(Catholic Herald photos/Kevin Wondrash)
MADISON — On a sunny Thursday morning in late June, dozens of teens made their way downstairs to the parish hall at St. Bernard Parish in Middleton. They just spent the fourth of five nights sleeping on the floor of a classroom. While it doesn’t sound like a fun way to spend part of their summer vacation, they love it.
“It doesn’t really affect you because you’re so tired from helping out all day and having fun,” said McFarland High School senior Jonathan Hare. “You get in the room and you pass out and you’re ready for the next day.”
Helping out all day and having fun are ways to describe Love Begins Here (LBH). Now in its fifth season, Love Begins here is, according to mission director Lindsay Becher, a “local, life-changing mission trip.”
According to the LBH website, it provides youth with an opportunity to “encounter Jesus Christ in a life-changing way through weeklong, local mission trips where they live in Catholic community and continue His work on earth.”
Since 2009, LBH groups of high-schoolers and middle-schoolers have completed more than 10,000 hours of service in the Diocese of Madison.
Life on the trip
In late June, a group of high-schoolers from around the diocese, with St. Bernard Parish as their home base, worked on a variety of service projects during the week.
Before heading out to do their work for the day, the teens and chaperones packed a lunch, and went to daily Mass before a quick breakfast, then it was off to work they go.
On Thursday morning, a couple of the car groups headed to a cemetery near Middleton to assist with grounds keeping. Some of the teens try their hand at clearing greens and brush from a fence, so it can be moved five feet back on the grounds. Others clear away bigger brush and smaller trees from behind the fence, while a few move grave flowers and other memorials so staff can weed whack near the headstones.
“You definitely grow closer to everyone and also in your faith and you feel real strong connection, and that helps you get through the work that you do,” said McFarland High School sophomore Carter Klaas.
“They do it with a smile on their face and are so genuine about everything,” said chaperone Brittany Schoeder. “They work with such compassion and you can truly see the love of Christ working through them and it’s a wonderful and inspiring thing to see.”
A prayer answered
The big project for the week was helping out at the Cistercian monastery, near Prairie du Sac. The teens from LBH are literally a prayer come true, as a Sister at Valley of Our Lady Monastery said they had been praying for about a year for help on some projects.
The Sisters also showed their thanks by making sure the groups had plenty of water and Gatorade.
The projects include building a wood shed to house the Sisters’ winter heating supply, as well as painting the chapel and tearing out some carpet in the guest house.
“It’s just another way to serve God, it’s not anything too terrible,” said Edgewood High School junior Colin Paiva. “It’s just painting right here, or it’s just hauling wood. It’s nothing that’s worse than going up on the cross and dying for us.”
The mood was light in the chapel. The teens and chaperones sang songs together while painting, scraping, and cleaning.
“I like doing things with my hands, and even if you get tired or get down on yourself, you have the Eucharist every morning and Jesus is there to help you, along with everyone else who is always happy,” said McFarland High School junior Erin Bergen.
Bringing it home
Love Begins Here attempts to make true the words spoke by Blessed Mother Teresa upon winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, “I want you to find the poor here, right in your own home first. And begin love there.”
According to Becher, LBH wants to take kids “out of their comfort zone” to show them a “microcosm of what we can be” in doing service for others and living in a Christian community.
“I think for a lot of these kids this is the first experience where they’ve had work like this,” said chaperone Blaine Hechlmovich. “Not all of them, but some of them, and I think they recognize that it’s not just saying things, it’s not just even just praying, but that we have to put our faith into action through service.”
“If you want to feel good, if you want to do stuff for the community, then join it,” said McFarland High School junior Katie Papendieck. “You make new friends and you have fun.”
LBH also has trips for middle-schoolers. The week is two days less than the high school groups have, but the work is similar.
Love Begins Here wraps up for the year on July 19 with a high school group at St. Clare Parish in Monroe.
For more on Love Begins Here, as well as information on how to become a supporter and “shareholder,” go to madisoncatholicyouth.com/LBH