homeless in Bolton, Greater Manchester. From November to April he gives up every Saturday night, from 7 pm - 1 am, preparing and serving food to between 50 and 70 people aged between 16 and 90.

Matthew's nominator from Holy Cross said: "When he talks of what he does, he does so humbly and with humility. He enjoys just listening to stories of the people who go to the winter shelter, starting to see the guests as friends. He is respected by his peers for his charity work, many of whom could not imagine giving up a Saturday night, every Saturday for six months a year."

Other prize categories include the Dorothy Day Award for fostering community and participation, the CYMFed Award for inspiring youth worker of the year, the Jimmy Mizen Award for promoting solidarity and peace.

The award winners are:

Cardinal Hume Award: Living out the option for the poor

Tom Morris & Emily Tierney, Kenelm Youth Trust, Birmingham
Year 12 General Religious Studies Group, St Anselm's College, Liverpool
Sixth Form Homelessness Campaign Group, St Wilfrid's Catholic School, Crawley

Barbara Ward Award: Caring for the Environment
Sam Abraham, All Saints Catholic High School, Sheffield
St James Climate Bloggers, St James Catholic High School, London
Owen Bond, Thornleigh Salesian College, Bolton

Joseph Cardijn Award: Protecting the Dignity of workers
Martins Banjo, St Francis Xavier Sixth Form College, London
Corey Scott, Blackburn College and HCPT
Alice Stella, Kid Lost, London

Dorothy Day Award: Fostering community and participation
Flavia Sofia Bernardo Matos, St Francis Xavier Sixth Form College
Reena Joseph, St Wilfrid's Catholic School, Crawley
Anna Joy Marshall, St. Hugh's Parish and NJPN, Chesterfield

Jimmy Mizen Award: Promoting solidarity and peace
Emma Atherton, Pax Christi, Liverpool
RHUL Inter-faith group, Chaplaincy, Royal Holloway University of London
Newman Catholic College London Citizens, Newman Catholic College, London

St Josephine Bakhita Award: Celebrating human dignity
Angeline Umba, Holy Cross College, Bury
Nicola Mattocks, New Addington Church, London
Helen Olorunsuyi, St Angela's Ursuline School, London

CYMFed Award: Inspiring Youth Leader
Tom Calouri, Croydon

Pope Francis Award: Overall Youth Award
Matthew Martin, Holy Cross College, Bury

Million Minutes is a charity founded in 2011. It raises money and supports youth action and advocacy activities that give voice and support to young people to transform their lives and their world, inspired by Catholic social teaching. It supports young people making a difference through participation in society, assuming responsibility and developing as leaders. It works alongside other organisations, including the Foundation for Jimmy, Cardinal Hume Centre, and the Young Christian Workers. Its champions include TV chef Delia Smith, Fr Christopher Jamison OSB and Margaret Mizen OBE, mother of Jimmy Mizen, who was murdered in 2008, who now runs Foundation for Jimmy.

St Mary's is the UK's largest Catholic University. This year it celebrates the 165th anniversary of its foundation in 1850. The milestone is being marked by a number of high-profile events, including the recent installation of Cardinal Vincent Nichols as Chancellor in a service at Westminster Cathedral, in addition to organising a number of events involving staff, students and the local community at its Strawberry Hill campus, including the co-sponsorship of a series of public lectures on the theme of 'Ethics in Public Life' with the Von Hügel Institute (VHI), St Edmund's College, Cambridge University, and Las Casas Institute at Blackfriars, Oxford University.

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