Catholic University students and faculty participated last month in a variety of study abroad and community outreach opportunities in the United States and around the globe. Groups of students with the Office of Campus Ministry traveled to Punta Gorda, Belize; engaged in an immersion trip to the U.S./Mexico border learning about immigration issues; and participated in a pilgrimage trip to Rome and Assisi.
University students and faculty have participated in a pilgrimage of solidarity at the border for the past five years. In preparation for this annual mission trip, students spend a semester learning about Catholic social teaching, the theology of mission, historical and contemporary U.S. immigration policy, the Catholic response to immigrants, and solidarity with the poor.
Students climb the steps of the Victor Emmanuel Monument in downtown Rome
Students Joe Bukuras, Pat Vidal, Dustin Vanella, Colin McNulty, and Mike Alberto smile after getting a first glimpse of Michelangelo’s masterpiece, the Pieta, inside St. Peter’s Basilica.
Student athletes ascend the Scala Sancta in Rome, a staircase said to be the one Christ walked up before being condemned by Pontius Pilate.
Student pilgrims and Brother Jim Moore, O.F.M. Conv., at the Vatican Museums, in front of Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro’s “Sphere within Sphere.”
Swim team members Brian Aberle, Mike Taylor, and David Lanetti inside the Coliseum on the last pilgrimage day in Rome.
A press conference and interfaith prayer vigil at Our Lady of Health Church in Las Cruces, N.M.
Families living in the barrio share their stories.
The fence along the border.
Students paint the wall of an elementary school in Punta Gorda.
Students pitch in to renovate an elementary school in Punta Gorda.