Sports, job and Church work can be fit into ordinary week

A football game can't go on without a center like Zach Urgento snapping the ball to the quarterback, but Zach's got a hand in a lot of other activities, too.

The Averill Park High sophomore plays junior-varsity football and has an after-school job, but he's also on the Albany diocesan youth ministry team and the Diocesan Youth Council. He also sings in both the diocesan choir and an Albany ecumenical choir.

At his parish, St. Henry's in Averill Park, he's involved with youth ministry, volunteers as an altar server and leads Confirmation retreats for other teens.

Full schedule

Zach's mother told The Evangelist that even she has a hard time keeping track of his schedule, but his reasons for taking on so much are simple.

"It feels great, the feeling you get from helping people and the gratitude on the faces of the people," he stated.

It's also fun for him. Zach said he's been part of the youth ministry program at St. Henry's for quite a while because the group has such a good time at its meetings. Youth from the parish participate in the "Midnight Run," taking vans down to New York City to bring food and blankets to the homeless, and recently cooked a meal for the needy at Joseph House in Troy.

The latter experience gave the teen some cooking savvy. He said he helped with "slicing and dicing," since the stew the group made required so many vegetables.

CLI experience

Last year, Zach attended the Christian Leadership Institute (CLI), the Diocese's leadership program for youth. He learned about putting himself in someone else's shoes -- and made some of the best friends he's ever had.

The retreat left the teen eager to get more involved with activities on the diocesan level. Now, as part of the diocesan youth ministry team, he's chairing a committee to raise funds for SALT (Service Action Learning Teams) for teens, sponsored by the diocesan Office of Evangelization and Catechesis.

He's also planning to recruit peers to attend the Public Policy Forum, an annual, statewide event that brings hundreds of Catholics to the State Capitol to lobby their legislators.

"I'm a big opponent of the whole cloning thing: the lack of individuality, trying to play God -- I just don't agree with it," Zach noted.

Fun time

Zach spends a lot of time trying to persuade friends and acquaintances to join youth ministry activities. He focuses his salespitch on "people I know that go to church, but don't do much," telling them that they'd enjoy volunteering -- and get the community-service hours many schools now require.

"They come in and forget the other stuff, they're having so much fun," he said.

Volunteering is rewarding for Zach himself, as well. All his activities "really bring me closer to God," he said, particularly singing religious music in choirs and going on the Midnight Run.

"When we went down to New York and saw the homeless on the street," he explained, "being able to see the poor and realize how lucky we are -- that's going to stick with me for the rest of my life."

With so much to do, how does Zach fit it all in? He answers with three words: "I'm never home."

(11/6/03) [[In-content Ad]]