November 21, 2009 |
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Summer of service helps shape teens’ faith, hearts
Members of Lakeland’s Church of the Resurrection youth group and adult leaders pose for a photograph after they completed cleaning a Catholic Charities’ storage building on the fourth day of the Catholic Heart Workshop. From left to right, Antoinette Garcia; Emily Beriswill; Angel, from Catholic Charities Orlando; Donna, a youth group leader; Jake Coffman and Caroline Finch. ORLANDO | Whether it was helping to fix the homes of the poor and elderly, stocking food pantry shelves, bringing smiles to the faces of sick children or going to World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia, teens across the Orlando Diocese have interesting answers to that first-day-of-school question: “What did you do on your summer vacation?” Teens served others, themselves and God in tasks that took them as close as their local church and as far as the other side of the world. “My son Andrew came home from Catholic HEART Workcamp,” shared Cathy Canto of Resurrection Parish in Lakeland. He said, “‘Mom, now I understand why you love Jesus so much.’” “It was amazing because people in the parish worked together to help other people – we worked together to spread God’s love,” said Andrew Canto, 14, who will be a freshman in high school next year. HEART stands for helping elderly attain repairs today. Begun in 1993 by Steve and Lisa Walker of St. Margaret Mary Parish in Winter Park, the ministry has broadened to help the needy of all ages. Andrew was one of a team of 54 teens from Resurrection Parish and 220 teens from across the country who participated in a workcamp hosted by St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Orlando July 13-19. The team also worked at Harvest Time International, a nonprofit organization in Sanford, which reaches out to touch and improve lives by gathering and distributing essential goods and services to those in need. University of Oklahoma junior Matt Smith, from Edmonton, Okla., served as a tool supply manager for the camp. He ensured all the right tools for the day’s work were available so the campers “can get their job done well.” “I just love it here,” Smith said. “I was a camper for six years and my team happened to be in Orlando this week. I’m here to help the people of Orlando and to help the team build a deeper relationship with Christ. It’s so amazing the things I see while helping people and still growing in my relationship with Christ. I want to continue with HEART camp.” The migrant farmworker community of Pahokee in the Diocese of Palm Beach hosted a different mission. Ten parishes in the Diocese of Orlando sent 200 teens to join 130 others to the Alive in You Catholic Conference and Service Camp, June 24-29. They arrived at St. Mary Parish there “in an invasion of love,” according to the parish’s pastor, Father John J. Mericantante. “I’m used to ministering and the kids were ministering to me,” Father Mericantante said. “They refurbished 48 houses and four parish buildings. They’d ask to take a break to pray the rosary; I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. I bring the monstrance to the table to have breakfast with Jesus every day and the teens asked if they could have breakfast with Jesus, too.” Angel Ortiz, youth ministry coordinator for Blessed Trinity Parish in Orlando, who brought 26 teens to the camp, explained: “The theme for the entire trip was ‘Sealed with the Holy Spirit’ and each day we’d be presented with one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Then we’d receive our instructions and go off to our worksites. My teens stayed motivated and worked diligently on their projects.” One of those teens, Danielle Cole, 17, is a senior at Boone High School in Orlando. She was particularly challenged by the intensity of the heat during the workday. “It took a lot of endurance to be out working in it constantly,” she said, “but at the end, a father of one of the families we helped asked how he could get his son involved and the whole purpose for being there paid off,” Danielle said. Smiles for kids Give Kids the World Village in Kissimmee, a 70-acre property that provides cost-free accommodations, meals, entertainment and theme park tickets to families of children with life-threatening illnesses, provided still another chance for teens to serve on their summer vacation. Twenty teens from Prince of Peace Parish in Ormond Beach and Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Daytona Beach made it their second home June 27-July 3. “I was working on a carousel when some of the kids came up to thank me for being there and making a difference in their week,” recalled Our Lady of Lourdes parishioner Sarah Durant, 17, a senior at Father Lopez High School in Daytona Beach. Marie Gallo-Lethcoe, youth director from Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and new director of mission effectiveness at Father Lopez High School, chaperoned. “It was the best mission week I’ve ever done,” she said. “The Spirit was so present. It was present in the way the teens behaved, in the way they cooperated, in the way the schedule flowed. It was really Spirit-filled. The village awards volunteers for their extra effort, but our whole group received an award for going above and beyond.” The teens enjoyed landscaping, dressing up in character, scrubbing walls, pulling weeds, washing windows, serving food, taking photos of children during the visit of some Disney characters and spending time at the theme parks with the children. “This was my first mission trip – and of course I’ll do it again,” said Jessica Rodriguez, 15, of Prince of Peace Parish. “I got to see kids with life-threatening disabilities and they were so happy. It was the highlight of my summer.” Close to home Children attending vacation summer school – and the teens who volunteered to assist – also found a way to serve. At St. Andrew Parish in Orlando, 43 teens helped implement this year’s summer school theme, “Power Lab: Discovering Jesus’ Miraculous Power.” Past participant Victoria Guerrero, 13, was helping as a volunteer for the first time. She most enjoyed connecting Bible stories to the children’s own experiences. “We made a boat for the story of when Peter walked on water. You could tell they understood everything, but this one they really got. I like working with the younger kids and watching them learn. You’re showing a really good example of how to be good and they learn about Jesus,” said Victoria. Director of religious education Debbie O’Malley explained that during the course of the week the children were encouraged to share part of their allowance or earn some extra money to donate to a worthy cause. This year, they contributed to the Women of the Arts Inc. scholarship program at their parish, which helps to support women and girls with artistic abilities. Daniel Diaz, 15, a parishioner at St. Theresa Parish in Belleview, volunteered as a crew leader at vacation summer school there. He discovered it came with challenges. “I liked helping with the kids, the second- and third-graders especially,” he said. “They joked around and getting them to walk with their crew leaders was difficult because they liked to wander off.” Far, far away One of the most glamorous summer vacation stories came from “the land down under,” with some teens’ attendance at World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, Australia. Georgette Hoppenbrouwer, the youth ministry director for St. George Parish at Patrick Air Force Base, led a contingent of nine young people and three chaperones on the pilgrimage July 9-24. “It is wonderful to personally see the impact that Pope Benedict XVI has on our teens,” she said by cell phone while in Australia. “The youths feel connected and are energized by his holiness. Hoppenbrouwer said that the group “discussed the effect of being able to see so many teens like themselves energized in our faith. One member of our team watched another group of teens playing with local children and realized that our small little group could make a difference. For me, the Holy Spirit just permeated everywhere – our amazing Holy Spirit.”
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