Scottish Catholic Observer

Cardinal Vincent Nichols today warned educators from England and Wales about the ‘very sobering narrative’ of online recruitment by terrorist organisations.

His address comes as the terror issue remains high in public concerns and politicians’ priorities. An MP this week petitioned the House of Commons on ISIS violence in Syria and Iraq.

Cardinal Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, spoke to Catholic Association of Teachers, Schools and Colleges, (CATSC) and Catholic Education Service (CES) today about the issues at the Secondary Leaders’ Conference about online recruitment by terrorist organisations and the important role that schools play in the formation of young people.

The cardinal drew from his conversations with people involved in issues caused by terrorist recruitment of young people and how this directly relates to the challenges faced in our schools.

Social media plays a key role in the indoctrination of young people and thoe tackling the problem have been ‘surprised’ how quickly recruits could be brought ‘on board.’ One of the details brought to light today was something that the Cardinal found ‘most chilling:’ The preferred age for influencing potential recruits was 14-15 years old. One of the cases discussed was that of a girl from West London who was captain of a girl’s football team in school and was on point of travelling to Syria and embracing this cause. In one of the conversations the cardinal had with the individuals involved he is given insight into why the young people are recruited. The recruiters consider the youths to be ‘value free’ and being at an age with undefined values or beliefs especially those who feel unfulfilled or lacks purpose in their life.

“It is to teenagers such as these that the call of a definitive, demanding faith, one which asks for a heroic sacrifice in a wide cause for victory. It is cast as a true fulfilment of all the unfocused yearning within them,” Cardinal Nichols went on to say. “One month is all it takes to transform a dissatisfied and disorientated teenager into a terrorist.”

The cardinal told those gathered that vocations should be central to the shaping of Catholic education and that ‘education today cannot just deal in fragments, it must deal in the whole.”

He wants young people to be asked the question ‘What does God want me to do with my life?’ and be challenge by this to create a strong relationship with the lord which is vital to tackling this development. The cardinal’s address to leaders of education was used as a reminder of the importance of there role to help the young in finding their place in the world and how a good learning growth always stems from their relationship with Jesus.

Catholic MP Rob Flello this week called a motion for Parliament to recognise the killing of tens of thousands of people by ISIS in Syria and Iraq as genocide.