Campus Ministry welcomed 17 new Justice Walkers into the Justice Walking program for the 2014-2015 school year.
Justice Walking is a “comprehensive, faith-based program that invites students to grow in the spirituality of justice as they journey together throughout the academic year,” according to the Campus Ministry website.
“This was my first year of Justice Walking,” Campus Ministry intern Leah Schaffer said. “I think the most rewarding part, as the leader of the group, has been watching the community of Justice Walkers grow over the year.”
The students will be trained and commit to in-service for AseraCare Hospice for one of their big projects.
“We are planning on continuing Hospice service with AseraCare and also going on a fall break service trip with CCSJ as well,” pastoral minister and Campus Ministry team member Jennifer Kennedy-Croft said. “We will be going out to Boys Town at the end of this semester to get a tour and meet some of the students there. We try to look at these issues through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching and why dignity of all peoples matters.”
The program encourages students to “go deeper in their faith and to explore social justice through experience, education and reflective understanding,”
Kennedy-Croft said.
“We all not only became close as a community, [but] I think everyone really got something out of the hospice service and our service trip to Mississippi,” Schaffer continued. “It has been wonderful seeing everyone affected, myself included, by those we have met.”
The focus for the upcoming year, as it has been in the past, will be human rights.
“Our topic is still human rights, which allows us to look at a lot of different populations and social injustices,” Kennedy-Croft said. “The students see the disparity of wealth in the health care system when they visit their hospice patients, and this past year they saw the injustices in our education system when they went on their service trip to Mississippi this past fall.”
According to the Campus Ministry website, the applicants are selected for their aptitude for service and reflection, commitment to the entire program, openness to growth and disposition to hospice care among
other criteria.
“I am always excited to walk with this group of students every year because I see how the program can transform them individually as well as a community of faith,” Kennedy-Croft said. “It is wonderful to see and hear the depths of sharing and discussion that happens when something touches them or changes their perspective on something.”
Justice Walkers commit to two full semesters of participation from fall through spring as well as a $300 fee to help cover the cost of the fall break immersion trip they will go on, initial training and in-service for hospice volunteer service, one partial day of reflection each semester and a commitment every Monday evening.
“[Justice Walking] has been a great program to be a part of. I have really enjoyed getting to know the other Justice Walkers, my hospice patients and the people we met in our service trip to Mississippi,” Schaffer said. “The service is different than anything I’ve ever done, initially outside of my comfort zone, [but] it has been a very rewarding experience.”