Tracy J. Sukraw
The Diocesan Youth Council gathered a group of middle and high school peers for a day-long retreat on Saturday, March 19, hosted at the Parish of the Epiphany in Winchester. It was their first in-person gathering since the pandemic began two years ago. About 10 congregations were represented among those in attendance.
Diocesan Youth Council (DYC) organizers and adult mentors present at the retreat said the day was about re-centering, finding belonging, thinking beyond one's own personal experiences and doing something actionable to help others.
The youth heard about homelessness from the Rev. Jennifer McCracken, pastor to the MANNA ministry at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston, and learned about food insecurity; later in the day, they filled backpacks with personal care supplies and handwritten notes, to be distributed by MANNA to the homeless community with which it ministers.
During the lunch break, outdoors under tent canopies dripping with chilly rain, Juliet Stewart, and eighth grader from St. Luke's Church in Scituate, described the day so far as both "fun" and "intense," with the morning's learning about homelessness and food insecurity "not surprising, given the different experiences that people have, but it was surprising in the sense of wow, some have it much harder than others."
"I really liked her definition of belonging," Stewart said about what the group heard from McCracken that morning. "I feel like there's a sense of belonging for all kinds of different reasons, and her definition was very inclusive but also was good because it said what belonging makes you feel like, and also how the lack of it makes you feel."
The afternoon held games, singing and some meditative activities, including yoga, coloring and paper folding, to help quiet the mind and open the heart. There was also time spent in small groups, talking about pandemic experiences and self care.
The best thing about the day, two of the DYC organizers said, was being together.
"I'm just glad to be back in person, after the last two years over Zoom," Nadia Robinson, a high school senior from St. Mark's Church in Foxborough, said. "It's much better to be in a group and actually meet new people and see new faces."
Fellow DYC member Cris Latorre, a high school junior from Trinity Church in Boston, agreed.
"People came together and that's what I love, that's why I joined DYC, to have a religious community outside my parish, not just with people I've known for years, but also with new people. That's what I'm really here for today," he said. "It felt fantastic, really. This is the first in-person retreat I've participated in. It felt really close even though a lot of people here I hadn't met before. I'm so glad this could happen."
Adult volunteer Peg Bailey from St. John's Church in Winthrop observed that, for her, it all came back to the subject of belonging.
"One thing I like about this is that these kids would probably never have met otherwise, and in a way, that fits into what Jennifer [McCracken] talked about this morning, what belonging makes you feel like and having an understanding of people from other walks of life," Bailey said. "That's what I see here for these kids. The belonging part is huge. It's very powerful."
--Tracy J. Sukraw