On Monday, January 20th, Goodfaith gathered our Next Level parishes for our annual Peer Learning Day, inspired by the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We were joined by the youth and mentors from three parishes – Holy Family in New Brunswick, St. Augustine of Canterbury in Kendall Park, and St. Matthias in Somerset. The day offers the participants a chance to reflect, collaborate, build community, and grow in faith.
One of the teens from Holy Family Parish wrote the following reflection:
As we all gathered around on MLK day, we were reminded of what a great leader Dr. Martin Luther King was during dark times and how his faith led him to do his I HAVE A DREAM Speech. During the day we reflected on what it is that we call our dream.
The group started off the day with Mass with Fr. Stan and Deacon John. Contrary to traditional customs of sitting in the pews we all sat in a semicircle closer to the altar. Feeling the sense of inclusion by being able to go up around the altar to receive communion and to read during Mass helps us understand that church is not just for the older generation but that youth are welcomed as well. Starting the day out with Mass is a good way to help us remind ourselves why we are here. Fr Stan’s homily, talking about recent global topics, inspires us to continue our passion projects with the same faith-filled passion.
One of the various activities we participated in during our Peer Learning Day was creating a poster to reflect on what we wanted our passion project to be. This activity was deeply inspired by what we learned from Fr. Stan about the meaning of a passion and how it is tied to what truly matters to us and drives us to make a difference. As a group, we decided that our passion project would revolve around our community needs. Additionally, we highlighted the various events we’ve participated in, showing the ways we’ve consistently stepped up to support our community.
On the poster, we illustrated and wrote about how our group started as a collective effort to support immigrant rights, emphasizing that immigrants matter and deserve support and recognition. Over time, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, our focus shifted to addressing any needs in our community. This activity gave us the opportunity to reflect on how much we’ve accomplished as a group. Seeing everything we’ve done laid out on the poster filled us with pride and a renewed sense of purpose. It reminded us of the positive impact we’ve made in our community and motivated us to keep pushing forward with our mission.
Collectively, this experience was incredibly beneficial because it provided us with a template to envision the next steps for our passion project. Furthermore, it helped us clarify our goals and reaffirm our commitment to serving our community while staying connected to our faith that brought us together.
