Mission Trip Plan

I decided on a mission trip experience today. I've been looking at 4 options, and I had certain parameters: It had to be CATHOLIC; it had to be reliable; it had to be in the early summer; it had to be at a location that would provide meaningful service (I mean, why go to Darby, PA if you could do the same thing locally??). So there are currently 4 "Catholic" service camp organizations out there (which I didn't know before this): Catholic Heart (probably the most well-known and most reliable; longest established for sure); Young Neighbors in Action (part of the Center for Ministry); Alive in You (newer; the directors used to work with Heart); and, surprisingly, Group now offers a couple of exclusively Catholic camps (i.e. Darby, PA as one option). Three of them are pretty standard (bring your group, the kids get mixed up with other groups for their service experience, evening programming for the masses, good luck with your free day recreation outing). But the 4th one, Alive in You, mixes the service experience with a Catholic youth conference. So imagine a mission trip, and then at the end of it, you go into a Steubenville conference. Pretty cool. The one down side is that the service portion is only 3 days, but that should be okay because I plan on doing some kind of "urban immersion" project with some other churches in the archdiocese this summer, so we'll have plenty of opportunity for service. And what it seems the youth at this parish really need is a better sense of Catholic identity, so a conference will be really helpful for that. And, the best part, is that our trip will be to New Orleans! OKAY! Meaningful service. I was talking with one of the directors today and she said not every group wants the "dangerous" work of gutting houses and being exposed to the mold, etc. But I said our group would be willing to do that (although we may need to provide all of our own protective gear, which shouldn't be a problem, and at least I know what we would need).

I'm excited. Now if I can just find some youth (and another three adults)to go with...

Discipline

I decided I have to get back into the habit of posting on this blog site so I'm writing something even if I don't have anything much to write about. It's that whole idea of authors sitting with a blank piece of paper in their typewriters and disciplining themselves to write for a certain amount of time. Eventually they'll come up with something worthwhile. But don't expect that from me; I'm not an author.

Another thing that I do as a matter of discipline is go to work. Seriously, there's a whole new feel to ministry this year. I pretty much "force" myself to go to work; once I'm there, I know how to "run a program." I hate that I feel this way about my job right now. But I have HOPE that it won't always be this way. I'm slowly getting to know (and like) some of the kids. Same with my leaders. I admire the work some of them do, but I don't have a real relationship with most of them yet. I know these things take time. I'm not good at "schmoozing" (unlike a former colleague of mine), so being genuine just takes longer for people to get to know you. Plus I'm constantly assuring everyone (supervisors, pastor, etc.) that I'm not discouraged and I'm going to build a great youth program AND, being a "senior" staff-er, I'm mentoring the junior staff-er: these things take enormous energy. And, unlike in the past, I don't have people reassuring ME that I'm doing okay and that everything is going fine. Just a whole new situation.

Christmas is Coming

Only two more weeks until Christmas. And, like most years, it feels like there is so much left to do before then. I don't have the usual sense of panic though. Maybe I've finally gotten "perspective", and so I don't need to stress out. Or maybe the stress will come later, as my children arrive home from college and see everything that's not done and "encourage" me to get going.

I'm enjoying my JustFaith group at Epiphany. We're reading a great book now called "How Much is Enough?". It reminds me of another book I read for my Catholic Social Teachings class called "Still Following Christ in a Consumer Society." Basically, both books get you thinking about simplifying your life and prioritizing wants. It makes you think about what's really important in your life. And how if you say "stuff" isn't important to you, how you can see if that's true by the way you live (and not just necessarily by the stuff you have and buy).

Anyway, this is just an experimental post to see if I garner any responses. If so, I might do this more regularly (I know, you've heard THAT before.).