By Sallie Bachar
Catholic Herald correspondent

Merrill teens minister to the homeless

MERRILL -- "Life is full of twists and turns and it isn't something we should take for granted. I am thankful to God for what I have and I realize that more than I ever did before," said seventeen year old Jake Schmelling upon his return from Milwaukee.

He and six other students, Ben Kovar, Joe Wiesneski, Ben Wendorf, Charlie Giese, Heidi Giacalone and Chris Chrudimsky, all from St. Francis Xavier Parish, recently spent a weekend ministering to the poor and the homeless in Milwaukee's inner city. Margie Faherty, director of religious education at St. Francis, and Irene Mehlos, chairperson of the parish's social concerns committee, organized the trip and accompanied the youth.

The weekend was one of the spiritual enrichment opportunities offered by the parish youth group, CYO. It was the fifth time Faherty and Mehlos took a group of teens to the city and ministered under the direction and guidance of the staff at St. Benedict the Moor Parish.

The youths' first encounter with the homeless was sharing supper with them at St. Ben's Community Meal, a center that serves over 400 meals per evening each night of the week except Sunday. They spent the rest of the evening bagging toiletry items in individual packets to be distributed the following day.

Saturday morning found them at The Guest House, a hospitality and emergency shelter that provides treatment, counseling and employment placing for adult males who are drug and alcohol abusers. There the youth cooked breakfast for the men and shared in their life stories. Said Ben Kovar, "Not only did I learn about others, I learned more about myself."

The group was given an opportunity to see firsthand a large network of other facilities and agencies that minister to the needy. They visited Open Gate, a center that provides assistance with employment and permanent housing and Casa Maria, the hospitality house started in 1966 by Deacon Michael Cullen and his wife, Annette, of Ogema. They also changed bedding at the Women's Overflow Center and distributed soaps and shampoo to the women who came to spend the night.

Faherty commented that in each of the five years she has taken a group to Milwaukee, the experience is always different. "It's good for me because it pulls me out of my nice comfortable world," she said. "It also gives the teens another experience of being Catholic," added Mehlos.

Mehlos was part of the planning committee that helped to outline the goals for the youth program at St. Francis. She and her husband, in their college years at Marquette University, were familiar with St. Benedict Parish and its varied ministry to the poor and homeless. The original planning committee felt it would be a tremendous opportunity if the teens from Merrill could experience life in an inner city parish. "There were a lot of people being ministered to at St. Ben's and the kids would have the opportunity to see a bigger world," said Mehlos.

It is always a culture shock to each group of students when they participate in the ministry to the poor. They are reminded of their privilege by birth and color but realize first hand they cannot serve from that privilege. Faherty terms it an "immersion experience" whereby the students feel what it is like to be poor and homeless by walking in their shoes, eating at their tables, and sharing their food and stories.

The area where St. Benedict's and other agencies and groups serve the poor and the homeless is the downtown sector of Milwaukee, the financial and business hub of the city. Faherty said most people don't realize there is another dimension taking place at the same time that business is conducted. There is a whole network of shelters, food and clothing distribution centers, soup kitchens, counseling and employment services for the poor and underprivileged that many people do not know exist or choose to ignore.

The weekend immersion, however, had a great impact on the students from Merrill. Everyone agreed it would not easily be forgotten.

"The whole experience hit me hard," said Ben Wendorf. "Before the weekend, the homeless were simply a population that meant nothing. Now they are individuals with faces and stories."

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