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Home  / News & Publications /  Michigan Catholic News / 2009 /  College kids find a time to serve

by Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published April 24, 2009

Detroit — Students and volunteers in the Archdiocese of Detroit traded in their swimsuits and beach towels for hammers, trash bags and lots of love and patience when they used their spring breaks to put their faith in action.

Photo courtesy of Schoolcraft College Heather Creteau and Sara Hodges work on the roof of a home they helped build on an alternative spring break trip through Schoolcraft College.

And, says Krista Bajoka, director of Young Adult and Campus Ministry for the Archdiocese of Detroit, "none of them come back unchanged."

Taking a service trip helps students foster a sense of community with other young people, she said, as well as deepens their faith. "This gives them an opportunity to live it out," she said. "That's just a great witness to young people."

The campus ministry office, a part of the archdiocesan Department of Education, is among the ministries funded by the annual Catholic Services Appeal.

Campus ministry is important to the Church as a link to programs, liturgies, service opportunities and more that connect students with their faith, Bajoka explained. "Campus ministry builds a faith community for the students in which they share with one another the richness of their Catholic faith and tradition, and provide mutual support and encouragement on life's journey as well as finding ways for them to be involved in their parishes," she said. "Campus ministry strives to empower students to take ownership of their faith and enable them to grow as current and future leaders of the Church by providing experiences and opportunities relevant during this particular life stage."

Bajoka referenced a 2005 Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate study that found students who are involved in campus ministry programs while in college are more likely to attend Mass, be involved in a parish, donate, consider becoming a lay minister, and even consider becoming a priest or brother after college.

"Building relationships with God, each other"

Photo courtesy of Schoolcraft College Donnie McBride, a Schoolcraft student, works on building a house in Myrtle Beach on his spring break.

Bajoka said the guiding principle for students going on a mission trip is "building relationships with God, each other, and the communities we visit." "Students come away from the experience with a new point of view on what 'real life' is about and can often approach their college years as well as career choices with 'new eyes,'" she said. "A mission trip gives college students the opportunities to see God at work in the world."

As of this year the archdiocese sponsors three spring break mission trips, she said, and they're hoping to organize summer trips for students as well.

While not a Catholic college, Schoolcraft College, Livonia, is one of many area institutes that receives funding through the Catholic Services Appeal for its student mission trips. Sally McCuen, Schoolcraft's campus minister and a member of St. Philomena Parish, Detroit, explained that Schoolcraft was part of a college caravan that drove to Myrtle Beach to build homes for Habitat for Humanity, through their Collegiate Challenge program.

Photo courtesy of Schoolcraft College Lisa Wilson was one student who spent her spring break doing service for others.

The group's job was to put up sheeting, the outside of the wood walls, and to put up trusses for the roof frame and part of the roof over what was to be a utility room. The students couldn't use power tools, so they had to hammer in every nail — and there were thousands, McCuen said. They also had to follow stricter housing codes so the homes could withstand hurricanes, which required the students to install special bracing and pound in a nail every four inches in the sheeting's edge pieces.

"Every nail was put in with love," she laughed. "The group itself was just fantastic."

"A beautiful spiritual element to it"
They used the evenings for reflection, integrating that day's experiences, and having a bit of a praise and worship sessions. "There was definitely a beautiful spiritual element to it," McCuen said.

She was "just floored by the response," she said — considering it was the first such trip at Schoolcraft — and filled up her spots by word of mouth. "When I did start advertising, people started coming out of the woodwork," she said. In all, 11 Schoolcraft students went on the trip, with another seven were on the waiting list.

They have a repeat trip planned for next year. McCuen said students have a "real spiritual hunger" — and are looking for ways "to find nourishment and connect in a meaningful and purposeful way."

Kevin West, director of service learning at Madonna University, a Felician-run school also in Livonia, explained that — in addition to service to others being a tenet of the Catholic faith —service trips over spring break, and other service projects, are part of a college sociology course called Community Leadership. For the past three years, the group has been traveling to the Gulf Coast to help repair damage from hurricanes Katrina and Rita; this year they worked on the grounds of the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory of the University of Southern Mississippi.

