Each day of GSP consists of volunteering at several service sites, ministering in a variety of ways ranging from working with individuals in need to landscaping and painting. Each participant offers their time, even in the Florida heat, to make a difference in their community.

“Whether the work we are doing seems big or small, it is an opportunity to serve others in our community and unite that service to Christ,” said Cole Nolan, a young adult GSP staff member who has been involved with the program since 2015. “It is in that unity that we are able to share the joy of Christ with those we serve and serve alongside.”  

All Catholics are called to perform Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, and this is one occasion to do so. These opportunities allow participants not only to serve but also to grow closer to the Lord and to one another.

“GSP allows teens to bond and have fun together while also experiencing the deeper things together,” said Amanda Wetherington, a college student on Project Team. “GSP isn’t like any other camp that focuses all on giving the teens a fun experience; part of the beauty of GSP is the opportunity for loving service they have. It’s a good experience for them to see that labor, especially when in service for others, is a good and rewarding experience for them. The teens are experiencing the beauty of Christ’s ministry in a way they rarely are able to.”

The week is a chance for students to acquire service hours but ultimately is an opportunity to encounter the Lord through service, fellowship, and prayer. Participants leave transformed by the love of Christ, often calling the week “my turning point,” “very rewarding,” and something that “helped me discover joy.”

Regardless of their role, participants are touched by the week. Teens, Project Team members, staff, and chaperones find the experience enjoyable and impactful.

“These college students give up a week of their summer to serve the teens and youth ministers of our diocese,” said Brendan de Padua, associate director of young adult ministry, who helped facilitate the program. “I enjoy the opportunities to talk and pray with the college students as well as to be background support for the entire program.”

The Project Team members echo this sentiment of feeling impacted even while working in a leadership or facilitator role.  

“It is an incredible blessing to walk with others in Christ through the good and the bad, serving at GSP for the participants, or just journeying through life together,” said Wetherington. “It is genuinely something I look forward to most every year because I love being a part of something so meaningful to the teens and ministering to them in any of their needs while also growing in my own relationship with Jesus and the community He has blessed me with.”

While the days are filled with serving neighbors in the community, the evenings offer time for fellowship, recreation, and prayer. Games are played, spiritual talks and reflections are given, there are periods of praise and worship and small group discussion, and Mass is celebrated. The week also features opportunities for Adoration and Confession.

The final evening featured a period of Eucharistic exposition which included a Eucharistic procession throughout the room. This time brought the participants face-to-face with Jesus in the Eucharist and allowed them to encounter the Lord in a deeply personal way. It is through this encounter that the Lord reaches those present, whether they came into the week expecting to deepen their faith or if they came simply looking for a way to reach service hour requirements.

“It is such a great gift to see the Lord work through the week no matter how they came into GSP: to melt down walls and to help these teens not only encounter God in a deeper way but be excited to return to their home parishes to serve their local communities, family, and friends,” said Felix Caro, youth minister at Blessed Sacrament in Seminole and who also helps to lead GSP. “We have seen teens come to GSP and be inspired to make a difference. Some who come are not baptized and decide they want to become Catholic, and others decide that they want to serve as Project Team members, missionaries, or even priests or religious!”

Through service, prayer, and community, the Good Samaritan Project continues to show that it goes beyond the work being done and is truly about hearts being transformed – both in participants and facilitators alike.  

“The Good Samaritan Project makes sense,” said Father Eva in his homily at GSP. You get to see people the way God sees people, not the way the world sees people.”

GSP is an opportunity for all involved to encounter Christ and bring that experience back home.

“God is truly alive in these teens’ hearts,” said Caro. “And He is using GSP to help them understand how to be ‘Good Samaritans.’”

The Good Samaritan Project is made possible thanks to the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry and contributions to the Catholic Ministry Appeal.

For more information about the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, click here.

For more information about the Catholic Ministry Appeal or to make a contribution, click here.