From Bishops' Conference Secretariat documentation. The church's work among and for young people is a challenging and difficult area of mission. There are also school and college chaplains, and of course the work of religious congregations in volunteer schemes and other projects. General description Catholic Youth Services is an agency of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. It acts on behalf of the Bishops' Conference to assist, co-ordinate and develop the church's work with and for young people.
Dioceses adopt various different models and approaches for work with young people.
The agencies with which CYS could initiate or further develop collaborative work include the Catholic Agency for Social Concern, the Association of School and College Chaplains, the Diocesan Vocations Service, the Catholic Communications Centre and others. CYS has also taken a leading role in work to set up a Joint Churches' Youth Service, and seeks ecumenical involvement in as many of its activities as possible. CYS has concentrated on deepening the educational dimension of Catholic youth work, through publications such as the forthcoming Guidelines for a Catholic Youth Work Curriculum. As well as building further upon these strengths, there is a need also to provide services and resources which extend the spiritual, evangelising and catechetical dimensions of youth work. CYS has developed structures which give a voice to young people within the Church, but more need to be done to enable their voice to be heard in the public forum, and also to take up issues such as housing and unemployment on their behalf.