Faith Festival prepares parishioners for Lent

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
February 26, 2004

DENISON - Parishioners of St. Rose of Lima in Denison gathered together for a Lenten Faith Festival on Feb. 18.

The evening began with a meal followed by activities for people of all ages. The parish center, school and church were used to hold the event. The invitation was open to all parishioners of St. Rose of Lima.

"We decided to do this before Lent started because the whole purpose of Generations of Faith is to prepare people for an event that they are about to experience in the church," said Lori McCleery. "We decided to do it a week before Ash Wednesday so that there was a preparation piece for people to actually experience Lent more meaningfully."

The main focus of the festival was on the theme of Groundbreaking, Earth Shattering, Wake-up Call.

"We chose that theme because we are going to be breaking ground to build our new church this spring," said McCleery, who helped plan the Generations of Faith event. "We tried to tie in the ground breaking and preparing the ground to build the foundation of our church on with looking at our hearts and breaking ground in our hearts to build a strong foundation in which to build up the body of Christ. We focused on each of our personal calls to follow Christ and to a personal faith life."

After the meal, before breaking into different age groups, there was a skit for the whole group. Cell phones intentionally started ringing in the room. One person from each generation received a call about something that distracts them or keeps them away from their faith.

"The whole concept of Generations of Faith is great because there are kids that are missing what our faith is all about because the old methods of teaching don't work for the younger kids. They aren't staying interested in the faith," said Mary Glenn, participant and planning committee member. "They are leaving the church in large numbers. This is just a great way for parents and kids together to learn more about their faith and to connect about it. They can then take it home and make it part of their day to day life instead of something they just do on Sunday."

Children in K-5 went to three activity centers. One was a hands-on laboratory where they were able to look at forgiveness and a look at what people allow to come into their eyes, ears and minds. They put mud in an orange to talk about how people need to see what they look like on the inside.

Another activity had them read a book called "Benjamin's Box." They went through Jesus' journey from Palm Sunday through his resurrection. Then they made their own treasure box with pictures in it to take home to tell their parents the story.

The sixth through eighth graders were in yet another group. Their group focused on their personal relationship with God. One activity involved throwing darts. There was a picture of Jesus behind a white piece of paper that the students didn't know about. Each student was asked to draw a picture of someone that they would like to throw darts at. They were surprised to get to do this. After a few people threw the darts, they were asked if they wanted to continue. Then the pictures were taken down and the students discovered that they had been throwing darts at Jesus.

The adults and high school students went to a presentation that focused on the personal connection to Christ and a personal testimony of someone's faith life.

Each person was sent home with a polished rock. The children were able to paint their rocks to show that it was their own. The participants were asked to carry their rocks in their pockets to remember on a daily basis what God did for them during each day and to look at the good in everything.

"When you break ground, there are things that have to be removed," said McCleery. "We talked about how rocks are something that surface as you work up the ground. We gave everyone a rock to represent the Scripture that talks about how God will complete the good work in each of us."

The closing prayer consisted of a couple of songs that they will be singing during Lent so when they go to Mass during Lent they will recognize the songs.

"The main objective that we were trying to teach was what forgiveness is, what it means to be forgiven and what the power of God's forgiveness can do for our lives," said Glenn. "We just wanted the children to gain a deeper understanding and knowledge of the story of the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus."