By Kathi Stearns, Staff Writer

ATLANTA--Lucy Johnson, a single mother of two who also cares for her mother, always dreamed of having a house she could call her own.

A group of Catholic teenagers recently made her dream a reality.

On Feb. 18, teens from the parishes of St. John Neumann, Lilburn; Holy Cross, Atlanta; Prince of Peace, Buford; St. John Vianney, Lithia Springs and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Atlanta turned over a very special set of house keys to Ms. Johnson as they formally dedicated the Habitat for Humanity house they had built for her.

The dream of building a house began in August 1994, with two teens from St. John Neumann Parish, Kristin Hullinger, a St. Pius High School senior, and Reena Cappelli, a senior at Brookwood High School.

After deciding that they wanted to build a Habitat for Humanity house, Kristin turned to Sister Mary Kay Finneran, SC, campus minister at St. Pius. Under her leadership, students at St. Pius have built three Habitat homes in conjunction with other private school students. Kristin learned that organizations are required to raise $25,000 before construction can begin. Realizing that St. John Neumann’s youth group could not raise the funds alone, the two girls sent letters to a dozen youth groups seeking their involvement. The goal was to have five parishes raise $5,000 apiece. “We knew it was a crazy idea, but we went ahead with it anyway,” Miss Hullinger said.

“They also presented their idea to Patti Jugenheimer, the youth minister at St. John Neumann. “I told them that this was a monumental task and suggested that we pray about it and take it to the youth council,” she said. “I went on vacation for a few days, and when I returned Father (James (Fennessy had given the teens permission to take up a special collection at the masses to raise money for the house. The idea was brought to the youth council who voted unanimously to start the project.”

“It was so nice to know that our parish had a lot of faith in us,” Miss Hullinger said. Approximately $4,000 was raised through the collection; the other $1,000 was earned from car washes.

“Some people don’t think we do that much (community service), but we wanted to show them that we can and do make difference,” she said.

By September Holy Cross, St. John Vianney, Prince of Peace and Immaculate heart of Mary made verbal commitments to St. John Neumann that they would like to assist. “Each parish was asked to supply youth workers who were over 16 years of age, a core group of adults and $5,000,” said Bruce Keehner, youth minister at Holy Cross.

However, by early November 1994 only Holy Cross and St. John Neumann had reached their $5,000 goals. “Everyone had done the best they could with the limitations they had; we weren’t sure where to go from here,” Ms. Jugenheimer said. “If we did not begin building by Dec. 31 the house would cost an additional $5,000.”

Cindy Palmer, youth minister at IHM, received information about the Cecil B. Day Quest Grant, a non-denominational grant given to churches involved in the collaborative ministry of building houses. The teens’ project qualified for the financial assistance, and each parish received matching gifts for the money that they had been able to raise. The grant provided them with enough money to begin construction.

I’m a rather determined person,” Mrs. Palmer said. “I was beginning to think that we might have to wait until next year and allow ourselves some more time to acquire the money. When we received that grant it was a miracle. There is no other word to describe it.”

The teens began work Dec. 17 and spent the next eight weekends constructing the house near the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium despite some of the wettest and coldest weather in Georgia history.

“It was pretty dismal at times,” said Maggie Pollock, a teen from Prince of Peace who worked on the house five weekends. “We worked every weekend we could, but sometimes the rain was too much.”

Miss Pollock believes that it was a plus to have the future homemaker, Ms. Johnson, working at the house with the teens. “She was able to learn a little about us, and we were able to see the effect our work was having on her life.”

The youth ministers also felt that Ms. Johnson’s involvement was valuable. “The teens were able to see her joy and emotional attachment to each room and to the work they were doing,” Mrs. Palmer said.

The teens felt that they were providing Ms. Johnson with a gift of self that had permanence. “It was a real world experience,” said Mark Nicola, a youth from IHM who worked on the house five weekends. “We were actually doing something to help this woman have a place to live instead of just sitting around and talking about it.”

The project also provided teens the opportunity to work with people they usually meet only at youth rallies. “The teens made friends working at the Habitat house. This has given them a broader view of the youth of the archdiocese,” said Mrs. Palmer.

“It was a very positive experience for my group,” Keehner said. “they were able to step beyond our community and see a greater community.”

Kathy Wolf, youth consultant for the archdiocese, applauded the work of the youth ministries, core adults and teens. “If we empower young people with their faith and turn them on to who Jesus Christ is, we are allowing them to use their skills and faith to make a difference. The reality is we can be led by them.”

The teens learned that once they set their minds to something they can make a difference in their particular parish community and the greater Atlanta community as well.

“It was nice to see this crazy idea, which many people thought was impossible, become a reality,” Miss Hullinger said.

And in a very positive way their youth ministries and their parishes never questioned the perseverance and strength of their youth groups.

“We don’t consider them the church of the future; we consider them the church of today,” Ms. Jugenheimer said.