NORTH PALM BEACH | St. Clare Parish in North Palm Beach held its first youth mission trip in early July to St. John the Baptist Parish in the Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina. Their goal was to bring the youth of St. Clare into a deeper encounter with Jesus Christ through fellowship, prayer, sacrament and service.
Father Nick Zrallack, pastor of St. Clare, along with Bibi Mendoza, St. Clare’s director of faith formation and youth ministry, and Andy Baker, a parishioner and St. Clare volunteer and coordinator of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Palm Beach have been working closely on the parish’s desire and need for youth ministry.
Building off their new confirmation small groups, the three joined together to create a moment of service and encounter to deepen the teens’ personal relationship with Jesus and their commitment to the church and ministry at St. Clare. Following Baker’s former ministry in the Diocese of Raleigh, St. Clare partnered with Father Marlon Mendieta, pastor of St. John the Baptist in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, to make this encounter a reality.
The mission trip began with a commissioning after the July 6 Sunday Vigil Mass with Father Zrallack, followed by a community dinner. Beginning with the Eucharist was essential, and Mass was a staple on the trip. The missionaries lived out the commission to “go forth” and be living tabernacles of Christ, spreading the Gospel by their lives.
During the evening, last-minute questions were answered, and bags were packed to aid in a very early July 7 departure. During their trip, Father Zrallack encouraged the missionaries in their current and future endeavors. “Know that, through it all, we will be here to help support you and continue to help you foster what you have already started this week: a beautiful relationship with Christ in service to others,” he said.
Thanks to the generosity of sponsors, the group was sustained by meals at Cracker Barrel both to and from North Carolina and, by demand, a much-needed stop at Buc-ee’s. Upon arrival in Roanoke Rapids, the teens met Father Mendieta and a few teens from his parish who joined the mission and retreat.
Speaking afterward about the collaboration’s impact on the North Carolina teens, Father Mendieta said, “This mission trip between St. Clare and St. John the Baptist was truly a huge blessing for all involved. Being a small rural country parish, sometimes it’s hard knowing other Catholic high school students because we are predominantly a Baptist area. The students from St. John’s were able to see that there are also other kids their age that are seeking to grow close to Christ in the Eucharist and through service.”
Each day, the mission activities began with Mass and teens were sent forth to serve the local community at several worksites. Teams of youth served at John 3:16/C.A.R.E. Outreach and Habitat for Humanity, both centers that assist low-income families with a range of needs, including education, food, clothing, finances and housing.
The missionaries worked in the John 3:16 resource center to organize and prepare donated items, such as clothes, dishes and food, to be distributed to needed families. Working through Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore, missionary teams gathered and prepared items for use in newly built Habitat homes or cleaned and organized items to be sold to raise money for those new homes. Keeping with the theme of serving the poor, the missionaries set up and operated a drive-through food distribution for Catholic Charities. Missionaries interviewed client families, determined food distribution amounts and loaded cars.
Serving the church community, missionaries dove right into work at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish and School in Rocky Mount. Working with the pastor and principal, missionary teams emptied storage closets, cleaned, did light maintenance, beautification projects, and disassembled 200 old desks so they could be recycled. Teams also worked on similar tasks at their host location, St. John the Baptist, completing beautification projects, cleaning, mulching, hedge trimming, painting and outdoor bench restoration.
Serving the greater community, teams of missionaries went out during the week to visit the homebound and shut-ins, sharing the joy of the Gospel through their lives and allowing those they visited to share deeply the love of Christ with the missionaries. During their visits, teens assisted with housework, did odd jobs, yardwork and painting.
To break up the work, two days focused on fellowship and building a strong connection through fun and community. On July 10, the whole crew took a trip to Kings Dominion amusement park in Doswell, Virginia. On the afternoon of July 12, the final day of mission work, the Lutz family from St. John the Baptist hosted the group at their house on Lake Gaston in Littleton, North Carolina, for a barbecue. Despite rainy weather curbing some of their missionary work that day, the clouds parted around the lake to allow the teens time to swim and take a boat tour of the area.
Each day of service ended with an evening of team building, prayer and reflection. Coming together in their teams, the teens processed their day’s service, broke open Scripture based on the daily theme (accompany, service, reconciliation, Eucharist) and saint (St. Philip Neri, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Padre Pio and soon-to-be St. Carlo Acutis). To help the teens reorient their hearts to Christ, they heard testimony from a witness of faith, who revealed the great love that God has for them through their own experience of faith.
One special night of prayer included Eucharistic adoration and the sacrament of reconciliation at the historic Immaculate Conception Church and Museum in Halifax, the third oldest Catholic church in North Carolina, built in 1889. For the first time in almost 100 years, adoration and reconciliation were celebrated in the small sanctuary.
After receiving the sacrament, each penitent was invited to proclaim their joy of “coming home to the Father” (Lk 15:11-31) by ringing the centuries-old church bell. Baker said, “The power of each ring of the bell shook the foundation of the church, and the bell rang out in the town of Halifax for nearly three hours straight. I think it symbolized the power and redemptive love of God and the great joy that flows forth from his heart in the sacrament of reconciliation and in the return of the one who was lost.”
Teamwork, perseverance and trust in the Holy Spirit were needed in launching this first mission collaboration between St. Clare and St. John the Baptist. A couple of the St. Clare teens commented on their favorite parts of the trip.
“I really liked the trip because we got to hang out with friends and do fun things. I am glad I went on the trip because we helped so many people that are less fortunate,” Cameron said. Sophia expressed a similar experience: “I had a really fun time reconnecting with old classmates and making new friends. I also got closer to God in a new way through a young, fun, intriguing priest, Father Marlon.”
For those in North Carolina, the mission was also the beginning of something new. Father Marlon spoke highly of his experience: “As a priest, I was truly left inspired by the faith of the students and chaperones that attended this mission trip. I know the Lord is at work in their hearts, and that he will guide them closer to himself through the sacraments, personal relationship with him, and service to one another and those in need. The church is alive and well with Holy Spirit-filled teens like these.”
The missionary journey is part of a larger approach to building youth ministry within St. Clare. Partnering with the Diocese of Palm Beach’s Youth Ministry Office, St. Clare Parish and School, under the direction of Father Zrallack, are uniting with a team of volunteers to become a parish that sees, understands, desires, welcomes and invites the young church and their families into community; to belong, so that the greater community can accompany them into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ and a stronger faith in him; and to believe, so that in their conversion they become missionary disciples.
Based on a foundation of mentored small-group discipleship ministry in middle and high school (including confirmation), Baker said St. Clare is working hard to build up the communion of saints.
For information on how to connect with middle or high school youth ministry at St. Clare, contact Bibi Mendoza at 561-622-7477 or dre@stclarechurch.net. To learn about how to build or rebuild youth ministry in your parish, contact Andy Baker at 561-775-9559 or jbaker@diocesepb.org.
