Christian Service

The Christian Service Program is a very extensive program which attempts to open the eyes and hearts of students to people who are socially and economically different from them. The program makes students aware that they are part of not only their family, but also a local, national and world community that is interconnected. Students come to realize that injustices that occur in any corner of the world have an impact on them, and that it is their duty as moral human beings to be concerned and fight for change.

On a local level, SJJ works with 30 different Toledo area agencies: local soup kitchens and food banks, inner city grade schools, extended care facilities, facilities for the physically and mentally disabled and shelters for abused women. In addition, C.S.I (the juvenile jail) allows SJJ students to tutor first time offenders at their facility. On a national level, students can volunteer in Appalachia at Jonesborough, TN, every March and Mingo County, WV during July.

On an international level, SJJ has three intense programs for juniors. The first program sends four students to the Dominican Republic for 4 weeks over the summer to serve the people and live with families in Third World poverty. Our second program involves students who travel to Guatemala City to work in a Boy's Hope Home for children who have been taken off the streets, and with the people who live in the Guatemala City Dump. Our third program involves sending students to a Mayan village in Guatemala to work on reforestation, construction, medical, and coffee projects. All three of these programs are life-changing experiences, and the students who take part in them educate the rest of the student body on poverty in the developing world.

To truly grow through service, we at SJJ believe that students should reflect on the service work they have done. Our volunteers, on a local level, sign up to volunteer for an entire semester. During the semester, the students are required to complete written reflections and meet for two reflection sessions. While serving in Appalachia, students reflect on each day's activities with the moderators; the moderators question the students about why poverty exists and what their response should be. The Dominican Republic and Guatemalan experiences include pre-trip reflection/orientation days, weekly reflection sessions during the experiences, and reflective days at the end of the experiences. In other words, students reflect on, and learn, what it means to be Christ-centered servants.

The St. John's Jesuit Christian Service Program is an extensive one that attempts to broaden its students' views of the world and form them as men for others. The program also attempts to form young men who not only want to volunteer their time to meet the immediate needs of the less fortunate, but also fight for justice in their city, country, and world.