Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2008 / Young adults participate in40 Days of Service during Lent
Young adults participate in 40 Days of Service during Lent
by Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published February 15, 2008
|
Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic
Katherine Bury of Ste. Anne de Detroit Parish (middle) helps orchestrate a Bingo game with Bishop Bynum (left) and Betty Ernie (right), guests at the St. Patrick Senior Center in Detroit. |
Detroit — Katherine Bury knows how young adults get around.
At 25, she lives in Swartz Creek, belongs to Ste. Anne de Detroit Parish, and she often fraternizes with peers through St. John Fisher Chapel University Parish in Auburn Hills.
So when she learned about 40 Days of Service — an archdiocesan effort to link young adult and campus ministries through an ongoing Lenten service initiative — she thought it ideal for those her age.
"It's a wonderful idea," said Bury during a volunteer effort to run a Bingo game at St. Patrick Senior Center in Detroit last weekend. "So many people nowadays just forget. They're in the hustle-bustle of everyday lives with work and family."
Forty Days of Service began on Ash Wednesday and runs through Lent. For several weeks, young adult ministers and campus ministers have lined up various service projects — at least one per day — that young adult Catholics can participate in.
"We thought it was a good way to get young adults in the parish to find out what's happening in their area," said Krista Bajoka, director of young adult and campus ministry for the Archdiocese of Detroit. "A lot of them are really drawn to service and it might be something they can easily do."
The effort is organized online at 40daysofservice.org. More than 100 people already keep tabs on the effort through Facebook.com, an online peer networking community. The events vary between those that require group participation and those that a young adult can do on his or her own.
|
Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic
Mike Mullen of the Frassati Society calls a bingo game at St. Patrick. |
For example, young adult Catholics are invited to sort food for a food drive at Church of the Transfiguration Parish in Southfield on Wednesday mornings, tutor students at St. Clair County Community College on Thursday afternoons, hold Euchre tournament fundraisers, and spend time with seniors on the weekends. Many of the events already are part of a regular regimen by campus ministries or young adult ministries. The 40 Days of Service project is meant to broaden the volunteer base for the existing events, and spark new ones. For days when there aren't planned events, young adults Catholics are encouraged to run clothing, food or teddy bear drives at work.
Bajoka said the effort is taking place during Lent as a way to help young adults strengthen their ties to Christ.
"We wanted young adults to reflect on their relationship with the Church, and their relationship with Jesus, and a great way to do that is through service," she said. "One of the unique things we do is really ask people to take some steps to their service — we ask them to put some prayer into it."
At the St. Patrick Senior Center, volunteers were warm to the idea of additional service during Lent.
"It's one of the three things that we're supposed to do — fast, pray and almsgiving," said Mike Mullen, 39, who attends SS. Cyril & Methodius Parish in Sterling Heights and also belongs to the Frassati Society, a Catholic young adult organization focused on prayer and service. "I look at this as giving, as a way to serve others."
Raquel Fournier, a parishioner at St. Mary Parish in Royal Oak, is director of community service for the Frassati Society. She said the 40 Days of Service project is a good way to encourage other young adults to respond to a Catholic's Lenten calling.
"It's a way of fasting," Fournier said. "A lot of young adults have that free time, so they can fast by giving up their free time, giving up their other activities and giving of themselves to other people during Lent."
At St. Patrick Senior Center, Bury said she hopes the 40 Days of Service effort leaves a lasting impression.
"I hope people continue it on," Bury said.
"It helps people smile, and it helps people know that there is somebody out there."
|
