Service projects keep youth involved VIEW GALLERY -- use arrow keys to navigate through photos
JACKSON — Mack Williams, 15, wants to rake more yards. Williams and other members of Christ the King Parish youth group raked the yards of elderly parishioners as a service project last year.
“I like helping other people out, especially when they can’t do it for themselves, when they need help,” he said.
In West Point, the local assisted living facility is a favorite spot for Immaculate Conception Parish youth.
“We do a lot of things with the people there,” said Chelcie Abner, 17. “One thing we do is go at Christmas and give a party, play charades with them. When we’re there we have to adapt to them and what they are interested in,” she said. “They like to talk about when they were kids, what they did, and it’s fun to listen to that.”
But fun is only a part of it for Abner. “We have to serve and help others,” she said. “That what’s we’re supposed to do.”
Abner and Williams are right about serving others, said Alice Hughes, diocesan director of the Office of Faith Formation. They echo what Jesus meant in the Gospel of John 13:5-17 (washing of the feet), she said.
“Jesus acted like a servant, he gave us an example of what we are to do. His whole ministry, his whole life was about serving people, about meeting their needs,” she said.
Service, along with message and community, is the three-pronged objective of the parish youth groups who attended the 48th Diocesan Catholic Youth Convention Friday - Sunday, Feb. 1-3, at the Marriott Hotel.
About 400 youth and their advisers sported T-shirts and banners with the convention’s theme: “Night of the Living Faith.”
The weekend consisted of keynote presentations, workshops and worship and praise sessions centered on living out one’s faith and discovering one’s inner beauty..
