Ave Explores Series | Faith in Action | Week 1
Put Your Faith into Action
by Katie Prejean McGrady
My dad dropped me off, sleeping bag tucked under my arm and a backpack slung across my shoulders. I’d left my pillow on a chair in the living room, so he had to run back home and get it for me, but I didn’t want to be late for registration. Our parish was hosting its first ever “work weekend” for middle and high schoolers, and I wanted to find a good spot for my stuff since we’d all be sleeping on the floor for a couple days, and every teenager knows you want a corner spot up against the wall.
The youth minister, Walter, greeted us all as we walked in, filled out the liability paperwork, assured our parents we would be totally safe, and gave us a checklist of skills we thought we had: painting, lawn mowing, pressure washing, cleaning, sorting. It was a chores list, and all seventy-five of us happily filled it out so we could be sorted into work groups and sent out all over town to help serve parishioners in need.
We worked for three days. I painted two rooms, pressure washed a house, helped organize a lovely woman’s garage, stocked food at the local soup kitchen, and visited a nursing home where I spent time with Mr. Archie, the kindliest older gentleman I think I’d ever met. He gave us each a dollar so we could go get ice cream. None of us had the heart to tell him ice cream cost way more than that.
We were kids who largely resisted doing all manner of chores when we were at home, but for some reason we were more than willing to do it during a work weekend with our youth minister who reminded us at every turn that we were doing the work of Jesus Christ himself by helping the homebound and serving the poor. There was something about the idea that I was doing something for others outside my home that excited me, inspired me, and made me want to do it again.
That humble weekend at Our Lady Queen of Heaven parish in the summer of 2003 eventually turned into a diocesan work camp with hundreds of young people every summer serving hundreds of homes across Southwest Louisiana and raising thousands of dollars to give to the local Catholic Charities food bank.
Why is it that we can get teenagers to paint a house and sleep on a floor during a work camp but we have to drag them to a Confirmation retreat where there’s no manual labor or physical hardship? Christians feel a deep urge to help those in need. We’re compelled by the Holy Spirit to give of our time, talent, energy, and treasure. We feel accomplished and part of a larger mission when we work hard for the kingdom and serve the people of God in very tangible ways.
Ave Explores: Faith in Action will examine Catholic social teaching at work in communities throughout the world. Homeless shelters, food banks, prison ministry and restorative justice, missions, Catholic Charities, and Catholic Relief Services are just the tip of the iceberg in the faith-based, nonprofit ministries serving people in need.
“Catholic social teaching” can be a loaded phrase because some of its more well-known and hot-button issues often become part of a polarized debate (abortion, the death penalty, and immigration, for example). I think it becomes so divided precisely because we know that advocating for justice, serving those in need, and defending life at every stage is so important.
Rather than add to the debate, Ave Explores: Faith in Action will focus on how individuals can serve the poor and marginalized. Our experts include priests and religious, those leading nonprofit ministries, and folks from parishes and dioceses doing important work in their local communities. This series will show how you, in simple, practical, everyday ways, can lend a hand, help out a neighbor, work to end injustices and hurt, and serve those in need.
People need help now more than ever. The Gospel compels us to put our faith into action by reaching out to those in need. Ave Explores will show you how to give witness to God’s profound and abundant love.
Download this article as a PDF here.
Katie Prejean McGrady is a Catholic speaker and the project manager of Ave Explores. She is also the author of Room 24 and Follow.
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