EASTON, Md. — It’s not every day that a service trip includes an audience with the pope. But that’s exactly what happened for a group of students from SS. Peter and Paul High School over the summer.
A group of about 30 people from the high school and parish traveled to Rome with Catholic Heart Work Camp in July. They were there to help the local population through a variety of service projects, but the volunteer work ended up being just part of the experience.
“We heard about this trip right after our last mission trip, which was in Nashville,” junior Tara Foley said. “We immediately started preparing.”
They headed to Europe on July 13 and met up with another 80 volunteers once they arrived in Rome. Normally, in these Catholic Heart Work Camp, senior Annie Albright said, students from the same parish or school do not necessarily remain together at their destination city.
“But for the Rome one, it was mostly people from our parish going around for certain things. Then we would be all together for Masses or when we would go to the different sites,” she said.
Albright said one part of their service work included working at a soup kitchen. Some of the patrons asked about where the visitors were from.
“That was a really nice experience,” she said. “The people I was with were very appreciative. I remember one of my friends telling me that night that there was one man who came up to them, and he Google-translated to English to tell them what he was saying.”
It translated to, “Thank you so much. You are doing God’s work.”
She tried to speak a little Italian. “It did not go well.”
Albright was there with her brother, Eddie, a sophomore, and her mother. Originally, he was not going to go, but some spots opened up. It was his first such service trip. The group spent a day cleaning up a public square full of cigarette butts. Eddie Albright enjoyed the experience.
“It made me think about how you can help the people that need it,” he said.
Along with the community service, the students had the opportunity to see some places important to the Catholic faith. Hank Wolters, a senior, said the itinerary was kind of fluid.
They visited several churches, including St. Paul’s Outside the Walls and St. Peter’s Basilica. Wolters said he also got to walk through all four Holy Doors during a jubilee year. The biggest part of the trip did not occur in Vatican City or Rome, but at Castel Gandolfo, the traditional summer residence of the pope. Pope Francis did not go to Castel Gandolfo, but Pope Leo brought back the tradition.
“They surprised us with a trip,” Wolters said. “We left early in the morning to go watch his Angelus. We got to see him. Well, some people got to see him. It was a huge crowd. I knew this was my one chance to see the pope. I pushed through a few people, but I got to see him and take some pictures.”
“He said, ‘God bless America’ when he walked out,” Annie Albright added.
This was her fourth mission trip, having previously served in Cincinnati, Nashville and Knoxville, Tenn. It was her first trip outside the United States, and she got to spend it with her brother and mother.
“I was so glad that she went. It was nice for us to spend time with her,” she said.
Wolters, whose family is Italian, said the visit meant a lot to him personally and as a Catholic.
“It’s the stuff you learn about in class, and to go and see it all in real life, to see it in front of your face, it’s an unreal experience. Everything about it, I don’t know how to put it in words,” he said.
“It’s really eye-opening seeing the Catholic faith just in its most purest form. That’s the holy land. I think it would change your life. It changed mine.”
Foley, who reads at Mass at St. Michael’s Church in St. Michaels, Md., also helps at a neighborhood service center. She was in Nashville with Catholic Heart Work Camp. She said the Italy trip was special.
“It was just this great experience that helped me get closer to God. Before coming to this school, I had never been to a Catholic school. It opened up a new world to me of a community of people who were also strong believers in God. I wanted to be with them in this great city,” she said.
“I’ve always loved service work. It’s because I get to give to other people. In such a time when life is so busy and you’re doing so many things for yourself … it’s nice to sit down and connect with other people through giving. That’s very important to me, and it makes me happy.”
Eddie Albright said he “for sure” will be doing another service trip with Catholic Heart Work Camp, even if it’s not in Rome, “just to see how happy they are. You can tell how happy they are.”
Photos courtesy of SS. Peter and Paul High School.
