BRADLEY – Parishioners at a church nestled on the Penobscot River have seen that a project to raise money to help pay the church’s fuel bill has had other benefits besides keeping worshippers warm.

The youth group at St. Ann’s Catholic Church has found a way to feed the body and soul of its parishioners while raising money toward the fuel bill. The funds the young cooks raise at monthly breakfasts and occasional suppers help pay for essentials such as heating oil but a few extras as well.

Last year, the breakfasts that are held immediately after the 9 a.m. Mass on Sundays raised more than $2,100 toward the church’s fuel bill. That was 27 percent of the church’s annual heating oil cost. This year some of the money raised has been used to buy new vestments for the Lenten season. Leftover funds at the end of the year will go toward the oil bill.

Ann Thornton, 50, of Milford helped start the monthly meals in September 2006 as a way to help pay for the rising cost of heating oil, to get the youth more involved in the church community, and to use her skills as a restaurateur. Thornton and her mother-in-law ran the Calico Kitchen in Milford for many years.

“After church, we always went to my mother’s, and sometimes we would have brunch, sometimes we would have just muffins or doughnuts,” Thornton told the diocesan magazine Harvest last fall, “but I always enjoyed getting together after Mass. And I was frustrated about not being able to help with the [church’s] fuel bill, and I missed working with kids, which I used to do at the restaurant. So, I just combined my frustration with the things that I enjoy.”

The breakfasts, or sometimes Saturday evening meals around holidays such as Christmas and Valentine’s Day, draw an average of 80 people, but the group can accommodate up to 125, Thornton said recently. The group asks for reservations to plan the meals and avoid too much waste, she said.

Last month after Mass, worshippers flowed into the church basement and quickly filled seats at the already set table. The young people served them as if the parishioners were dining in a restaurant.

While Protestant denominations and synagogues share the tradition of gathering after services to share coffee, tea and snacks or once in a while a meal, most Catholics don’t regularly gather as a parish community after Mass.

The fellowship generated by sharing a meal has meant a lot to many of St. Ann’s longtime worshippers.

“It brings us together and gives us a sense of community,” said Elsie Soucie, 74, of Milford, who has been a communicant at the church for more than 50 years. “It brings together all ages.”

Soucie also said the meals have helped the congregation maintain a sense of its own identity now that it is part of a cluster of Catholic churches in the Old Town area called the Two Rivers Catholic Community, rather than an individual parish.

Karen LeBreton, 41, of Milford has been a member of St. Ann’s for more than 20 years and a youth leader for four. Her children Daniel LeBreton, 17, and Lauren LeBreton, 15, help plan, cook and serve meals.

“This activity has taught members of the youth group how to work together, be involved in their church, and valuable lessons about budgeting and cooking,” Karen LeBreton said last month. “By doing this, they show themselves and others that they can be the light to shine through all the bad stuff that’s happening in world.”

Ten to 15 young people ages 11 to 17 plan the menus and devote Saturday mornings to preparing the meal, including peeling and cutting 28 pounds of potatoes last month, Thornton said.

They do as much cooking as they can ahead of time. They also do the cleanup after the meals, washing and drying the dishes by hand because the church does not have an automatic dishwasher.

The younger children help out by making centerpieces for the tables at religious education classes, according to Thornton.

Daniel LeBreton admitted last month that his mom made him work on the breakfasts, but he has found the labor rewarding.

“I like seeing the reactions of all the people and how excited they are by the meals, the service and just everything,” he said.

His sister said it felt “good to give back to the community, to give back to the church.”

The Rev. Wilfred “Bill” Labbe, administrator for the Catholic churches in the Old Town area, said he was “overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness” the young people had shown their congregation.

It was his idea for the group to give something more lasting to the church than paying for fuel.

“We can pay for our oil,” he said.

The vestments, which cost about $400, will belong to the church, he said, and will last longer than the heating oil would.

The lessons the young people are learning will last a lifetime, Karen LeBreton said.

The next breakfast at St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Bradley will be held March 16, Palm Sunday.

jharrison@bangordailynews.net

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