Newly-introduced "Mercy Cup" challenge complements opportunities for confession, community in young adult league
WARREN ─ Young adults competing on the soccer field this summer came together to donate 743 food items to Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan in its first “Mercy Cup” challenge.
The Detroit Catholic Young Adult Soccer League completed its 17th season this summer, with competition at De Le Salle High School in Warren ending Aug. 2.
Since its inception in 2007, the league has played at the former St. Denis Parish in Madison Heights, the former Ladywood High School in Livonia and Bishop Foley High School in Madison Heights.
The league moved to De La Salle this year, but that wasn’t the only change.
DCYAS teamed up with Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan to begin the “Mercy Cup,” a competition between the league's teams to collect non-perishable food items for Catholic Charities.
“Thanks to a new sponsorship with Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan, we launched our first-ever Mercy Cup Challenge, where each team was given a team color-coded bag and asked to collect non-perishable food for Catholic Charities’ Center for the World of Mercy,” Rob Leonardi of DCYAS league leadership, told Detroit Catholic. “The response was incredible.”
Eight teams, each named after a saint or soon-to-be saint, collected food items and placed them in color-coded bags to be given to Catholic Charities.
"Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan is deeply grateful to the young adults of the DCYAS League for their incredible generosity and spirit of service through the Mercy Cup challenge," said Isabella Agby, director of marketing and communications for Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan. "What began as a friendly competition became a powerful witness to faith in action with young people living the works of mercy in real, tangible ways."
Beyond the food drive, the league maintained its Catholic identity by making the Sacrament of Reconciliation available during game day and organizing priests throughout the Archdiocese of Detroit to come to De Le Salle to hear confessions.
“Born out of another Holy Spirit-inspired ‘God moment,’ we also added something called 'Community Hour’ between games, which ended up being a highlight for a lot of us,” Leonardi said. “It gave everyone time to hang out, play pick-up games, meet people from other teams, and, I think most importantly, gave everyone the opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We had a priest available almost every week, hearing confessions for two hours outside under a canopy.”
Detroit Catholic Young Adult Soccer, a division of Detroit Catholic Young Adult Sports, is looking into starting a winter indoor league and is seeking more volunteers to help run the league. Those interested may contact league leadership at [email protected].
