Efforts for Social Justice

We started our day at the Catholic Worker, Los Angeles edition. The Catholic Worker was founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in the 1930s as a place where people can come to recieve whatever they need, whether that be a place to sleep or a hot meal, with an emphasis on social justice. This mission was instilled in the Catholic Worker movement since the beginning of it's founding and continues to be a cental mission in many Catholic Worker branches throughout the United States. At this particular branch they provide lunch three days a week and today they also provided a foot clinic because living on the streets really wears on your feet. The Catholic Worker also publishes a newspaper about social justice issues, which we were fortunate enough to get copies of. There are Catholic Workers all over the United States as many individuals continue their mission to serve those who sometimes need a little extra help when life has dealt them a rough hand and fight to give a voice to the voiceless.

We were originally going to help serve food to the men and women who come to recieve free meals three days a week, but unfortunately there were already volunteers to take our spots. We were able to go through the line and eat with some of the people who regularly come to the Catholic Worker. I was lucky enough to talk to a man from Dayton! He is from the Dayton View area and went to what is now Thurgood Marshall High School. It was so wonderful and very serendipitous to meet a man from Dayton, Ohio, my hometown. In general, the men and women were very willing to talk to us when we sat down with them and learned a little more about their lives. One of the workers of the Catholic Worker also spoke with us about the continued mission of the Catholic Worker and how they try to serve the community in Los Angeles.

After our wonderful tour of Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral Blaise put on a leadership workshop for us where we were able to talk about what are goals were for this immersion experience, what we want future groups to get out of this experience, and how we can take what we have learned in our time spent here in LA and bring it back to our three schools. We were also able to come up with a mission statement about our time here and for future groups.

Mission Statement:
This collaborative immersion seeks to bring together students from Chaminade University, St. Mary's University, and the University of Dayton to form a stronger and more socially aware community that embodies the Marianist Charism through shared diversity, leadership, and service in the city of Los Angeles.

Overall, we learned a lot today were able to work to better this immersion trip for future groups.

Grace Pera
University of Dayton
Class of 2013

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