Salesian Spirit Descended on Washington, July 2014
by Fr. Joesph Hannon
The Salesian Spirit descended on Washington, D.C., in a very wonderful way in early July, 2014. Teens from five Salesian schools from NY to FL gathered for Gospel Roads D.C. The physical location was Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School in Takoma Park, MD, which is adjacent to Washington, D.C. Under the able leadership of Lisa Stacy and Gio Lopes as Co-Directors, our Salesian teens and their leaders lived out the spirit of Don Bosco and Mary Mazzarello in an outstanding way. The Salesian spirit and the Holy Spirit, the spirit of Justice and Peace, transformed our group of Gospel Roads teens and leaders into a community of powerful witness for Gospel values lived out through service for others given in God’s name. Our young men and women clearly exhibited what it means to be model citizens and maturing Christians.
Our Adult Team and Young Team met July 3 – 5 to set up and prepare for Gospel Roads. Many in the group knew each other from Salesian Leadership Retreats, so there was an immediate bond and a deep and vibrant spirit of both joy and peace. Lisa Stacy and Gio Lopes kept our preparation work moving along and a spirit of faith and devotion graced our celebration of Mass, Reconciliation and prayer during our “prep days.” Our Gospel Roads participants arrived on Sunday, July 6th and spent the day in fun-filled team-building activities. In the late afternoon and evening, we worked on our spiritual preparation for a week of very generous service.
During the week, we served at six different locations. Each of these locations presented its own challenge. We did hard physical work at Camp Bennett, a residence camp for inner-city children, and at Kingman Island, a nature center for city families. We provided clean up and support work for a very large homeless shelter and for a soup kitchen. Our teens helped box tons of food at the Capitol Area Food Bank and spent many hours with residents at the Armed Forces Retirement Home. At the Kennedy School, we spent a day with children who had severe developmental disabilities and with their caregivers. Every evening, we shared our day’s experiences, enjoyed songs and skits, and joined in prayer and Adoration. Our bodies were tired but we experienced great joy and peace in our hearts and souls. We had served others as Christ invited us to do!
We had walked in the footsteps of Don Bosco and Mary Mazzarello!
I felt that our day with the disabled children was a very challenging day, but also a very rewarding day. In the morning, we assisted in running a field day with appropriate activities for the children. Our afternoon was spent indoors in play and learning rooms. One particular child participated very little in the morning field events and never spoke to anyone. However, in the afternoon, Jordan, one of our Young Team leaders, played with the child and it wasn’t long before he was smiling, laughing, and thoroughly enjoying playing with Jordan and others! It was an amazing transformation and maybe a little sign of God’s love and grace that was woven all through our Gospel Roads journey, an amazing opportunity to be a community bringing God’s smile to others!
Our Adult Team and Young Team met July 3 – 5 to set up and prepare for Gospel Roads. Many in the group knew each other from Salesian Leadership Retreats, so there was an immediate bond and a deep and vibrant spirit of both joy and peace. Lisa Stacy and Gio Lopes kept our preparation work moving along and a spirit of faith and devotion graced our celebration of Mass, Reconciliation and prayer during our “prep days.” Our Gospel Roads participants arrived on Sunday, July 6th and spent the day in fun-filled team-building activities. In the late afternoon and evening, we worked on our spiritual preparation for a week of very generous service.
During the week, we served at six different locations. Each of these locations presented its own challenge. We did hard physical work at Camp Bennett, a residence camp for inner-city children, and at Kingman Island, a nature center for city families. We provided clean up and support work for a very large homeless shelter and for a soup kitchen. Our teens helped box tons of food at the Capitol Area Food Bank and spent many hours with residents at the Armed Forces Retirement Home. At the Kennedy School, we spent a day with children who had severe developmental disabilities and with their caregivers. Every evening, we shared our day’s experiences, enjoyed songs and skits, and joined in prayer and Adoration. Our bodies were tired but we experienced great joy and peace in our hearts and souls. We had served others as Christ invited us to do!
We had walked in the footsteps of Don Bosco and Mary Mazzarello!
I felt that our day with the disabled children was a very challenging day, but also a very rewarding day. In the morning, we assisted in running a field day with appropriate activities for the children. Our afternoon was spent indoors in play and learning rooms. One particular child participated very little in the morning field events and never spoke to anyone. However, in the afternoon, Jordan, one of our Young Team leaders, played with the child and it wasn’t long before he was smiling, laughing, and thoroughly enjoying playing with Jordan and others! It was an amazing transformation and maybe a little sign of God’s love and grace that was woven all through our Gospel Roads journey, an amazing opportunity to be a community bringing God’s smile to others!
