First, here's the basics. For the last couple of weeks I worked with this organization called Young Neighbors in Action (YNIA). Normally, I don't go into much detail about the groups I'm involved with, but I'm really proud of this one. It's a national catholic service learning experience for high school students, and it rocks. Basically parish/school groups come to Chicago (or some other city), work with an existing social service agency from 9-3 each day, and then learn, pray & play together at night. We consider it one of a kind among all the service experiences out there, because the kids aren't just doing a lot of grunt work but really learn about the problems and people they are serving. We do this by introducing them to Catholic Social Teaching. The principles of CST are: Life and Dignity of the Human Person; Call to Family, Community, and Participation; Rights and Responsibilities; Option for the Poor and Vulnerable; The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers; Solidarity; and Care for God’s Creation. This is not a political agenda, but it does have to do with politics. It is a set of beliefs about how the real world should work, and how christians, especially, should be helping the world work this way.
This year my enthusiasm was low regarding YNIA - it seemed more of a headache than anything. Yet, the experience ended up grabing my attention once again.
You know how in the Old Testament some thing would happen between the Hebrew people and God, so the people would set up a stone pillar as a reminder of the event well that's what these next few weeks will be for me. The following entries are my digtal monuments about the people I met, the experiences I had, and the God I met in them.
