Christian Service

Responding to the needs of the community is an essential challenge of putting one’s faith into action. The activities in this category require students to appreciate how people in either local or distant communities suffer real deprivation. Recognizing and responding to the needs of others, we make ourselves an instrument of change by attempting to meet particular needs for goods like food, health, educational opportunity, or human connection. Some of the opportunities in this category reflect how we can serve, in some instances, simply by being present. Giving our time and attention to the marginalized or excluded, listening to their stories, or conveying our support is a way to do justice to the experience of others. 

Through these events, students will be challenged to serve, but also to make a connection, form relationships, and simply listen for the joys and anxieties that other people experience. Jesus’s own life models this ministry of presence or accompaniment. 

Faith Justice Prayer Services allow us to join with Catholics and other faith-filled people around the globe in praying for those whose needs are often neglected and whose dignity is often denied. Our prayer helps us follow more closely the example set by Jesus in His ministry to the poor and the vulnerable, opens us to the Holy Spirit’s gifts of sensitivity, wisdom, and courage, and reminds us that we are all children of God. Prayer and reflection are key elements in the Church’s Catholic Social teaching and the pastoral circle, a tool utilized whenever we encounter the afflicted, the excluded, those on the margins.

Acts of Solidarity are a constitutive element of our Faith in Action Programming because service calls us to deepen our connection to the poor and marginalized. In the Gospels, we hear a call to compassion, nearness, and tenderness. We can promote justice and deepen our connection to poor and marginalized people by reducing our consumption of goods produced by vulnerable populations, conscientiously devoting resources to the public good rather than a personal privilege, and caring for our common home through environmental solidarity. These events aim to help students put themselves in another’s shoes and to live more simply.

Advocacy is a key way we can put our faith in action. It entails working to undo inequities, systemic injustice, mistreatment built into the way our systems and structures operate. We use our voices to foster dialogue about the common good, to call for change, and to inform others of the requirements of love in the public sphere. By doing things like writing letters to elected officials, engaging business leaders in conversations about their policies, and by helping the public to better understand the social consequences of particular policies, laws, or practices, advocacy events encourage students to consider root causes of social ills and to seek systemic remedies.

Freshmen are required to complete six pre-approved experiences of direct service to the poor and marginalized, three each semester. Freshman religion faculty integrate these experiences with the curriculum and furnish reflection opportunities. Ms. Maddie Davin is the service coordinator for freshmen. 

Sophomores are required to complete eight pre-approved formative experiences, four each semester, aimed at fostering a habit of direct service to the poor and marginalized as well as prayerful reflection. English faculty integrate these experiences with the curriculum and foster reflection on the experiences within the class. Ms. Danielle Flood is the service coordinator for sophomores. 

In the junior year, students are required to complete 10 pre-approved formative experiences, five each semester, aimed at deepening a commitment to direct service, fostering the capacity to reflect theologically upon encounters with the poor and marginalized, and strengthening the spirit of solidarity. Junior history teachers integrate these experiences with the curriculum and enable shared reflection. Mr. David Bowles is the service coordinator for juniors. 

To graduate, each senior is required to complete five pre-approved direct service experiences in the summer before senior year, then four additional pre-approved formative experiences during each semester. This formation program reflects the Graduate at Graduation’s commitments as well as elements of the pastoral circle by leading students to engage in direct service to the poor and marginalized, acts of solidarity, theological reflection, social analysis, and advocacy. The senior religion faculty embed these 13 total experiences within the curriculum of their courses. Mr. Michael Libunao-Macalintal is the service coordinator for seniors. 

All students are invited to play chess with students from the Washington Jesuit Academy, a Jesuit middle school serving boys from low-income areas in Washington, D.C., on Monday afternoons from 3-5pm.  Students may sign up and record their participation in Mobileserve. Mr. Szolosi serves as the point person for this regular service opportunity.