March 25th, 2011: The Newman Center at New Mexico Highlands University Engaging Catholic Charities and the local Albuquerque Community

(This article was written for the People of God, the Archdiocesan Newspaper for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. It will possibly be published in May.)

When one is an undergraduate in college, sometimes, the world one lives in is similar to living in a “bubble”. College students tend to focus on their school work, outside work to pay the bills, their social lives, and maybe their families and religion. Thinking about issues of social injustice in our world is something that is merely beyond their view. I know these are generalizations and there are always exceptions to these generalizations. However, for the students that this does characterize exposure to social injustices both locally and globally are essential to broadening their minds and hearts.

From Sunday, March 13th to Wednesday, March 16th, two students from Highlands University’s Newman Center in Las Vegas, New Mexico, their campus minister and staff advisor came to learn about and volunteer with Catholic Charities and other Catholic organizations around the city of Albuquerque. This was Highlands Newman Center’s first time engaging in a spring break trip. It was four full days filled with learning, praying, and engaging the Albuquerque community. One of the young women on the trip indicated that by Wednesday, “her eyes have now been opened”.

The four days were bookended with the students engaging in the Catholic community in Albuquerque. On Sunday, they volunteered at Immaculate Conception's meal for people who are homeless. Beatrice, from Catholic Charities’ housing center, then came out and spoke to the group about housing and homelessness in Albuquerque. This was followed by a guided reflection on the experience. Later that evening, after a young adult mass, they listened to two guest speakers’ talk about Jesuit Volunteer Corps, a national volunteer program for post-graduate students wanting to engage their desire in social justice. On Wednesday, they volunteered and observed projects such as feeding people who are homeless at the Good Shepherd Center and visiting both Catholic Worker homes in Albuquerque, Trinity House and Casa de las Communidades.

On Monday and Tuesday the group learned and spent the entire day at Catholic Charities. Monday they were at the Bridge Street location, Southwest Albuquerque, where they learned about Catholic Charities’ Centers for Immigration and Education. During the presentation from the Center for Education, children from the early childcare center came and sang a few songs to the group in English and Spanish. After the presentation the group planted flowers at Hibernian House, a housing unit for low-income seniors. This brightened the day for the seniors. Following the planting they went back to the bridge location where they cleaned around the entire building, picking up over six bags of trash and debris. On Tuesday the group was at the Marble Ave. location, Northeast Albuquerque, where they learned about Catholic Charities’ Centers for Refugees, Housing, and Community Involvement. After these presentations they worked with refugee youth on starting to paint a mural of a world map in the youth classroom.

Jesus’ calls us to take this scripture passage to heart in both thought and action: “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” (Matthew 25: 35-36). By the end of the trip the groups’ hearts were open to compassion towards the people and programs they encountered; this compassion has empowered them to look into issues of social injustices that are occurring in their own backyards in Las Vegas, NM. With the strength and vision of the Holy Spirit I hope that this group uses their experience with Catholic Charities and the Albuquerque Catholic community to engage their community so that peoples basic needs are met and that the dignity of all peoples is preserved.