Youth News

Sunday, September 27, 2019

Holy Comforter’s Confirmation class—also called Confirm not Conform(CnC)—started the 2019–2020 session on Sunday, September 29 at 6:30 p.m. in McGill Hall with Kip Brailey and Kathy Paulini facilitating, along with the Rev. Jon Strand. We had a record size class of 25 wonderfully engaged students exploring their faith. We encourage our young adults to think about the decision to be confirmed, to talk about their faith with each other, and to make an adult decision to confirm. The next class will be on Monday, October 14 at 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, September 21–Sunday, September 22, 2019

On Saturday, September 21, a total of 19 youth grades 7 through 12 participated in the Global Hunger Banquet followed by the Youth Lock-In. For the Hunger Banquet, many of youth were assigned a small amount of rice and a cup of water, the typical amount 50% of the world's population has for a meal.

Lock-In activities included getting to know each other, sardines, a movie and compline with lots of interesting discussions along the way. Enterprising high schoolers erected a tent in the Ministry Center and the youth enjoyed pizza and a very early morning breakfast of pancakes and bacon cooked by our youth leaders

Sunday, August 25, 2019

23 Youth and adults enjoyed a beautiful peaceful time on the Shenandoah River lazily floating downstream for 3 hours—stopping for lunch on one of the islands after traversing level 1 and 2 rapids which were a lot of fun. They could’t have wished for a better day to sadly end summer, but were thrilled to all be gathered together again and to meet the new rising 7th graders. It’s going to be an exciting new program year for the Holy Comforter Youth Ministry.

Saturday, June 29, 2019

After a week at Hogwarts Vacation Bible School, the Youth Group relaxed and enjoyed a beautiful swimming pool and hot tub thanks to the hospitality of James Abbot and Daniel Gri. It was also a great opportunity to welcome the rising 7th graders into the group. Have a wonderful summer and we look forward to hearing about it in the fall.

Friday, June 14–Sunday, June 16

A perfect weekend of sun and light breeze welcomed 17 Holy Comforter youth at Cape Henlopen State Park beach. An early start this year for our 16th annual trip gave us an extra day on the beach and an opportunity to enjoy tacos by Andrew Eastman and a late evening walk to the fishing pier. A group of very enthusiastic youth got up at 4:30 a.m. each morning to watch the glorious sunrise over the horizon. Saturday night on the boardwalk at Rehoboth was followed by songs around the bonfire and a compline service to close a perfect weekend with good friends.

Sunday, May 19, 2019

In the afternoon, 17 youth and their daring leaders zipped, swung, and balanced across high wires at Adventure Park at Sandy Spring, MD. An exhausting but thrilling experience was had by all.

In the morning, the youth enjoyed the last day of Sunday School in beautiful weather with an outdoor picnic and games at Rodman House. The famous shoe game was hotly contested and there were some excellent foot throwers that landed their shoes consistently on the table.

Sunday, May 12, 2019

The 11:00 a.m. student-led worship service was a special way to celebrate Mother's Day at Church of the Holy Comforter.

Sunday, May 5, 2019

Despite the continuous rain, 15 youth washed cars from 7:30 a.m. until noon to raise much-needed funds for the Summer Mission Trip. Thanks to the generosity of our wonderful church community, we raised over $1,400! Thank you to everyone who participated.

Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019

The Children’s Ministries and Youth Ministries All-Parish Coffee and Bake Sale on Easter Sunday was a huge success—helped greatly by beautiful weather. Many newcomers had the opportunity to meet parishioners over coffee and cake while watching the younger children enjoy the Easter egg hunt.

Sunday, April 14, 2019

Five youth helped fill Chilli cups, pack bags of fresh vegetables, and load up the car for FACETS hot meal delivery to our neighbors in need. The youth also distributed hard boiled eggs and water.

Youth read the Passion Play at the 9:00 a.m. Palm Service Sunday service.

Sunday, April 7, 2019

Youth Group visited Sunrise Assisted Living and enjoyed arts and crafts with residents. One youth found a soulmate in a gentleman who served in World War II, flying dive bombers and long range strike bombers in the Pacific, then going on to study mathematics under the GI bill and becoming a math teacher.

