The following reflection was written by Donna Williamson, coordinator of Religious Education at Christ the King parish in Southaven, MS. It appeared in the September 16 issue of Dehonian Spirituality. Donna writes:
Fr. Leo Dehon is a great inspiration for living a life dedicated to the poor and downtrodden. He went out into the “real” world to meet the injustices of the poor head on. This spirit is alive within the Priests of the Sacred Heart and the communities in which they work.
I have had the pleasure and great opportunity to work as a Coordinator of Religious Education under several SCJ pastors. They have all put the education of our children as a top priority, but also instilled the importance of living our faith over simply receiving head-knowledge. Many things can be taught to our children — we can test them out to see how well they know their faith — but through the influence of the SCJs I have come to realize that it is just as important for us to teach our children to live their faith, which is to take care of the poor, the sick, the lonely, and the lost.
In recent years our church has gone from being one community served by a priest living in the rectory on site to a community made up of many different cultures being served by a team of three SCJ priests who live in community and also serve five other churches. This has given us a greater perspective and appreciation for working together as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. We have several inter-parish groups: Adult Faith Formation Committee, DREs [Directors of Religious Education], and Young Adults.
As the coordinator of religious education at my church I work closely with all of the above groups. These groups are made up of people from the six parishes and plan together for opportunities for our people to grow in their faith. It is wonderful to see that our churches are working together to help all of our faithful to realize that we all are more alike than we are different.
The many small study groups, the inter-parish worship ceremonies, and the inter-parish missions help to pull us all together to work toward the common good for all of our parishes in the hopes that it will cross into the bigger community of northern Mississippi and the world. As we begin to get to know our brothers and sisters in our neighboring communities we begin to realize that we can do so much more together than as separate entities.
As a DRE I meet regularly with the other DREs from our parishes. We work together to plan the curriculum; we all use the same books, the same schedules, have group parent meetings and group youth confirmation retreats. We plan youth activities that are open to youth from all six parishes.
Over the years I have seen a great increase in the way our young people respond to each other and to the call to serve others. They have truly embraced the Dehonian spirit [even if they do not know it]. They are living their faith by going out into the world to help others. Their actions speak loudly to our parishes and our community. I’m often approached about doing mission work. We only need to look in our own backyard, in our own community to see that there is a need for our helping hands — a need that we are obligated to meet. Our youth are learning that mission work does not have to be in another city, state, or country. We can be missionaries without going out of our own area.
We are so fortunate to be able to collaborate with Sacred Heart Southern Missions [SHSM] on projects throughout the year. We work on many mission projects like the Thanksgiving Baskets and Angel Tree gifts. But every August I have students start the new year asking about our annual Labor of Love and Catholic Service Initiative [CSI]. These are our two major mission projects. Both projects are helping SHSM clients in need of major home repair.
The Labor of Love is a weekend during spring break. The CSI is a weeklong service project during the summer. We have a week for the young men and a separate week for the young ladies. These two weeks are spent on major home repair for SHSM clients. I have seen so much growth in our youth through both of these projects. The youth see firsthand the need. Through working on the projects, the youth get to know the clients whom they are helping. Both the receiver and the giver of the service are changed.
The first summer retreat had only five youth from my own parish. Now we are getting 25 girls and boys from our six parishes. At the end of the week the students are always wanting to know how they can help more. This past summer a group of girls built a ramp for an elderly man in a wheelchair. They were impressed with the family and expressed a sense of pride for the project, love for the family, and a wish that they could do more to help out.
The youth from the past years are now young adults and are trying to create a new ministry for our cluster of churches. This, I have to believe, in part is due to their high school confirmation programs and the need to help others. I was completely amazed at the spirituality of each individual. At the first meeting, the discussion was “what do we want for this group?” Surprisingly, a social was not the top priority. They were more interested in ways to grow in their faith and secondly to see what they could do to help the needy in the community.
Their first activity was a silent retreat, which was a huge success. The young adults planned for everything: reconciliation, adoration, and time for spiritual creativity. They have also planned a late night Hang Out [fun night] and a service project through the SHSM. I am looking forward to watching this group grow and become leaders in our Church.
I am lucky to be surrounded by adults, youth, and children who are so filled with their faith. I have watched many of our children grow from the First Communion preparation classroom into faith-filled caring teens preparing for Confirmation and on to enter into adulthood with so much to offer the world. The people who form the faith communities of our cluster of churches are truly inspirational in their openness to the diversity found of our churches. Through our many and varied programs we are moving forward with a growing sense that the world is larger than any one of us and that we are called by God to take care of our neighbors in need.
Donna Williamson
Christ the King Parish, Southaven, MS
Click here to read the full issue of the Sept. 16 Dehonian Spirituality.
