At the end of this month, Patrick Burns, assistant director of ministry and service, along with Rachel Osterday, English teacher, will be traveling with seven junior and senior Chaminade Julienne students to the Ignatian Family Teach-in for Justice conference in Washington, D.C. The group will be there during CJ’s fall break, October 26-28, 2024.
The Ignatian Family Teach-in is the largest annual Catholic social justice gathering in the United States, attended by 2,000 Catholic high school and college students across the United States. Ignatian Solidarity Network was launched after a group of Jesuits, their housekeeper, and her daughter were killed while living in El Salvador in 1989. The Teach-in grew out of a call for Jesuit institutions and the larger Church to actively speak out against social injustice in our world and advocate for policies that will help restore justice.
This year is the first time CJ students are attending the Teach-In. According to Burns, the entire weekend entails learning more about various social justice issues and putting their faith into action. On the final day, this CJ group will venture to Capitol Hill to advocate for legislation on either Immigration Justice or Climate Justice, depending on what they decide after the weekend.
The selected CJ students filled out an application to explain why they wanted to participate in this Teach-in event. In preparation for the trip, Burns and Osterday are organizing several meetings with the students.
“Our first meeting focused on the history of the Jesuit martyrs and the Teach-In,” said Burns. “We will have a few more meetings focused on the topics of racial justice, immigration justice, and climate justice. Our last meetings will be focused on the logistics of the weekend and preparation for our Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill.”
On Tuesday, Oct. 8, Carlos Stewart, director of mission and inclusion, presented and led a discussion about “Diversity, Inclusion and Everything in Between” to help Burns and the seven students prepare for the upcoming trip. The second half of the meeting focused on immigration, with a guest speaker who spoke about the complex process of trying to get her green card. Then, a few CJ students shared their parents’ immigration stories.
At the Teach-in, students will hear from various speakers on topics that Burns feels the student group may have never considered. After the session, Burns and Osterday will gather the CJ students to reflect and discuss their reactions to a particular topic. While in Washington, D.C., this CJ congregation will have the opportunity to sightsee before heading back to Ohio.
When asked what Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill involved, Burns replied, “Throughout the program, students will develop their talking points to ‘ask’ our Ohio Senator/Representative to support certain legislations publicly. We will head to Capitol Hill on Advocacy Day and present these ‘asks’.”
This group of nine representing CJ is excited to connect with other Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur schools who will be attending the Teach-In at a dinner event. Although they will have the opportunity to discuss the injustices Sr. Dorothy stood up for, like farmers’ rights and the preservation of land in Brazil, the major justice issues that the group from CJ to will decide to focus on relate to either immigration or climate change.