Specifically, the group blazed a nature trail behind the research lab, which had been devastatingly affected by the hurricane, he said. They wanted a project that would lessen the impact of hurricanes' effect on the marshland to focus on coastal sustainability, so they blazed a half-mile nature trail to use as a pathway to the marsh and for students to learn about the local environment.

"I couldn't tell you how many bags of debris were left over by the hurricane," said West, a member of St. Valentine Parish, Redford Township. "As long as we run this course in the winter term, we'll continue to go down to the Gulf Coast."

In addition to more than a dozen Madonna students, two Americorps Vista volunteers, who spend a year serving the poor, also traveled with the group. Both volunteers are active in campus ministry and are graduates of Madonna.

"We're proud to do a project like this," West said. "It was wonderful. Our students loved the work."

West said such a service project is important "because it links directly to our overall mission of educate students for service, to educate students to give back to the community," he said. "It fits right in with our Franciscan values and Catholic tradition."

Photo courtesy of Madonna University Cari DeLamielleure works on the nature trail behind the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory of the University of Southern Mississippi. The trail still needed repair from Hurricane Katrina's damage years ago.

Cari DeLamielleure, a Madonna journalism/PR and sociology major from Brighton, was one student who went on the trip. "I never imagined that creating nature trails would have such an impact," she said. "Not only are they a nice addition to the lab, they also provide a way to engage the community in environmental education and recreation."

"When I think about our alternative spring break trip, I remember the impact we made, the individuals we befriended, and how we changed a community for a lifetime," she added.

"It's for the service of it"

Campus ministries Campus ministries within the Archdiocese of Detroit are: Baker College, Allen Park and Port Huron Center for Creative Studies, Detroit Henry Ford Community College, Dearborn Lawrence Technological University, Southfield Macomb Community College, Clinton Township and Warren Monroe Community College Oakland Community College, Bloomfield Hills Oakland University, Rochester Schoolcraft College, Livonia St. Clair Community College, Port Huron University of Michigan-Dearborn Wayne State University, Detroit Wayne County Community College District, Detroit and downriver Catholic colleges are: Madonna University, Livonia Marygrove College, Detroit University of Detroit Mercy

Tom Coyne, a Madonna alumnus and member of Divine Child Parish, Dearborn, who is now a Vista volunteer and went on the Gulf Coast trip this year, said that not only are the changes he's seen from year to year amazing, but he's now more aware of how volunteers have impacted those areas. "They have a profound impact on me," he said of the trips.

He expects to be in the work force next year, having completed his Vista year by then, but still plans on supporting Madonna's future spring break trips. "The experience is one that no one should pass up for any reason," he said.

Students at the University of Detroit Mercy have gone on mission trips for nearly two decades, said Drew Peters, of the university's ministry program. This year, students had the chance to choose from one of five trips: to build and fix homes in South Carolina; work with a homeless ministry in California; work with immigration services in El Paso, Texas; fix hurricane-damaged homes in Biloxi, Miss.; and tutor children in New Orleans. About 45 people were split up between the groups, with number of students varying.

The trips were open to any student who wanted to go, Peters explained, and were arranged based on what's worked in the past and relationships the college has with service organizations across the country. UDM chooses to send off smaller groups to give students a more personal experience, and to better serve the projects they select.

"It's not mainly for us," Peters said. "It's for the service of it."

For example, although Hurricane Katrina happened years ago, work still needs to be done. "Is our work going to change there in a couple years? Probably," he said.

Not only are the alternative spring breaks a learning opportunity, but they give students an experience to bring back to Detroit, and from which they gain perspective about the world, government, faith and community to "learn and be changed," he said. "People get a lot out of it."

In addition to campus ministries, other CSA-funded ministries include the Catholic Schools Office, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, the Metropolitan Tribunal, many hospital chaplaincies, the CTND Catholic cable TV channel, and The Michigan Catholic.

Preliminary work on the annual CSA is already under way in most parishes, and the appeal to all parish members to pledge their support for CSA begins next month.