30 Days of Acts of Mercy

Teens perform acts of mercy as part of youth ministry challenge for upcoming Holy Year of Mercy

WAYNE  Armed with a kind heart and a smart phone, typical of any Catholic teenager, members of Annunciation Parish’s Youth Ministry here have been going around the community doing random acts of mercy and documenting these moments on video camera.

These random acts of mercy are part of a 30-day challenge to mark the upcoming Holy Year of Mercy, which was designated by Pope Francis, that will be celebrated in the Catholic Church worldwide. The yearlong celebration will begin Dec. 8 on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and end Nov. 20, 2016 on the Feast of Christ the King.

Before the school year began in September, the Wayne youth group gathered together and learned about the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, which call Catholics to serve those who are hungry, homeless, sick, and those experiencing spiritual suffering.

“In anticipation for the Year of Mercy, we thought it was important that we are really called into action,” said Elise Rossbach, youth minister at Annunciation. “The young people took the time to do these acts and even use their own money to sometimes share a gift for the deed.”

The challenge began with youth ministry members at Annunciation each taking a month to perform one act of mercy every day for an entire month.

Rich Rossbach, a senior at Wayne Hills High School, took the month of September and set the tone for the rest of his peers. Rossbach decided to record each of the merciful acts using his smart phone’s video camera and edited it to a seven-minute video.

Because he used his smart phone to document these acts, the video was shown to his parish community, including younger peers in the Confirmation program and middle school students to inspire them to do the same.

Most of the acts Rossbach performed were for strangers around his community. He delivered Bibles to the Passaic County Jail in Paterson with a note saying he was praying for the prisoners. Another act he did was to visit an abandoned gravesite, where he put flowers on the grave and prayed for the souls of those who had passed away.

“I never thought these small things could change so many lives in a short period of time,” Rossbach said. “I could really see the gratitude and it was comforting knowing how much you can help someone.”

For Rossbach, one of his favorite moments was when he stood outside a health clinic with flowers. “When a woman came out after her doctor’s appointment, I handed her the flowers. At first, she was dumbfounded but then I explained what I was doing and she was so moved by it,” said Rossbach.

For many of the recipients, the response at first was one of confusion, said Rossbach. “At first, people would question the motives especially since we were recording the acts. They thought it was a prank. I understood this because I would wonder the same if someone was randomly doing an act of kindness for me. But as soon as someone knew what was happening, the response was overwhelmingly positive,” he said.

Meg Zimak, a junior at Wayne Valley High School, took the month of October and focused doing many of these acts for her classmates. She sent a get-well basket for a sick friend, wrote positive messages on sticky notes and posted them on the lockers of classmates, and carried equipment bags for the Color Guard and Marching Band at her school.

“While we documented these acts for the challenge, people do good deeds all the time but they just usually go undocumented,” said Zimak. “Doing this made me realize even the smallest thing can make someone’s day so much better even if it’s just holding a door open for someone with a smile.”

Msgr. Peter Doody, pastor at Annunciation, said he is inspired by the young people at his parish. “I think it’s phenomenal what these teenagers are doing. At the rectory, we were even surprised to be one of the recipients of one of these acts of mercy when we found a cake at our door. We wondered who sent it and soon learned it came from one of the young people.”

Because of the challenge, Msgr. Doody decided to extend it to the rest of the parish. A “mercy box” has been placed in back of the church for parishioners to share some of the acts they did and they will be recorded in the bulletin to give other parishioners ideas on how to be merciful.

Msgr. Doody said, “These teens are really great. It’s moving to see them in action and they have inspired the whole parish community for the upcoming Year of Mercy.”