St. Oscar Youth Ministry touts value of outreach trips

The Youth Ministry Program at St. Oscar Romero church was started several years ago for youth from both the former St. John the Evangelist church and the now closed St. Gerard Majella church as a way to provide activities for teenagers and to also give them the opportunity to be of service to those in need.

In 1995, an outreach program was added to the youth ministry, with young people traveling to Monticello, Kentucky, on that first outreach trip. Additional missions are planned for 2023 and 2024 to Kentucky, the St. Francis Inn Soup Kitchen in Philadelphia, an Outward Bound experience, and to Port Charlotte, Florida, to help with hurricane relief. But the group is facing the challenge of finding enough students to take part in the trips, which they feel has been affected by COVID.

“There appears to be less interest in giving back than before COVID,” said Paul Driscoll, an advisor to the St. Oscar Romero Youth Ministry program. “Our goal is to reintroduce putting the phones down and taking in the experience for one week.”

Following that first trip to Kentucky, the group returned there and also began a connection with the St. Francis Inn in Philadelphia. They have participated in disaster relief work in New Orleans and Puerto Rico. They also hike the White Mountains in New Hampshire as part of a four-day Outward Bound trip, with two days of service-oriented activities, such as volunteering with veterans.

“In the past, we’ve even had college age kids come back,” Driscoll said. Some of those students have since gone on service trips to Cuba, Peru, and Ireland.

Canton High School senior Emma Massih has taken part in two mission trips. In the summer of 2021, she went to Mount Washington and last summer she traveled to Philadelphia. She returned from each trip very enthusiastic about the experience.

“During my Outward Bound trip, we did service for veterans that live near Mount Washington by making flag boxes for the veterans’ families,” Massih said. “We also had the opportunity to virtually talk to the veterans over video chat (due to COVID). But the main part of the trip was that we hiked up and down Mount Washington, spanning over four days. We stayed in huts along the way every night, and that trip was really focused on becoming your own best self, because you can’t give hope to others if you don’t have hope and love yourself primarily, and that was my main takeaway from that trip. I made a lot of new friends with people that I knew from school but never crossed paths with, and through our journaling sessions I was able to dig deep into my own emotions and learn new things about myself that I wouldn’t have known otherwise.”

Massih found that volunteering at the St. Francis Inn Soup Kitchen was also very rewarding. “The inn gives all of its guests a humane and loving experience every time they visit, by running it in a restaurant-style fashion so that each guest has the chance to come in, rest, and enjoy a nice homecooked meal served right to their table,” she explained. “While at the inn we did all different things, from picking up food deliveries to prepping meals, serving the guests, helping with cleanup, and even working at the clothing store ‘Marie’s Closet’ across the way from the inn.”

“My absolute favorite part of this trip was the people I got to meet and the stories of everyone’s past,” she added. “It was all so inspirational to me how brave and courageous all the guests were who overcame such tremendous adversity.”

One of the people that Massih met was a woman named Rosa who visited the inn with her two little grandsons. After serving the family dinner, Massih sat down with Rosa and listened to the difficult circumstances she was experiencing. “Even in the face of deep hardship, Rosa had the widest smile and brightest personality out of anyone I had ever met,” she said, “and she inspired me to continue to have hope in my own life because that’s all we can really hold onto when all else fails us.”

Massih’s advice for students who are thinking of traveling on a mission trip but may be feeling hesitant is to take the plunge and go. She cherishes the relationships she built with the people who traveled on her trips. “If you have mixed feelings about going on a trip, I would say at least try it out one year,” she said. “If I had never gone on an outreach trip, I don’t think I’d be the same person I am today. These trips that I have gone on have given me confidence in myself, and with that I have been inspired to want to give others the confidence and hope they deserve in their own lives. No matter how big or small that effect is, it doesn’t matter as long as you make one little change in someone else’s life. That alone makes outreach all worth it.”

Father Thomas Rafferty, pastor of St. Oscar Romero Parish, noted that the impact of the outreach trips is evidenced by the students’ own words. “Upon their return,” he said, “some youth share with the whole parish community from journals at Masses we celebrate at the end of the season. Others share from journals with their peers as we prepare for the launch of Kids Camp each year. One quickly realizes that, but for the experience, they would have been unaware of the struggles faced by others. For example, among those who have gone on the Kentucky trips, there is both a sense of satisfaction for what they accomplished and an insight to a reality rather different from their own.”

Driscoll said that there is no minimum number of students needed for each trip. Typically 15 to 25 students travel to each location. For more information on the St. Oscar Romero Youth Ministry mission trips, please send an email message to stgerardoutreach@gmail.com.

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Posted by Mary Ann Price on Mar 31 2023. Filed under Features. Both comments and pings are currently closed.