Backpacks Filled With a Message

Area Religious Centers Ring In The School Year With Activities To Prepare, Reach Out to Youths

At the Loudoun County home of Tim and Shally Stanley, four sturdy backpacks stuffed full of notebooks, binders and pencil boxes sit in the hallway, ready for the first day of school.

But they won't make their debut Tuesday, the first day of classes at Harmony Elementary School in Hamilton. The four Stanley boys will hoist them onto their shoulders today and take them to church, where they will pray for a productive and spiritually fulfilling school year during a special ceremony called the "blessing of the backpacks."

"It kind of makes the point to the children that God touches them in their daily lives," said Tim Stanley, whose family belongs to Harmony United Methodist Church. "It will be special to them for that reason."

Across the Washington region, churches, temples and other religious centers are holding fundraisers, delivering education-oriented sermons and throwing parties to get kids excited -- and emotionally prepared -- for the school year. Classes begin this week in Loudoun and other parts of Northern Virginia and have started elsewhere in the region.

The activities also are a way to attract more young people, who are as inclined as ever to go to services, according to a 2004 Gallup Youth Survey. The poll suggested that American teens, like their parents, are very religious, due in part to church activities geared toward them. Forty-four percent of the teens in the study reported that they had attended a religious service of some sort in the previous seven days.

Local religious institutions are no exception. To usher in the new school year, Prince George's Community Presbyterian Church in Springdale, Md., is throwing a party Friday called "Project SMASH: Students Making Any Situation Holy."

The all-night affair will feature a midnight basketball tournament, a step dance competition, movies, school supply giveaways, music and plenty of prayer to carry them until 2 a.m. There also will be a cafe where parents can learn about college preparation, among other topics.

About 300 people attended the bash last year, many of whom "came to Christ" during the event, said the Rev. Willie J. Thompson Jr., the church's youth minister.

The goal also is to show young people that the church is there for them, Thompson said. The church provides tutoring and scholarships, and Thompson said he is always available to provide support to teenagers in crisis.

"We want to show them what our faith community can offer them so they can be successful in school and throughout their journey through life," said Thompson, who estimates that 400 young people and many parents will show up for Friday's event.

At the Durga Temple in Fairfax Station, Hindu worshipers have tied the back-to-school season to an annual celebration of the god Ganesha, considered a protector and remover of obstacles. The holiday takes place around the beginning of the school year and was celebrated yesterday at the temple.

"We do it so any obstacles to the school year can be removed," said Paripuram Srinivasan, a teacher at a Hindu Sunday school in Fairfax called Balavikas. "We ask kids to pray for this purpose."