By Father Clint Johnson, Special to The Message
Beginning in the fall of 2024, the Savio program extended up into Vincennes. And at every gathering, about half the attendees were guys who bussed over from Washington. So, on July 6, Washington hosted Savio North for the first time, and it was a great night. We began with Mass at Our Lady of Hope, and some families attended which was incredible to see. There were also several young adults from the parish who provided music for Mass and chaperoned the event.
After Mass, we walked down to Washington Catholic for some pizza provided by Our Lady of Hope Outreach Committee. We had a pleasant surprise as well, as Father Tyler Tenbarge and Father Luke Hassler arrived with a van of nine more Savio guys from Evansville! In the middle school gym, we had one large group playing soccer while another went over to the high school “Birdcage” to play some basketball — even some of the dads got in on the action. The head-to-head matchup of the Savio guys verses the fathers was something to see! We closed out the event with Night Prayer, which was also a great thing to witness. Even though we had two different Savio groups, we prayed the same prayers of the Church that we’ve been familiarizing ourselves with all along.
To close out the night, Sen. Eric Bassler, the father to one of our Savio members, invited the whole group over to Scoops Homemade Ice Cream shop for some free scoops! — another unexpected surprise to top off the evening.
This night really demonstrated how a small event like Savio is really never really a small event but always part of a larger group of supporters who love our children and desire to see them be formed into reflections of Christ in the world.