Port Chester: Rite of Election and Service Trip to Tampa

By Fr. Eddie Chincha, SDB, CYM, St. John Bosco Parish

(Port Chester, NY – March 4) – Last Sunday, March 1, a group of 11 catechumens and their sponsors from St. John Bosco Parish attended the Rite of Election at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

We took a train to Manhattan after Mass and spent some time sharing as a parish community outing.

The prayer service was presided over by our new Archbishop Ronald Hicks and was attended by catechumens and their sponsors from all the parishes of the Archdiocese

St. John Bosco Parish’s OCIA program runs every Sunday. It not only provides instruction for the 11 catechumens, but also for about 20 other parishioners who are in need of the sacraments of the Eucharist and Confirmation.

The youth of St. John Bosco Parish have also taken part in their first out-of-state service trip in many years. We took a small group of high school students, who had been very involved in our parish as altar servers, retreat leaders, and Don Bosco Hawk Soccer League members to Tampa, FL.

We are very grateful to our pastor, Fr. Franco Pinto, SDB, who encouraged us and made sure we had what we needed for the trip. It would have been difficult for me to leave the parish during the week of Ash Wednesday, but Fr. Franco made sure that my duties at the parish were covered because he saw that this trip was very important for our parish.

Each day was filled with work, either at the Mary Help of Christians Center, Don Bosco Children’s Home in Inverness, or Metropolitan Ministries in downtown Tampa. Some nights we were treated to dinner by local families, whom I had met during my time in Tampa; we also shared meals with our confreres in St Philip’s Residence.

We are very grateful for the Mary Help of Christians community and the retreat coordinator, Mary Sverko, for hosting us these days. Mary Help of Christians' CYM, Fr. Josh Sciullo, SDB, welcomed our participation in the Ash Wednesday Mass, along with Cristo Rey Tampa Salesian High School students and his campus ministry team.

A very special mention should also be given to Salesian High School’s CYM Francis Badillo, who planned this service trip; he generously helped St. John Bosco Parish's youth to participate in the program he designed previously for Salesian High School and Don Bosco Prep.

There was a great spirit of collaboration among all four works that were involved in this endeavor. This shows that our local works can organically organize themselves to carry out a province event.

On the last morning of our time in Tampa, I chatted with several members of our group one more time to process the days we had spent together. When I asked them what the highlight of the trip was, I thought they would respond with comments about the lovely 80-degree weather, the lack of potholes on the roads, the delicious food, or even some service we provided. Instead, they shared that the highlight of their trip was the Eucharistic adoration moment we all experienced together on Wednesday night. During that time spent in adoration, they felt that God really spoke to them about loving others more intensely, especially during Lent, and about living out their faith more fully.

When we came back home, their parents were waiting for them with food; they took time to share their experience with their families. For some of them, this was the first time they travelled without their families or even left New York. I am sure they will treasure the moments they will treasure the moments they experienced during their service trip and help other young people see how special our parish is.