Goal of this Edge Night
The goal of this Edge Night is to help the youth understand the Catholic Church’s teaching on solidarity and call them to action in living it out. The night focuses on love of neighbor and how Jesus Christ shows us not only the dignity of humanity, but also how to respond the needs of those around us.
Edge Night at a Glance
This night is closely connected to the “Dignity of the Human Person” Edge Night, but focuses more on love of neighbor as the middle school youth explore solidarity. To help the youth better understand solidarity, the night focuses a lot on the teachings on Blessed Pope John Paul II and the example of Christ in loving our neighbor. In becoming man, Jesus shows us the importance of humanity and also how to live our shared humanity. Jesus was present as a human person in the world and clearly taught us to treat one another as brothers and sisters. Because of this oneness of man, we are called to help those around us. Solidarity is a firm commitment to the common good, not simply when there is a tragedy or when feeling sorry for someone we encounter. Solidarity, which flows from our faith, is an understanding that we are “the body of Christ” and we are united by our humanity and dependence on God.
The night will begin with a fun game that introduces love of neighbor. Following the icebreaker game, the Proclaim will start with love of neighbor, explain Christ’s example of that love, and challenge the youth to live out solidarity locally and globally. The talk also includes the story of the Notre Dame boxing team’s annual charity intramural tournament that donates proceeds to impoverished Bangladesh. As the youth will see in the YouTube video, the story was filmed as a documentary to show the connection between the college boxers and the people they are helping halfway around the world. After the Proclaim, the middle school youth will break into small groups for discussion and brainstorming on solidarity. After the small group activities, the night will move into a time of prayer to show the youth that prayer is always a true sign of solidarity and one action we can take every day.