An image I took from a housebuilding trip to Juarez a few years back with UNM college students.Below is an article I wrote for the People of God, the Catholic Archdiocesan Newspaper for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. It will be published in April.
College Justice Walking: A Journey of Faith and Transformation
Do you know what Catholic Social Teaching is about? Catholic Social Teaching has been said to be the best kept secret of the Catholic Church. Twelve students at the University of New Mexico’s Aquinas Newman Center are embarking on a journey to learn and live the Church’s social teachings with a program called College Justice Walking. The Newman Center has been asked to be a pilot group for this program in the country. This seven week series, including an opening and closing retreat, opens up the rich treasure of the Church’s social teachings through prayer, praxis, and the educational components of reading, the bible and supplemental books, and discussion. These students will be learning the tenants of Catholic Social Teaching and how to integrate these tenants into their daily lives.
One of the elements of the Justice Walking program is that the participants volunteer at one location four different times so to build relationships amongst those whom they are serving. The group from the Newman Center will be volunteering at Dismas House. Dismas House is a home for motivated people who are on parole and probation to successfully transition into society. The group will be cooking and serving a meal to those in need. These bonds allow the participants to become more compassionate in the face of our suffering God and will therefore help to transform these students to make even more compassionate choices in the future.
The Justice Walking leaders manual provides some provoking questions of the students, “What would happen to our lifestyle if we tried to live out the Gospel teachings together? What would happen to our friendships if we let the Gospels guide us? If we put God’s justice first, what and who would we care about? What would we be looking for in life?” One of the main teachings of Jesus is the following, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me… whatever you did for one of these least brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matt 25:35-36, 40). Justice Walking forces participants to look critically at their lives and what the Gospel calls us to be. The hope with this program for the students at Newman is for them to finish the Justice Walking program more compassionate in their actions and more active within the realm of social justice in whatever career they decide upon. Please pray for the students embarking on this journey of faith. This journey will break their heart so that they can fall in deeper love with the body of Christ and the face of God.
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