by Sue Vogelman with Photos by Rick and Mary Chamiec-Case
On the cold January 2nd Sunday, members of our Rite 13 Class participated in Chapel on the Green which is a mission/outreach program that ministers to the homeless of New Haven, CT.
Chapel on the Green (from their website)
In the summer of 2008, Trinity on the Green partnered with community agencies and clergy from other churches to launch “Chapel on the Green.” It is based on the Common Cathedral in Boston.
Every Sunday at 2:00 pm people gather on the Upper Green (directly behind Trinity) for a brief (25-30 minute) service of Holy Eucharist is all sorts of weather. We do not cancel services due to weather.
ALL are welcome!
This service has attracted a wide variety of people across New Haven: those interested in social justice, the homeless or anyone that does not feel comfortable in a church building.
Trinity youth helped pack up all the lunch supplies they had made, drove to New Haven with their chaperones, and set everything up when they arrived. There is a drum circle before the service which starts at 1:30 pm. Following the drum circle and worship service, our youth helped distribute bagged lunches to all those in need.
To prepare for this ministry, some of our Trinity youth in 6th and 7th grade made over 150 sandwiches (half peanut butter and jelly and half lunch meat) baked tons of cookies and packaged snacks in bags.
They met together at Trinity Newtown for a lesson led by Rick and Mary Chamiec-Case on what they might expect when they got to the green in New Haven and why they were going. Then they had an orientation from Chris Evans (Coordinator) on the green when they arrived in New Haven.
One of the drummers in the drum circle every week is the grandson of Trinity Newtown parishioner, Jean Kreitzinger, who says, "He never misses a Chapel on the Green service. He's there every week, rain or shine."
Here are some quotes from the Chapel on the Green blog about how our Trinity Youth did for their first time in this ministry:
Its been a pleasure working with Mary Chamiec-Case, the youth and parishioners from Trinity Episcopal Church, Newtown, CT these past weeks in preparation for today's service.
Breaking the 12,000 mark of sandwich lunches distributed on the Green, the 20 plus men, women and teen volunteers [from Trinity Newtown] brought an uplifting spirit of companionship to our service. Everyone was greeted with a smile, a program, a name tag and a "welcome."
I've never seen so many teenagers (and adults) so confidently "radically" welcome all who attended. No one was shy about playing drums or singing, reading the Collect of the Day, the Gospel.
And the lunch...well! A sumptuous buffet of a variety of sandwiches for all dietary tastes, healthy clementines, bananas and all the rest were warmly shared with all our visitors.
