Confirmed for Service

On this evening 20 years ago, at our monthly Confirmation meeting, we heard from high school teens about service projects.  Two of the major projects that Ascension Parish hosted for teens at the time were Appalachian Service Project and the Young Neighbors in Action site in Tijuana.

We had learned much about faith up to that point.  I particularly had absorbed so much that when we divided our group into teams, my teammates caught wind of my knowledge and starting turning to me constantly for answers.

This meeting was a point in the process to show us that our Confirmation was to poise us to put faith into action by serving others.  That's part of the call we receive at the end of each Mass, when the presider tells us to go forth to love and serve the Lord and each other.

As part of the Confirmation process, we completed a set number of service hours, and so I did a variety of projects like stuffing the church bulletins with special inserts during Lent, cutting Campbell's soup labels, and even volunteering at the library during the summer, something I had already been doing for a couple of years.

One of the most extraordinary service opportunities I had after Confirmation was a week I spent serving the St. Augustine Mission and its nearby communities in northeast Nebraska.  The experience brought us in tune with St. Mother Katharine Drexel, who was passionate about serving the needs of African-Americans and indigenous Americans.

Further along, joining the Knights of Columbus has been a great opportunity to be part of a prestigious organization that serves the church locally and more broadly.