“God Stuff Booth”

North-Minneapolis’ popular kid-oriented vocations awareness tool

by Norma Swanson, Serra Club of North-Minneapolis

An opportunity to have young Catholics “picture” themselves as a priest or religious prompted parishioners of St. Bonaventure Church in Bloomington, Minn., to construct and paint clever stand-up models of a friar and a nun patterned after the order that serves their parish. Members of the Airport Serra Club supplemented the effort by helping staff what they fondly called, “The God Stuff Booth.”

Impressed with the program, the Serra Club of North-Minneapolis incorporated the idea into their current efforts to promote Parish Vocation Committees in each of the parishes of the club’s area. The objective was to create a cooperative effort between all local organizations that are (or should be) promoting vocation awareness.

Their first opportunity was a pancake breakfast sponsored by the Knights of Columbus at the Church of St. William in Fridley, Minn. The “God Stuff Booth” was a huge success. Young people were invited to picture themselves as a priest or religious by placing their faces in a cut-out figure. Polaroid pictures were taken and presented to each child along with a prayer for discernment of their own vocation. Materials on religious orders and local seminaries were also displayed.

The booth and cut-outs were on display a week later at the Church of St. Charles Borromeo’s Volunteer Fair. An assortment of holy cards, saint information cards, books of spiritual poetry, and other materials were available at the booth, donated by a club member. Some of the younger kids – under 10 and too young for a photo – sorted through to find their patron saint and other appealing religious pictures or verses. Very few pieces were left, so the club is asking its members to save any unwanted religious items mailed to them for the next occasion.

The borrowed cut-outs were returned to the original owners, but the North-Minneapolis Club is busy making their own stand-up figures of a diocesan priest and a habited sister. The club will seek out every opportunity to bring the booth to parish festivals, carnivals, or any other parish function that attracts families throughout the year. They have found this little booth to be an excellent venue in which to showcase vocation awareness.

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