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| In 2014, Love Begins Here missionaries worked on a variety of home repair projects for Green Haven Family Advocates, which is a not-for-profit organization in Monroe dedicated to strengthening the individuals and families affected by abuse and violence through prevention education, advocacy, support, and services. LBH missionaries work to complete small projects with great love in the communities we call home. (Contributed photo) |
MADISON — Have you ever dreamed of going on a mission trip where you could help other people in need, but thought it would be too expensive or too scary to be far away from home in an unfamiliar place?
Well, maybe you can dream again.
One dreamer with that deep desire to serve others in need made her wish come true right here in the Diocese of Madison.
Local service
Lindsay Becher, director and founder of the Love Begins Here (LBH) ministry, is leading a growing number of young people — and adults as well — into the local service of missionary work in the communities within the 11 counties of the Diocese of Madison.
Becher’s dream came to fruition when she was serving as a youth minister in Baraboo prior to joining the diocesan Office of Evangelization and Catechesis in 2011. She was having breakfast with then Fr. (now Msgr.) James Bartylla, vicar general of the diocese, one day and she told him of her dream to have a youth mission group to help local people in need.
Her passion in working for the Church and especially with youth was fueled by her work as a youth minister at Camp Gray, the diocesan camp near Reedsburg, for five and a half summers while she was in college.
She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in elementary education in 2008 and simultaneously began studying at Ave Maria Pastoral Institute of Theology, where she earned her Master’s degree in Theological Studies in 2009.
According to Becher, “We don’t have to go very far away to help people in need. There are people in our own neighborhoods and in neighboring communities who need help with a variety of jobs, including yard work, household repairs, and so much more. Often just a helping hand and a caring heart can brighten someone’s day.”
Growing apostolate
The LBH apostolate is going into its seventh summer this week, and the number of missionaries has grown from 65 in 2009 to 600 in 2014, Becher explained.
According to a booklet compiled for the 2015 summer program, “The LBH apostolate works to provide the youth (of our diocese) with an opportunity to encounter Jesus Christ in a life changing way through week long, local mission trips where they live in Catholic community and continue his work on earth.”
In the past six years, the LBH missionaries — ranging from sixth graders to 12th graders — have served in 16 parishes in the Madison diocese. This summer LBH will be serving in Reedsburg, Fort Atkinson, Darlington, Montello, Beloit, and Madison. Six of the host parishes are brand new recipients of the program this year.
Mother Teresa patron of LBH
The LBH mission “teaches youth to give of themselves to others” Becher said in an interview this spring. The ministry’s patron is Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, who is known for her great love and mission of helping one person at a time. She would find one person on the street who was dying and she stayed with that person until they passed.
The spark of Mother Teresa’s fire came from a simple invitation from Jesus, “come be my light,” and she believed in doing small things with great love.
According to the LBH mission statement (manifesto), “by putting God first in all we do, we live to serve others. Things of the world come last. We will find ourselves and come alive when we make a sincere gift of ourselves to our neighbors.” According to Becher, “Mother Teresa sparked a change in how we help people. Where there is a deep need for food or a helping hand, there is also a deeper hunger for love.”
Beauty of the human person — local testimonies of love
In a presentation to the Catholic Women’s Club earlier this year, Becher showed slides and told stories of actual mission sites and how the program helped recipients of the mission work. One story was of an elderly woman named Dorothy from Mt. Horeb who desperately needed help in her yard and garden, which had always been her pride and joy. When the team of LBH missionaries came in and cleaned up her yard and cared for her, the Holy Spirit gave a great gift back, not only to the elderly woman but also to the young people who helped her.
Becher said, “A few weeks after we left there, we received a letter from the woman’s daughter which said, ‘Mom has always enjoyed doing her yard work, but having these young people come in to help her made her understand she was cared for as a person and it lifted her spirit. She was ecstatic. I don’t ever remember her using the word awesome, but she did after this experience.’”
