Living and Serving with Young People

By Fr. Steve DeMaio, SDB, Assistant Vocations Director – Young Adult Ministry

From Saturday, March 19 through Monday, March 28, I had the opportunity to attend a mission trip to Lima, Peru organized by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS). I was the chaplain for a group of 14 university students and four FOCUS leaders, and we met in Lima with another group of 25 from Georgia Tech. Overall, there were about 50 young adults and three priests, including the local volunteers.

It was a beautiful week of community living. We had daily Mass, holy hour, and confession available for all students and volunteers. Each day, we traveled to a village outside of Lima called Pamplona Alta, where we helped residents rebuild the stairs that are essential for them to travel up and down the hills where they live.

Throughout the week, we all experienced the reality of great suffering and poverty combined with great generosity, humility, and joy. As a Salesian, I felt that it was a powerful experience of living and serving with young people. I hope that my presence was helpful to the young adults and volunteers present. I also know how renewing the experience was for me. I pray that, as a province, we can continue to find more opportunities to live "shoulder to shoulder" with the young, help each other live the faith well, and encounter Christ together through small acts of charity.