And Holy Comforter youth pitched in to help deliver groceries and household supplies to 30 area families in need.

Friday, April 5, 2019

On Friday, April 5, Holy Comforter youth who will be participating in the upcoming summer mission trip to Boston shared lunch with our Senior Saints, then presented the planned mission work. Each youth had an opportunity to talk about what they were most looking forward to during the mission trip. Many saw this as an opportunity to grow closer together and to see God at work in the world.

Also, youth sorted and counted the athletic shoes donated by parishioners for the More Foundation fundraiser. With every pair of shoes, More Foundation is able to plant one ton of carbon grounding trees and train poor farmers in sustainable agroforestry. A minimum of 500 pairs of shoes is needed in order to participate in the program and the youth will receive $1 for every donated pair of shoes.

We only have 59 pairs of shoes that were not so damaged as to be as useable. More shoes are desperately needed to meet our goal of 500 pairs of shoes!

Sunday, March 10, 2019

The middle school youth continued a 14-year tradition of painting their unique symbols on the Library wall. The symbols represent the hopes and dreams of these wonderful young people. The theme of the wall is based on the parable of the vine with the symbols representing the fruit.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5)

Saturday, March 9–Sunday, March 10, 2019

17 youth grades 7–10 enjoyed fellowship, deepened friendships, and worshiped together in a late-night Eucharist with Father Jon in St. Mary’s Chapel lit only with candles. Serious games of Sardines were played in the dark and empty church. The evening started out with a very competitive game of shoe tossing which the boys won with a very narrow victory. An early rise with the change to daylight saving time was mitigated with a tasty breakfast of pancakes and bacon. Amazingly, we were able to clear out upper Rodman House and set up tables for the Children’s Ministry’s Seder meal by 8:00 a.m. and in time to allow Choristers to report to Dr. Kelley on time at 8:15 a.m. The consensus is that we should definitely hold another lock-in. It’s just a lot a fun.

Tuesday, March 6, 2019

The Youth Group, with the help of many parishioners, served the parish a wonderful pancake supper on Tuesday evening. The youth are grateful for the large number of donations of prizes including valuable gift cards to local stores and restaurants, children's toys, and books. Items of higher value such as the RoboVac, large telescope, and espresso machine were auctioned to the highest bidder by our expert youth auctioneers. All proceeds will go to the high school mission trip to Boston in July. Surplus food was donated to a local food bank.

Sunday, March 3, 2019

17 youth attended the presentation by Joni Langevoort on Human Trafficking in the Fairfax area. This rapidly growing crime now infects all Fairfax County schools. Learn more HERE. The presentation was followed by a showing of the movie Priceless that deals with the same issue.

Sunday, February 10, 2019

Three youth—along with parent volunteers Andrew Eastman and Brynn Pacitti—delivered hard boiled eggs and bottled water to our neighbors in need in Fairfax.

Saturday, February 9, 2019

On Saturday, February 9 fifteen middle school and high school youth helped make Date Night and Kids Night In a special night for couples by volunteering to help with a multitude of tasks that included checking all 24 kids in, escorting them to their rooms and to the bathrooms, supervising and leading activities, accepting the pizza and delivering it to the classrooms, supervising the movie and leading arts and crafts activities. Those off-duty or between shifts learned how to play Terraforming Mars with our church expert Kip Brailey.

Sunday, February 3, 2019

Twelve youth enjoyed roller skating, falling and getting up with help from their friends at Skate-N-Fun Zone in Manassas on February 3. Will won his age group’s race. Sophie was an early favorite in her race but got off to a slow start. Laser tag added a new dimension to the afternoon and no serious injuries were reported.

Sunday, January 20, 2019

Eleven youth really enjoyed the classic Christian movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Hot chocolate with yummy toppings and popcorn were much appreciated on a cold windy night. The wide screen projector with 5 speaker surround sound converts upper Rodman into a large home theater setting. If your ministry could benefit from using this system let Denis McMullan or Randy McGuire know.