West Seneca Family hold Faith Formation program for teens

Service and community came together as the young people of Family #7 held a five-day Faith Formation program. Through guest speakers and presentations, the youth learned of the needs of their neighbors, and built a camaraderie with each other.

The week of June 26-July 2 saw several guests stop in Fourteen Holy Helpers Parish in West Seneca to speak on the meaning of baptism and service. Recently ordained Deacon Michael Katilus and his wife, Joy, spoke about how they came into the Catholic faith. Michael Sacilowski presented his one-man play on Father Nelson Baker, “She Did It All,” followed by a large group discussion.  Father Gregory Faulhaber, pastor of the family which includes parishes from West Seneca, Elma and Orchard Park, spoke on the charisms of each of the family’s five parishes.

On Monday, July 1, Nichole Barrett from Rural Outreach Center spoke about the problems faced by people in poverty. Just 10 miles down the road from Fourteen Holy Helpers, there are people who don’t have running water, Barrett told the 57 teens who took part in the program.

Rural Outreach Center serves parts of southern Erie, western Wyoming and northern Cattaraugus counties, where 46,000 people don’t have access to basic needs, 3,000 don’t even have phones, and 1,200 don’t have kitchens and must cook everything in a microwave or hotplate.

Growing up in these conditions brings on feelings of fear, shame and worry, Barrett explained

“These are the kinds of things that the people I work with – the kids and the adults – are dealing with every day. Can you imagine what that makes someone feel like inside?” Barrett asked.

As a follow up program, a winter coat collection will be held this November in the Family of Parishes.

The annual faith formation program is open to students entering grades 6-10, and supplements the ongoing faith formation for the parishes.  

“It’s a program to help young people who are so busy with other activities to be able to continue their faith formation. So, it’s not just this one week. There’s other extra activities that we give the young people,” explained Sharon Voigt, director of Religious Education for Fourteen Holy Helpers.

The program has continued for over 15 years, always with a service component. This year a collection of cereal, pasta and bottles to return for deposit money will benefit the West Seneca Food Pantry.

The program also allowed the teens from different parishes to get to know each other, as this was one of the first Family of Parishes events. In between talks and plays, they had some bonding time, through activities such as Catholic Jeopardy.

“I think that brought all of us together,” said Lauren Reese.

“I think coming together with people from different parishes you can learn the differences. If they do something different at a different church you can share your differences,” said Brooklyn Tyler.

The program has seen rising attendance each year since the Covid pandemic of 2020.

“It’s actually been wonderful,” said Voigt. “They’re wonderful kids. They’re polite. They’re a joy to work with. We have wonderful catechists and the DREs from the programs. I can’t say enough about the people involved.”