By Kay Blair

“Some of the other students do think of us as the ‘God Squad,’” admitted Joe Ecklund, St. Pius senior. “But being a part of the pastoral ministry program at St. Pius is really more than just talking about religion. We have a lot of fun.”

“For me, it means being part of a bigger family,” said Lisa Manka, junior, “I think lots of people – particularly kids our age – feel lost, and having a real community of friends sure helps that lost feeling.”

The pastoral ministry program, begun at St. Pius over 10 years ago, is led by Father Terry Young, principal, and Paul Ennis, assistant pastoral minister. It focuses on building a strong, spiritually-based community among the students at the school. And, while the program offers retreats and guest speakers such as Father Ned Murphy from (Covenant House (Oct. 26), its primary thrust is the formation of base communities.

Base communities consists of about 12 to 20 students – freshmen through seniors – from the same geographic area who meet every other Sunday evening in the home of one of the member students. This year there are approximately 300 students forming into 16 different communities. Each group is led by an adult and two student leaders.

These small communities are modeled on similar small communities which existed in the early church. They used to meet to support each other through sharing their Christian life, by reading the Word of God, and by receiving the Eucharist. The pastoral ministry staff gives workshops to base community leaders and also provides materials as a help for scripture study, prayer, faith development and service projects, said Ennis. “The staff rotates to each of the base communities throughout the year to preside at liturgies lead discussions, give teachings and talks, and to respond in any way possible to the communities’ needs.”

The program gives the students the opportunity to discuss issues in a supportive context where they feel safe and accepted by their peers. Mark Nannis, a senior, talked about feeling close to everyone in the program and said, “It helps us build better relationships, not only with each other, but also with God and with our own selves. We accept each other for who we are, and that is the base for all our other relationships.”

But the base communities don’t stop with just building community. They use what they learn there for reaching out to other students in the larger St. Pius community and also for service projects outside the school. “The communities we form include students from all grade levels, so it gives us the chance to meet people we wouldn’t normally meet,” said senior Jen McGowan.

“That’s also true in our Big Brother and Big Sister program,” said senior Jenn Hidding. “We get to know a little sister or brother in the freshman class, and normally we wouldn’t meet them very often because we don’t have classes together. And, since we’ve been at St. Pius longer, we can help the freshmen feel more at home here. That extends our community beyond just those we know in our own grade.”

Each base community chooses one on-going year round service project, either within St. Pius or outside the school, to such groups as the elderly in nursing homes or the poor and hungry in soup kitchens.