From left, Nick Menke, Sophia Kress and Landon Burgess landscape the Bentler Memorial Garden at St. Boniface Parish in Farmington last month during a three-day service retreat.
By Lindsay Steele
The Catholic Messenger
FARMINGTON — Catholic teens gathered in Farmington last month for Catholics in Action, a three-day service retreat.
About 15 youths with ties to a four-parish cluster in Lee County began their adventure with Mass at St. Boniface-Farmington on June 14, followed by a presentation about the Beatitudes and Catholic Social Teaching by Deacon Bob Glaser, who formerly served in the Diocese of Davenport. The cluster consists of St. James the Less-St. Paul, St. John the Baptist-Houghton, St. Mary of the Assumption-West Point, and the Farmington parish.
The following morning, youths learned more about the seven themes of Catholic Social Teaching — Life and Dignity of the Human Person; Call to Family, Community, and Participation; Rights and Responsibilities; Option for the Poor and Vulnerable; The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers; Solidarity; and Care for God’s Creation — and brainstormed ways to live out these values. The group then moved to the riverfront to pick up trash from Farmington’s Strawberry Festival activities the previous weekend.
Later on Monday, the group began work refurbishing the Bentler Memorial Garden at St. Boniface. Five members of the Bentler family, all of whom actively participated in the parish, were killed Oct. 14, 2006, by Shawn Bentler. The 22-year-old murdered his parents — Michael and Sandra, and his three sisters — Sheena, Shelby and Shayne. The girls were students at Harmony High School. Shawn Bentler is currently serving a life sentence in prison.
Deacon Mike Linnenbrink — youth minister at the time — designed the memorial shortly after the tragedy with input from parish youths. It consisted of a five-sided cement pad, a statue of St. Francis, and five trees. Parishioner Albert Kruse added an accessible walkway as part of his Eagle Scout project in 2021.
Nick Menke, a member of the St. Paul parish, was looking for an Eagle Scout project earlier this year when Deacon Linnenbrink suggested giving the memorial garden a fresh look in preparation for a 20-year memorial Mass later this year. The high school sophomore had never seen the garden, but felt it was worth looking into. “It just needed to be refreshed,” said Nick’s father, Alan.
During Catholics in Action (CIA), participants dug out and repositioned edgestones and walkway stones that had settled, power washed the cement pad, rinsed gravel and installed new weed barrier fabric. The biggest change, however, was the addition of an outdoor rosary. The group laid down gravel and placed a sequence of “Hail Mary” paver stones around the cement pad to form a rosary. Religious education students in Farmington helped by painting Our Father and Glory Be stones. The group also added a stainless steel cross to the rosary layout.
Nick only knew a couple of the CIA participants at the start of the week, and was encouraged by how they “just dug in and started working. I could not have asked for a better group.” His older sister, Emma, a junior, also helped out. “I think it’s important for teens to get out there and serve the community,” she said.
The youths took a break Monday evening with a cookout and water activities at Indian Lake Park in Farmington. They returned to St. Boniface Tuesday morning to finish the work, and also spent time hauling wood and doing yardwork for a neighbor who lost three trees in a windstorm.
The youths concluded their CIA experience by praying the rosary at the refurbished memorial garden. Nick plans to add a memorial plaque to the layout in time for the memorial Mass, which is scheduled for Oct. 18.
Valarie Smith, an eighth-grader from the Farmington parish, said the work was exhausting but worthwhile. “I felt it was honoring the family that was murdered,” she reflected. “You’re satisfied when you’re done because of the positive results it has.”
Peninah Pidgeon, an eighth-grader from the Houghton parish, appreciated the opportunity to meet new people while helping the community at CIA. “I like doing stuff like this… I’ve made new friends and it brought me closer with my (current) friends.”
“I really enjoyed watching the kids work together,” Deacon Linnenbrink said.
