“For young people, this widespread involvement [in volunteer work] constitutes a school of life which offers them a formation in solidarity and in readiness to offer others not simply material aid but their very selves.”
We agree with the Pope.
We focus, in this institution, on the education of the whole person. We teach the Jesuit mission: “For the greater glory of God and for the service of humanity.” And for the brilliance, axioms and ideals of this institution and of our classrooms-the abounding ideas that are tossed about, studied, memorized and held for truth-it is not until they are put into action that our lessons at this University acquire value.
“To educate the whole person.” As a Jesuit University, we embrace this “school of life.”
We sometimes call this “community service”-this is written into our mission statement, too. But, as the Pope points out, this service, this selflessness and sacrifice, is as much for the community as for ourselves.
Over the course of four years, we pay $100,000 to study statistics, psychology, economics, sociology. All of us are required to take a course in “cultural diversity.” But, as the Pope points out, “Love is free.” And community service teaches us that these categories and classifications and constituencies are people of pulses and personalities.
Community service is a lesson in civics and education, as when you meet the 18-year-old boy who graduated from St. Louis public schools and still cannot read. It is a realization of what is broken and, maybe, an insight into how to fix it. And it is an education, too, in solidarity and humanity. As we meet those we serve, “they” become “we,” and we grow to better understand our place in the world.
In the same way that we attend the University under some pressure from society-not only to learn, but also to train ourselves for careers, give credibility to our resume and get our foot in the proverbial door of the Future-it is important that we feel some pressure to involve ourselves in the service of our community.
If we did not feel that service was requisite, would we all have it in our hearts to spend time with others different than ourselves, to give gratuitously of our time and money? In this case, some pressure is meaningful. It comes from future employers, the way your resume looks, medical school, our families and friends, a requirement for a class grade, maybe even the Church. The Pope’s encylical reminds us that service is a duty.
At an institutional level, the University calls it a “corporate responsibility.” That is why it offers programs like the SLUCAP spring break mission trips, the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity, the trips to School of the Americas, New Orleans and Washinton, D.C. SLU offers opportunities to tutor inner-city students after school, to aid the sick, homeless, hungry and those in spiritual need.
And it places needed pressure on its students to participate in these activities.
Some might say that required service is insincere. But really, required service is an exposure to and an education in what might become your passion. How would you develop passion for anything, had you not tried it? What if you hadn’t said hello to that significant other, that best friend?
Service-even that required by our courses or scholarships-enlightens us to some other part of the world that would have otherwise remained hidden. Through it, we come to find some part of ourselves that we might otherwise have carried around inside for 80 years, undiscovered.
The Pope alludes to the fact that love, a love of life and of others outside of ourselves, comes from a giving of ourselves. It truly is our widespread involvement in the community, with or without sincerity, that educates us.
