Reflection #72 (Only 1004 to go): Men and Women for Others (Pt. 1)

            While it’s always enjoyable for us old-timers to reminisce about our early years,…mine would be the ‘60’s and early 70’s…more fascinating are the changes that have occurred from then to now.    The December “Reminiscence” spoke of school activities being more service-oriented.

           All of the credit for the information presented here goes to recently retired English teacher Ray Kizelevicus.  Ray not only shared his personal experiences for this blog, but did the research.

I asked Ray when the “service projects” started, and when did he first get involved. 

           Ray responded, “We had social action groups and community service programs, especially tutoring both in school and at the local grade schools, when I started at Ignatius in 1970.  Indeed, CTA (Community Tutoring Alliance) still exists today.”

             I had actually been wondering about the summer service projects in which, during the summer prior to their senior year, students headed off to different regions, both in the USA and in South and Central America, to work to improve the facilities of the less fortunate.

“The Summer Programs did not start until the summer of 1986.  Fr. Arrupe coined the famous motto “…Men (and women) for others” in 1973.  It took us a little while to really embody that motto and realize it fully.” 

            Ray tells us, ”I did not start in the program until the summer of 1993.  My older daughter decided that she was going to sign up for one of the sites.  I was a little surprised when she told me, but I thought she would enjoy the experience.  Then she looked me in the eye and said, ‘And what about you?’  When your teen-aged daughter challenges you, you can’t back down.  So the next day I went to school and signed up for Caritas Mission (as it was known then) in central Pennsylvania.  Long story short, I still go back to that mission, now known as Young People Who Care.  I am on the list to go again this summer.

            In those 21 years I have also worked in Kentucky once and have had the privilege to serve the people of San Lucas Toliman Mission in Guatemala three times.”

        “In the summer of 1985, Ignatius sent 7 students (Chris Bobeck, Katie Christensen, Jimm Dispenza, Mary Farrell, Jen Flynn, Joanne Gerich, and Mark Luedtke) and 1 teacher (Fr. Gino Donatelli, S.J.) to Peru for six weeks as part of the Loyola Academy service program.  For those 8, the summer of 1985 will last forever with the meanings of poverty, oppression, love, and neighbor written indelibly on their hearts. The impact of the trip changed their lives and their level of awareness and concern about the third world of the entire Ignatius community.” (PREP 1986)

There is much more to the story, but that will have to wait for now.