Members of Recharge pictured during the group’s Advent retreat. Photo: Recharge. A Belfast young adult Catholic group has marked the end of its first year with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Alan McGuckian, as one member said young people are increasingly trying to “find their way back to the Church”.
Recharge, established in September 2024, brings together young Catholic adults from across Belfast and the Diocese of Down and Connor for adoration, prayer, confession, formation and social events. Entirely led by young adults alongside their professional careers, the group also holds study sessions on alternate weeks, following courses on subjects such as the sacraments.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Recharge member Gerard Scullion said the first year had shown a real desire among young adults to reconnect with faith: “The most common response we get is: ‘We’re just trying to search for something deeper. We’re trying to find our way back to the Church. We’re trying to rediscover our faith.’ It’s a really interesting mix of people at very, very different stages of their faith journey, which is obviously brilliant.”
Asked why young adults are searching for groups such as Recharge, he said many are under “insane pressure” and are beginning to realise that life must be about more than work and worldly success: “The world asks a lot of young people. I think people realise that there has to be something beyond nine to five, beyond what the world can offer. We don’t mass advertise. We simply just kind of put this on and see who comes. I think that’s the real beauty of it. It’s kind of like that field hospital analogy that Pope Francis used to use, where people dip in and out. They get what they want. They come back. It helps form them and helps them feel like they’re not alone out there, which is obviously really important.”
Responsibility
Over the course of the year, Mr Scullion said he had seen people grow in confidence, return to confession, ask “bigger questions” and seek spiritual direction: “You can see, as the year progresses, they become a lot more confident, asking bigger questions, seeking out spiritual direction. Some people may have started off going to the group, maybe they hadn’t been to confession in years, they weren’t regular Mass-goers. And then you see that development.”
Bishop McGuckian’s presence at the end-of-year Mass showed diocesan support for the initiative, Mr Scullion said. “Having the last session with the bishop is brilliant, because he gets to see as well that this is working,” Mr Scullion said. He also paid tribute to the support of the parish and local clergy, especially Fr Conor McGrath, saying the group could not happen without their blessing and practical help.
At the same time, he stressed that Recharge is an example of lay Catholics taking responsibility for evangelisation rather than waiting for clergy to do everything. He recalled advice from the late Archbishop Noel Treanor, who had said that lay people sometimes expect too much of bishops and priests: “If we see a problem, if we see a gap, if we see something that isn’t being offered, well then, what are you going to do about it? …There’s a responsibility there on us as members of the Church to step up to the mark as well.”
“Everyone involved, they work nine-to-five jobs, they don’t get paid for it. They’re rushing home from work, getting themselves over to east Belfast on a Tuesday night,” he said. “It’s a vocation. If you weren’t totally bought into the long-term vision of it, then you wouldn’t do it, because what would be the point?”
Looking ahead, Mr Scullion said Recharge hopes to return in September and continue to grow.
“We continue to reach as many people as we can,” he said. “It’s a fairly simple formula, so I don’t think there’s any radical change needed. I think that’s why people appreciate it. They can just come, sit in a church and leave by the back door if that’s all they want to do, and that’s more than okay.”
Despite the challenges facing the Church, he said there are reasons for hope.
“There’s no reason to be negative or gloomy about the future,” he said. “Yes, it’s going to be a challenge. Yes, we’re going to have to work hard, but just look at the trends across society. There’s definitely an indication that something is happening. There is a renewal, there is a regrowth, there is a recharge of people.”