Doing something little has big impact, says teen

Little things are important to Mary Mietlicki. Like vacuuming and repairing a run-down camp for children.

'Not everyone is capable of doing the great things," she said, "but everyone has the opportunity to do little things that make such a difference."

Mary, a 16-year-old junior at the Academy of the Holy Names in Albany, is highly involved in her parish, Corpus Christi in Round Lake. She is a member of the youth retreat team and youth ministry core team, serves on the parish's pastoral council as a youth representative, and is a lector and altar server.

Little lesson

In her freshman year in high school, Mary started volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House, a residence for families of seriously ill children who are being treated at Albany hospitals.

She was vacuuming a bedroom -- a little thing, she thought -- until she spoke with the people who inhabited it.

"They were so grateful that you're helping to give them a nice place to stay," she recalled. "People there are going through such a hard time that they are so grateful for everything that you do. I really like playing with the siblings and just being at the house."

Camp service

For the last two years, she's been traveling with family and friends to help rebuild Camp Koinonia in the Rochester Diocese, which provides camping experiences for inner-city children.

For a week, she works alongside teens, adults and senior citizens, replacing siding and doing improvement projects. The next time she goes, she hopes to take along six or seven friends from Holy Names.

"This camp is so important to these people," she said. "It has really made their lives better. When you go, you use your hands to make the world a better place. God gave you these hands to do something with them."

Brothers' example

Mary learned such lessons in elementary school, when she tagged along with her older brothers, Robert and David, to youth ministry events, hearing their stories about national youth conferences and leadership institutes, and watching what they did. She calls them a "big inspiration."

Mary has now completed the Christian Leadership Institute and participated in the SALT urban service week, both programs of the Albany diocesan Office of Evangelization and Catechesis. She was also a delegate at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Atlanta.

"Faith is something that grounds you," she explained. "It gives you guidelines about how to make others' lives better. It's something you can use in everyday life when you're making decisions."

Church now

Mary wants to break stereotypes that youth are "the Church of tomorrow"; she'd like to instill the thought that they're the "Church of today," and that youth can "take the initiative" and inspire change and vitality in the Church.

"A lot of teens say, 'I want to have an impact on the world,' but they don't know what they can do," she explained. "Being part of a community gives you so many opportunities to make an impact.

"[I like] being part of the community, who supports you, who are behind you, who don't judge you."

Called

Mary sees teens growing with the changing Church. She attended the October "Called to be Church" meeting at her parish, where she was gratified to see people agree that "youth are going to be impacted by the change, so it is important that we are there."

Change doesn't matter, she noted, "as long as we have the community, the people and our faith."

She hopes teens won't be afraid of trying something new. "It's such an important part of my life," she said. "It makes me the person I am."

(Mary has always been interested in teaching. Being exposed to her mother's special education classroom -- where "little things" can be great triumphs for the students -- has made her want to look into that as a possible career. "Seeing when you helped the kids read to read a book or do a craft -- they felt so accomplished," she noted. "I think that's what I want to do." She added: "Some people don't understand that you can do something little and have an impact on someone's life, and you've made a difference.")

(11/16/06) [[In-content Ad]]