By Todd Brechbill
The Conquest group at Northwoods Catholic School in Houston, TX weekly get on their knees with their dads to pray for the intentions they have. Each boy and dad is invited to say out loud any prayer intentions that are on their heart. This is a powerful experience for both the boys and the dads, and is built into their regular weekly Conquest routine. Br. Jared Loehr, LC who helps routinely with the group said “One week around Halloween this past fall, we all went to a local cemetery to pray for the dead in teams. We had a talk prepared by a high school counselor, praying the rosary by teams through the cemetery, then a hot cocoa regroup afterwards.
The boys loved finding the graves of soldiers from each war, finding relatives of the deceased, and huge spiders. The atmosphere was powerful because the place was very dark, old, and creepy. It is a must for any group. I got more thanks for that event than any other we’ve done.”
The 40 boys and roughly 10 dads in this group obviously take prayer very seriously. Br. Jared said “To something like this, first get dads on their knees each week, then call a local cemetery to get permission. The experience is priceless!”
The group is led by team leaders Tony Garza, Jacob Harrison, John Snaider, Charlie Shanley and Alan Torres. They also organized a trip to the Loaves and Fishes Homeless Shelter locally to serve lunch to the homeless. Another project at Christmas time was a visit to a retirement home where the group sang Christmas carols and spent time with the elderly.
This is what Conquest is all about. The Conquest Northwoods group certainly is doing a great job helping others with their prayers and apostolic service projects! Keep up the great work!