The Restless Heart Young Adult Group at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church in the Bronx organizes events and activities such as prayer services, reflections, homeless outreach, and music gatherings.  

Members of the Hispanic group also help the parish by organizing fundraisers, and volunteer to help during church functions. Group members are in their 20s and 30s. The group’s name, Restless Heart (Corazon Inquieto) comes from the words of St. Augustine: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”      

Like other dedicated volunteer groups and ministries at the parish, the Restless Heart Young Adult Group, established in 2016, assists the clergy and staff with the mission of active evangelization and spreading the Good News of the Lord; there are about 45 members, most of them active participants. The parish is located on University Avenue at Fordham Road.   

“That is the apostolate of our group, helping the homeless,” the group leader and co-founder, Hendry Silverio, told The Good Newsroom. “We meet them where they are, in the streets; we bring them food, such as pizza and fruits. And sometimes we cook breakfast for them and serve it to them at the parish.”                        

Silverio said the group also provides hygiene essentials for the homeless, as well as referrals to social service opportunities aimed at lifting them up from the streets.     

“Our group is based on the spirituality of St. Augustine – because our parish is run by Augustinians,” said Silverio, 46, married father of three. “We have formation meetings every Wednesday evening; we share and have fellowship…And in our homeless outreach, we have been blessed in being able to help get some of them off the streets, and they are working; their lives have changed. Blessed be God.”   

One of the group members, Mariela Henriquez, said she joined the group shortly after becoming a parishioner five years ago, having heard, during end-of-Mass announcements, about the group members’ active involvement with the parish.  

“I listened to the announcements about the good works they do helping the homeless, and about their (Wednesday evening) meetings to help young people walk their faith,” said Ms. Henriquez, 25. “So I sought to find out more about the group; and I liked what I learned, especially their work with the homeless.”   

She said she also especially likes the annual, three-day formation retreats that the group organizes for its members. The Advent gatherings are held the first weekend of December at retreat houses in New York and New Jersey, after which Ms. Henriquez feels “renewed and blessed.”    

Father Luis Vera, OSA, St. Nicholas of Tolentine pastor, noted that the parish welcomes the effort to help guide young adults in their spiritual journeys, adding, “That intermediate age group – who are not youths and not middle aged or older people – often are overlooked.” 

“And the work that the Restless Heart members do with the homeless in the area; they have always been aware of the people living in the streets. So they assist greatly with both social service and evangelization; they are active. The group is extremely important in the parish,” Father Vera added.

Upcoming events and activities that the Restless Heart group will be involved in include organizing a Nov. 19 Spanish Church-music concert to help fund homeless outreach and the  Advent group retreat; members will also be collecting jackets, gloves, and other winter items for the homeless. And the group hopes to soon be able to organize mission trips to Latin American countries.