“I came because I wanted to change the world, and the world changed me.”
(Sarah Massoud – Canada)

Sacred Heart International Service Project 2005,San Luis Potosi, Mexico

Claudia Lara (San Luis, Mex) and Beth Spangenberg (The Rosary '05 & USD '09) with two girls from their group Boy in the program. Itza Martinez (Manhattanville '08) with girls at closing party. L-R: Imma De Stefanis, rscj; Reyna Gonzalez, rscj (Mex); Madeline Ortiz, rscj (Puerto Rico); and Mary Finlayson, rscj (Canada) Table of symbols from each culture represented. Adriana Vasquez Dudarte (Puerto Rico) and Verena Rizg (Canada) with some of their 3- and 4-year-olds

They began arriving in a steady stream on June 19^th.  They came to “risk something different and discover the loving face of Christ”…they came “with a small vision of the world, yet knowing a bigger world was out there”…they came “tired of the routine of life”…they came “to help and to serve others”….they came because they wanted to “change the world”!  They are 15 remarkable young women in their late teens through early thirties hailing from Canada (2), Cuba (1), Mexico (4), Puerto Rico (6) and the U.S. (Beth Spangenberg -The Rosary ’05 and University of San Diego ’09 and Itza Martínez - Manhattanville College ’08).

This project was born of many informal and a couple of “formal” conversations about how we can join together as RSCJs across Provinces to reach out to young adults; providing them with a concrete, lived experience of who we are and of our charism even in an encapsulated form.  Seeking to bring together an international group of young people committed to social change through action, Mary Finlayson, RSCJ (Canada), Reyna González, RSCJ (Mexico), Madeline Ortiz (Puerto Rico) and I co-coordinated the first Sacred Heart International Service Project.  Through this project we hoped to:

• actively engage them in service and reflection on the reality of those most in need in our world and the direction they want their lives to take;
• provide an experience of elbow-to-elbow interculturality;
• create spaces for discussing the problems that specifically affect today’s youth and exploring possible solutions;
• facilitate a total immersion experience by living in pairs with families in the neighborhoods where they were working;
• recognize and/or reaffirm the import of their own gifts, experiences and interests.

The project centered on service, reflection and input.  Most mornings a group of local teens and young adults prepared breakfast and brought it to the community center where all of our “group time” was spent.  Most days began with prayer to reflect upon and share the gifts and struggles of living in a different culture, total immersion in Spanish, working within an international group, and sharing very tight quarters with families who opened their homes and hearts with unyielding generosity and care.  Following prayer were morning-long workshops on various topics to help the young women better understand the reality in which they were immersed and to lead them to deeper reflection upon their own call and commitment.  Topics included:  Methodology and Practice of Popular Education; Theological Dimension of Reality; Migration and Immigration; Globalization; and Identity and Interculturality and were presented by lay people, a Jesuit, and RSCJs including Clara Malo (Mex.), Marigela Orvañanos (Mex.) and myself.

The first two days were devoted entirely to an intensive workshop on the methodology and practice of popular education.  This workshop provided the participants with the necessary toolkit to assume leadership of their respective age groups.  The young women were assigned in pairs to various age groups (ranging from 3 to 12 years) and worked with these same children each afternoon.  Using what they had learned they turned in session plans which required them to identify themes, activities, materials, etc and at the end of each week they turned in evaluations of their sessions.  Building on a key principle of popular education the activities led children to continually reflect on three questions:  What do I see in my neighborhood? What do I think of my neighborhood? and What can I do for my neighborhood?  All the children, right down to the 3- and 4-year-olds, were encouraged to get to know their neighborhood as a community to which they belong and can contribute toward its continued improvement. 

Evenings were spent with the youth group, which proved to be a bit of a challenge at first.  The RSCJs there had met with some difficulty in attracting and holding onto the local teens, a wide-spread problem it seems.  We teasingly threw down the gauntlet to our young women:  “The goal is to increase youth group participation from its current 8 to 100.”  They managed to “attract” upwards of 40 to 50!  The fast friendships that developed with the children and teens came not only from planned activities, but from hours of soccer on a dusty open field; early morning jogs with a steadily increasing number of interested teens; the field trip of 75 to see “Madagascar” a first-time visit to a movie theater for many; and hanging out in the evenings and during every little bit of free time otherwise provided for resting, washing clothes, etc..  The relationships grew from utter and complete presence, living with and among the children, teens and their families, all day everyday.

The RSCJ community of San Luis was the backbone of the project and Reyna Gonzalez, in particular, with her many hours of planning and organizing in collaboration with a team from the women’s group.  Many of the RSCJs work in this community and are a relatively new presence here.  This project represented a risk for both the RSCJs and the families as it was the first time they were receiving a “missionary group,” and an international one no less!

All of the participants had some affiliation with RSCJs:  The Canadians just graduated from the Sacred Heart School of Halifax; three Mexicans live in the neighborhood and one was from Ayutla where we have a strong presence; and those from Puerto Rico work and/or participate in various RSCJ-sponsored programs.  Knowing the Society a bit better was easy; it was part of daily life.  Moreover, the RSCJs in San Luis live among the people whom they serve and the young women were in and out and with the community daily. 

Perhaps the “showcase” moment of sharing who we are with these young women came in León.  At the end of the first week we arrived at the station at 12:20 for our 12:30 bus and after a 4- hour ride we arrived at the Noviceship. We were just a few of the many visitors who were gathering to celebrate the Ceremony of First Vows of Myriam Lazo of Nicaragua.  Present were most from the neighborhood and RSCJs from Brazil, Cuba, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, and Canada and the US, of course. All provinces integrated so beautifully and graciously into the celebration.  Mary Finlayson and I along with RSCJs from three other provinces were invited to read different portions of a social justice creed.  This same space went from Mass to festivity with tamales and drinks for all present.  From there we went to the community for continued celebration with a mariachi band and plenty of dancing.  We were about 60 RSCJs, 42 of whom were sleeping at the Noviceship, utilizing every inch of available space!! 

While the experience may not “typify” our life, it was significant for at least 3 reasons: First, it was the opportunity to witness, first-hand, the public commitment of a young person dedicating her life to God through service, prayer and community in the Society of the Sacred Heart.  Each young woman commented on this saying that “the nuns they know have always been nuns.”  Secondly, it was a rare but palpable moment of the international Society.  Finally, the experience opened the door for many questions and confessions from roughly half the participants, stating with much emotion and a bit of apprehension a strong interest in religious life.  The conversations continued for the remainder of our time together in Mexico and led to the suggestion that we provide them with reflectors or spiritual accompaniment the next time.

We closed the project with a prayer service that included the coordinating team from the women’s group and the RSCJ community.  This was a very moving ritual of sending which included giving each one a black wooden ring as a symbol of her solidarity with the poor and her commitment to work for justice.  As we drew our time to a close all counted it a great success marked by new friendships; love of the people and cultures they had come to know; clarification and confirmation of “life goals;” and a strong desire to stay longer.  Life, however, was calling them back to work and school, but they were returning to those places not as they had left them.  They came to serve and to experience something different.  In their own words, they left filled with the simplicity and generosity of the people; a desire to continue to live and work with the poor; the knowledge that across borders and despite differing cultures they are unified in their struggle for justice; a strengthened determination to make a difference in the world, and the renewed knowledge and confidence that they can.  Indeed they can, they did and they will!