Young Neighbors take action in their parish

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

The cancellation of a summer trip hasn’t stopped local youth from seeking justice and promoting faith, with an eye toward the environment. This year, they’re giving back to their parish, instead of serving on the other side of the country.

They’re Young Neighbors in Action from St. Patrick Parish in Whitinsville and they’re preparing to make a prayer garden for fellow parishioners, including children in faith formation classes, and anyone else who wants to stop and reflect.

Young Neighbors in Action, a program offered by the Center for Ministry Development in the state of Washington, brings together students from grades 9-12 from around the country to serve, learn and dialog in different ways and places.

“It provides a dynamic Catholic approach to both service and justice that connects God’s word, prayer and liturgy, and Catholic teaching with the work the young people do throughout the week,” says the center’s website, cmdnet.org. Organizers offer tools and resources “to make this experience go beyond the week in the summer and integrate it into all you do throughout the year.”

Throughout the year St. Patrick’s group prepares for their annual YNIA trip with bonding experiences – fundraisers, a retreat, and a “cardboard village” sleepout to learn about homelessness – said Aileen Lemoine, the parish’s director of student ministries.

This year they were to serve in Tacoma, Washington.

“We were thinking, after our trip … got cancelled because of the pandemic … ‘What can we do for our community?’” said Emma Holtz, 18, in her fifth year with YNIA. Some parishioners had previously considered making a prayer garden, she said, and “we kind of adopted” that idea.

She said she’s proud of their group because they didn’t sit around and mope when their trip was cancelled. She’s happy they’re doing something for the parish community.

The prayer garden is a way to leave a permanent mark for the parish that has supported its Young Neighbors for 20 years, Mrs. Lemoine said. The place for prayer will be built behind the parish’s community garden, where vegetables are raised for parishioners and the local food pantry.

“Young Neighbors in Action has been imbedded into our students,” said Shelly Mombourquette, St. Patrick’s YNIA coordinator for the past 18 years. So they wanted to continue their involvement this year, however they could; they felt strongly that they should be doing social justice work.

The garden will have brick pathways in the form of a Celtic cross, with a 15-foot wide circular stone patio in the center, Mrs. Lemoine explained. There is to be a theme for each of the four quadrants, which will be adorned with flowers and a statue.

The Young Neighbors are looking for a statue of the Blessed Mother, because some parishioners have a strong devotion to her, and St. Patrick, their patron, she said. A parish statue of St. Francis, known for his association with creation, is to be moved from its spot facing the parking lot, and a parishioner donated a guardian angel statue, which will help remind young children in faith formation classes about a prayer they learned last year, she said.

A sign is to give a history of the garden and show an aerial view, making clear its cross shape, she said.

“The kids are also very into ‘What can we repurpose?’” Mrs. Lemoine said. “We’re going to use recycled cinderblock to make the benches” and see if a granite store will share its discarded pieces, “in one way to decrease our costs, in another way … just to repurpose, so it doesn’t go to a landfill.”

Noting that one of the Church’s social justice principles is taking care of the environment, Mrs. Mombourquette said the students want to plant native plants and plants that draw pollinating bees and butterflies that will help the community vegetable garden flourish.

Mrs. Lemoine said parishioner Pauline Conlee taught students about plants by showing them a garden she and her husband, Robert, created.

Students are looking into piping water to their garden, getting a solar-powered fountain which could help drown out traffic noise, and adding a tool shed, Mrs. Lemoine said.

What they can include, and when, depends on how much money they can raise; they’re trying for $10,000, she said.

She said they will use money initially raised for the YNIA trip through Lenten fish dinners. They are seeking to make and sell a cookbook with parishioners’ recipes for vegetables grown in the community garden and other dishes.

They also are planning to wash cars and hold a recycling day to raise money.

Car washes, for $8 per car, are to be held from 8 a.m.-noon on the next two Saturdays, tomorrow and July 25, in the church parking lot.

 At the recycling day, from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Aug. 15 in the church parking lot, people can pay the young people to take old electronics and have paper shredded (the shredding company is there from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.). The students will also accept returnable bottles and cans and re-sellable textiles.

Monetary contributions for the garden can be made through the parish website or left at the rectory.

The Young Neighbors are planning to build the garden Aug. 1-6, Mrs. Lemoine said. Students in grades 5-8, from the parish’s Youth in Action program, are to finish the work Aug. 10-14.

Deacon Christopher R. Finan, who serves at St. Patrick’s, came up with “New Beginnings” as the theme for the Young Neighbors’ week, said Mrs. Mombourquette.

“It’s new beginnings for everybody,” with the virus, she said. And doing the summer project at their parish is new.

“It’s because we’re in a new environment,” Mrs. Lemoine said. “So how are we going to grow and change? … Throughout life we have new beginnings. Throughout the Bible there are new beginnings. … So, every day we’ll focus on a Bible story … the emotions in the story, and how can we connect our emotions to the story. … Do we return to God in those new beginnings?”

Mrs. Mombourquette said the students will discuss questions, including, “How do you think this project will serve as a new beginning?”