A group of high schoolers from St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Church in Fredericksburg approached a small house in Sabana Mula, Dominican Republic, where a woman invited them inside. She brought them to her bedridden mother, who can only move to her wheelchair with the assistance of her son, who was away that day in another village.
“We all squeezed into this room and we prayed with her,” said Katie Luciani, a participant in the high school youth group. “Some of the guys in our group helped her into her wheelchair so that she could come sit with us outside. She said that she had actually been praying for someone to come to her door who could help her get out of bed that day.”
During a July 8-15 evangelization trip to Bánica and surrounding towns, nine high schoolers, five adult volunteers and Father Robert Renner, parochial vicar of St. Mary, encountered similar experiences of joyful gratitude and welcome from locals.
Since they were not doing a physical project, Luciani said she and the other teens knew it would be hard to see the impact they were having on people.
“But to a certain degree, that did happen, because we literally saw a prayer that was answered for this woman who wanted to get out of bed,” she said.
The group stayed at the diocesan mission in Bánica, which has supported the parishes there and in Pedro Santana since 1991, providing priests, volunteers, and financial and material support to the towns and surrounding communities.
The ministry organized the trip after a four-year hiatus due to the pandemic. Prior to COVID-19, St. Mary’s youth ministry took high schoolers to Bánica every other summer. On previous trips, parish youths assisted the mission by building projects. This year, the needs were different.
The group collaborated with the Bánica youth and young adult communities to plan daily activities and catechesis for the townspeople in Sabana Mula, an impoverished, rural town about a 45-minute drive from Bánica. The town has no Catholic church and limited access to a priest.
Walking from door to door, the group prayed with residents, read Scripture, and invited them to join in their evening spiritual programs and youth events.
In recent years, many Catholics in the area stopped participating in the sacraments and Father Stephen McGraw, pastor of San Jose Church in Pedro Santana, requested that the volunteers focus on ministry and inviting people back to Mass.
“Most people there are Catholic and willing to pray, but they don’t all practice and don’t know a lot about the faith,” said Leo Engbert, a participant in the youth group and the author’s brother. “We saw if you invite them to Mass, they’re willing to go. They just need encouragement and they need the resources.”
Although the villagers had very few material resources, the youths were surprised to be invited into their homes, offered food or coffee, given a lawn chair and asked to stay a while.
“They’re all very welcoming and happy, considering how little they have; ust very joyful and content,” Engbert said.
In the evenings, the Fredericksburg group hosted activities for the town where they gave away toys and rosaries, organized activities for the children, and taught prayers. One day, they invited the people of Sabana Mula to Mass, celebrated by Father Renner.
“If we had not gone there that week, no one would have gone. People send money, but these people need someone to show them the faith,” said Tatiana Beltran, director of youth ministry at St. Mary. “If we are not going to these places, then who else will be going? They were so grateful that we were there because they are hungry for the Word of God.”
Many in the ministry group did not speak Spanish well or at all and relied on those who were fluent, including Beltran, to interpret. Cole Bornschein, a rising high school senior, said he was initially nervous about the language barrier.
“But it was actually an amazing experience,” he said. “Although most of us didn’t speak Spanish, we could still show our love to our brothers and sisters in Christ through our actions, if not through words.”
Bornschein said this was especially apparent when he was teaching some children to pray the rosary.
“I don’t speak Spanish, but I know how to point to a bead and move to the next one,” he said. “I had learned the prayers beforehand in Spanish so that I could pray along with them. And I could set an example to show they can pray, too.”
Beltran said she was inspired by the teens and adult volunteers who gave up a week to serve despite the difficulties of international travel.
“The travel days were long and I think it’s very easy for us to get caught up in those little things,” Beltran said. “When we got there and started seeing the joy that these people had, in the situations where they are, it put things into perspective. These people truly have joy and see what really matters.”
Father Renner, who provided sacraments and priestly ministry to both the St. Mary’s youths and the townspeople during the week, said the youths experienced the universality of the church during the trip.
“It was beautiful to see how open and ready the kids were,” he said. “Even in this incredibly hot and different culture, the Gospel is alive and needs to be preached. This is one church here and there; Christ is here and Christ is there. It helps them to recognize how good and big the church actually is.”
Engbert is a freelancer in Alexandria.
