St. Patrick's teens serve fish for a mission

By Susan Bailey
CFP Correspondent
Bread is often called the “staff of life,” but for teens at St. Patrick Parish in Whitinsville, the staff of life may in fact be fish.
St. Patrick’s teen ministry group, which participates in Young Neighbors in Action, has been serving fish and chips dinners (along with clam chowder and macaroni and cheese) during the Lenten season each Friday from 4:30-7 p.m. At $10 per dinner, along with small fees for extras, the money earned is subsidizing a week-long mission trip to San Diego where they will work for the poor and less fortunate.
The fish dinners feed not only those who partake but enable a group of young people to bring new life to others in need.
“Teens from St. Patrick’s have been participating in YNIA since 2000,” said Aileen Lemoine, director of student ministries at St. Patrick’s. “YNIA is a national Catholic-run program where teens participate in week-long service trips across the country. Teens are challenged to love, serve and work for justice in the world around them.”
This year’s trip will take 23 students and five chaperones to San Diego; the theme is “Called to Be Salt and Light.” The actual nature of the work is not revealed until a couple of weeks before the trip.
“Shortly before we leave each summer, we find out how our trip leaders and chaperones have divided us — usually into three or four groups (teams),” said Grace Salmon Robinson, age 18, a veteran of these mission trips. “Once there, we are sent to different work sites as teams.”
The students are asked to fill out paperwork and designate their preference for the kind of work they’d like to do.
“The forms ask us to rank our preferences for the following general jobs (landscaping/manual labor, working with children, organizing, etc), however there are no guarantees that we will get our top choice, or that those are the jobs that will be available,” said Ms. Robinson.
In past trips the teens have worked in soup kitchens and at homeless shelters, summer camps and Native American reservations. They have interacted with the disabled, young single mothers, refugees and former drug addicts.
“As you can imagine this has left lifelong impacts on the teens,” said Ms. Lemoine. “Some of the teens have gone on to careers in social justice.”
In preparation for the trip, the young people gathered recently for a day-long retreat.
“The kids spent time throughout the day making a mandala (a geometric design) out of sand,” said Ms. Lemoine. “This is to represent the impermanence of life but that God is always there.” At the end of the day the sand was gathered into jars; one jar will be placed on the altar while the group is away and one will be taken with them to represent the entire community of St. Patrick’s.
Several teens shared their experiences and the impact these mission trips have had on their lives.
Emma Holtz spent her week last year in Green Bay, Wisconsin, at House of Hope, a shelter for homeless mothers ages 18-24. One of the tasks was to put together rooms for new families moving in.
“Seeing the furniture and bedding put together, and toys and books lovingly placed on the beds, was a touching experience because you could see not only how much my group cared about this project, but also how much the women working there, who do this day in, day out, still care about each family individually,” said Ms.Holtz. “I could see God in every volunteer or worker there.”
A simple act of love proved to be profound.
“The most emotional experience I had all week was playing with and holding the babies,” said Ms. Holtz. “They responded to our attention so hungrily that we couldn’t help but stay. After rocking several babies to sleep, the woman running the program told us that most of those babies had never been rocked or cuddled before. They are so touch-starved, so attention-starved, that they crave that from a complete stranger. That we were able to give them that, and help show their parents (many of whom were not more than a year older than I am) that it was normal, was something that I’ll remember my entire life.”
Christian Verle, 17, and a senior of Blackstone Valley Tech, is going on his fourth YNIA trip. He too went to Green Bay last year, doing manual labor at the New Community Shelter where the team worked in the community garden weeding and planting. There he met volunteers who themselves had been residents.
“There were two individuals who helped me truly see the love of God in the world,” he said. “One of them in particular had suffered intense trauma and turned to drugs to cope, which led to a slew of events which eventually landed that person at the shelter. They were gracious, joyful, and kind. It helped me see God and his love in such a concrete way that was awe inspiring.”
Mr. Verle said he learned much from these volunteers.
“It helped me realize my own ignorance. There is such an intense stigma surrounding people experiencing homelessness, these people are often dismissed as criminals, junkies, and worse. What this stigma does not take into account is that these are living, breathing people. Labeled as ‘homeless people,’ it dehumanizes them. ... Learning this and tackling my own ignorance is truly what brought me closer to God.”
Grace Salmon Robinson, 18 and a junior at Worcester Academy, not only has gone to Green Bay, but Detroit, and Tucson. In Green Bay, her team was assigned to the St. Vincent de Paul Society consignment shop.
“On our last day at St. Vincent de Paul, another girl and I took the initiative to clean up the prom dress section, because we noticed that the racks were a mess and there were dresses on the floor,” said Ms. Robinson. “We wanted it to be nice for the girls who would be shopping there. On our way out, we mentioned this to one of the staff members, with whom we had gotten close.  As she saw the fruits of our labor, she started to tear up. She said that is the sort of thing — a nice extra — that would simply never get done, because they always seem to run out of time.”
When asked if they would go on another mission trip, the response was unanimous: Yes!
Mr. Verle lamented the fact that as a graduating senior, he will not be able to go on more trips.     
“Truthfully I am heartbroken that this is my last trip with YNIA St. Patrick’s. All of the people I’ve met on all four trips I keep incredibly close to my heart. I have truly been blessed to know such an amazing group of fellow youth, of wonderful chaperones, and to be part of such an intense, vibrant faith community,” he said.
“When I look back on all the things in my relatively short time on Earth, being a part of YNIA is certainly one of the best.”
Bringing new life. Deepening a young person’s faith. Giving teens life experiences they will never forget. You can support them by stopping by on Friday during Lent for a delicious fish fry dinner.

–  If you wish to further support these YNIA trips, there is a recycling event on May 18 from 9-3 at St. Patrick’s. Contact Aileen Lemoine for more information at 508-234-5656.