It didn’t stop there, Becher explained. Dorothy and her daughter stayed in touch. Some months later Dorothy was in the hospital and Fr. David Carrano, who has been involved as LBH mission priest for the past four years, was visiting patients. He visited Dorothy and she told him that before the kids showed up to help her she had begun to lose hope. They not only lifted her spirits, but they deeply transformed her faith. She told him she did not fear the road ahead.
Another recipient was a single mom from Lodi with two young children. The LBH mission group that went to help her knocked on her door and asked if they could assist her with chores in some way. She was so stunned and overwhelmed with appreciation because she, too, was burdened and heavy-hearted with work to do.
While the missionaries were working in her flower beds, she came out and started asking questions, “Why were we Catholic?” Becher said. She mentioned that she had grown up Catholic but had fallen away. “One of the boys in the group blurted out, ‘Well, we have Mass at 5:30 tonight,’” Becher continued. As it turned out, Becher said, the woman not only showed up for Mass, but came a little early and also spent time in Adoration.
Becher had many more examples of how LBH missionaries have touched the lives of people in communities in our diocese, but the true blessing and beauty has come full circle, she said, because these people are making a difference and touching the lives of the youth in the program and it is igniting their faith and spirit of service.
Parental perspective and involvement
One parent, Amy Rottier of Madison said after her son participated in his first missionary trip, “He could do nothing but talk about the program. It is his favorite thing to do each summer. It is one of the most inexpensive, but life changing activities . . . for $100 my child is fed, goes to Mass and Confession, and bonds with new and positive kids for a whole week.
“The kids work hard . . . but they don’t realize they are doing it,” she added. “We have been very pleased. The college kids make it fun and for a couple of weeks after the trips, the kids are pumped up in their faith and even ask each other if they want to go say the Rosary.”
The retention rate is very high for the program, Becher said. Not only do many of the student missionaries return year after year, but about 75 parents are now involved as chaperones. “We now have a recognition program, where four year veterans to the program get a T-shirt and special recognition for their longevity,” she explained. “We also have a training program for the adults, which takes place before the summer camps begin,” she said.
The students live in a camp setting at the participating community’s church. It is truly a team and family atmosphere, and many friendships are developed on these missions, she added.
Building Bridges and Boosting Faith
One occasion when her own faith was boosted was when she and a team of missionary students were planning to help at St. Bernadette Church in Ridgeway a couple of years ago, she said. “We were planning to paint the church and the weather forecast for the day was less than promising. I was a bit discouraged and didn’t really think we were going to be able to do the job,” she said. Then on the day of the project, the students showed up with anticipation and enthusiasm and they finished the project without any rain falling on the church . . . “although it was stormy and rainy all around us in neighboring towns.”
Becher is originally from Janesville. She now lives in Middleton and belongs to St. Bernard Parish. Becher said she is passionate and excited to see her dream of mission work expand and bring new participants in each year. Her dream is impacting others — recipients and participants — as well as her own faith. “It all begins with love of neighbor and a dream,” she said.
It rubs off on others in miraculous ways. For example, when it came to the job of cleaning out the bell tower at St. Bernadette Church, everyone knew it would be a dirty, unpleasant job because of bird and bat droppings in there. But not only did the mission team tackle the job, Fr. Sanctus Ibe, who was new pastor of the church, joined right in beside the students to help clean, she said.
Like the disciples, whose followers grew as they went out and proclaimed the love of Jesus, LBH missionaries are expanding the love of Jesus in the communities they serve and strengthening the group’s bond at the same time. “We’re all lifting each other up and spreading the love of Jesus,” Becher said, “while having fun and building bridges of hope and love.” Dreams really do come true one person at a time.
Since its founding in 2009, LBH has given 34,000+ hours of love to our neighbors in need. The ministry is generously supported by the Apostolate to the Handicapped and many shareholders who invest in the mission. For more information on how to sign up for a mission trip as a student or as a chaperone, go to www.madisoncatholicyouth.com/lbh or call Lindsay Becher at the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis at 608-821-4544.