"It Is Better to Speak"

 Homily of Dominican Volunteers USA  Codirector Megan Rupp from  DVUSA Closing Retreat Mass in July 2018:

DVUSA Codirector Megan Rupp

When I was preparing for this over the last couple weeks, I was laboring over what to say. I thought long and hard about what was said at the closing mass of my volunteer year. I was granted some comfort when I realized that I didn’t remember any of it and neither will you likely.

At your Orientation, I failed to mention to mention that we Dominicans recognize St. Mary of Magdala as the Patroness of the Order as she was the first preacher of the Good News. It is fitting that we would be celebrating her feast day as we prepare to send you back out into the world but in the lives that you order for yourselves.

It is sometimes challenging to imagine the stories that we find in scripture. Take the Gospel that we just heard as an example. There is much that we don’t know about the life of Mary Magdalene. We know that she was with Jesus during some or all of his ministry. We know that she heard Jesus’ teachings. We know that Jesus was her Lord and friend whom she loved.  We know that she was with Jesus through his passion, death, and now resurrection.

Let’s imagine. This woman has watched her friend go on trial, be beaten, mocked, and sentenced to death. At the foot of the cross, she watches as her friend is murdered at the hands of the Roman government.  In her grief she goes to visit his grave. This brings us to this Gospel. She gets to the grave and its empty.  Again she is overcome with unbelievable grief. She has seen firsthand the violent capacity of an oppressive power. She knows they are willing to murder her friend, for her it is not a hard stretch to imagine that they would also steal his body. We remember that Mary heard Jesus talk about rising from the dead; she has faith in knowing that he is her Lord. Nevertheless, rather than believing that her Lord is in fact the Lord, history has taught her that unjust systems often use fear as a tool of oppression. She knows that people in power maintain power by adding insult to injury.  She goes to the man she believes to be the gardener and she begs for the smallest shred of respect and for him to at least tell her where they have placed her friend’s body.

Is this hard for us to imagine? Probably not. We see it when our military destabilizes governments through war and violence, then we limit or outright refuse to welcome refugees that have been displaced by our actions. We see it when women share their stories of sexual violence only to be ignored or asked what they did to solicit those acts of violence. We see it when housing restrictions require an individual experiencing homelessness to be sober in order to gain access to public housing even though research has shown that an individual cannot successfully address an addiction or mental illness without stable housing. We see it when a Chicago police officer fires all 16 rounds of his 9mm into a 17-year-old, black, LeQuan McDonald who is holding a pocketknife and is walking away. You can likely guess the end of that story, it continues with this trend of insult to injury.  Initially LeQuan McDonald was criminalized, it was ruled as a justified shooting and was covered up by city officials until dash cam footage was released to the public.  

We can empathize with Mary in this moment of pain, grief, and frustration. We can empathize because we have been with her outside of that empty tomb.

Similar to Mary in this moment, we might be asking ourselves how will I move forward working for justice and equity knowing the oppressive systems that exist in our world? Lucky for us this Gospel story doesn’t end with just an empty tomb. We, too, have seen the Lord. So we set out just like our patroness, St. Mary of Magdela and preach the Gospel of our experiences. We tell the whole story.  To quote Audrey Lorde, “When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard nor welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.”

Relationship is the Heart of Ministry

DV Sean Puzzo

Our first blog post from our 2018-19 Dominican Volunteers comes from second year volunteer Sean Puzzo. Sean serves at the St. Francis Center, a center for low-income families in Redwood City California. 

Thank you for your service Sean!

"At the Dominican Volunteers Opening Retreat we reflected on the phrase “relationship is at the heart of ministry.” It’s a phrase that I had heard before and certainly understood the concept, but have never seen it so clearly as I have in the past few weeks at Holy Family School and the Siena Youth Center, programs of the St. Francis Center.

I write this blog post as I have just finished my lesson planning for my second full week of school! Ahhhh!

For those who may not no, the St. Francis Center is non-profit organization focused on helping low-income families especially in the North Fair Oaks neighborhood of Redwood City, CA.

This is my second year as a Dominican Volunteer - last year I served with the Dominican Youth Movement USA. DYMUSA is a support organization which offers resources and programs to schools and institutions sponsored by Dominican Sisters and Friars. Its goal is to introduce youth and young adults to the ways in which they too can be preachers of the Good News through their God-given gifts and talents - a goal I hope to continue to share with the students this year.

This year at Holy Family School I work with the Fifth Grade cohort teaching Religion and Gym. I am so excited for this opportunity. The Fifth Grade textbook has a theme of “Come, Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19). I am so looking forward to walking with my students on their faith journeys. I am think I am most looking forward them teaching me more about my faith.

A highlight of my week is working with the mothers of the second and fifth grade cohorts furthering their education. Whether it is tutoring ESL, helping with homework, or simply having a conversation about our lives. It has been an honor to begin to hear their stories and learn as much from them as they from me.

Finally, I assist with the afterschool program at the Siena Youth Center which is an education and recreation center for middle school ages students in the area which aims to produce “whole, happy, and healthy” students. This year I will be able to teach classes on art and self-expression. I look forward to sharing what I learned in college with students who may not get the chance otherwise.

So why I am talking about all of this? Relationship - the relationships that I have been able to create in the past few weeks and will create over the year bring be such joy and excitement. Relationship is truly at the heart of ministry!"

Sean, fellow DV Elizabeth Broussard, and the Redwood City community

Insha'Allah (God Willing)

Chris Bargeron current serves at Heartland Alliance in Chicago, where he teaches English literacy and job readiness to refugees. He shares community with Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters and two other volunteers at House of Connections.

Chris with fellow volunteers MP Baush and Amelia Vojt.

As my morning begins every single day, I still haven’t gotten over the fact that even though all of the refugees I serve come from different backgrounds and walks of life, they share a common goal and desire: to learn English to help them live the life they have been dreaming of. It doesn’t matter where they came from—Iraq, Afghanistan, Burma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria—everybody seems to know how to say “Hello!” or “Good morning teacher!” There’s also a few sprinkling of “As-salām 'alaykum” (‘hello’ in Arabic) to the employment specialist, who has a native Arabic tongue.

Each of these human beings has a story that they carry with them as they go about their daily routine. To the common every folk, they are labeled as refugees. To some, this label has a negative connotation that makes it hard to see them for who they really are: one of us living on this Earth. They will try to live a normal life amidst the turmoil that still resides in their home country. But we all understand that Heartland Alliance will always be a welcoming safe haven for those who just want to learn English, a skill that has been beautifully given to most of the people living in the United States.

It’s a tough road that refugees journey. For most of us in the United States, deciding to leave our country and to go to someplace that we’re not familiar with usually means that we’re on vacation. But for thousands of refugees, it means that they’re trying to survive. And by no means is this for just a few weeks; it is for a lifetime.

Before coming to Heartland Alliance, I always thought of teaching English as a Second Language as an unknown territory that I would never be able to journey into. “How would I ever be able to communicate what I’m trying to saying to them? What if I don’t teach English perfectly? What if I actually don’t know what I’m doing?” These are just a few of the questions that crossed my mind during my discernment process coming into my service year as a Dominican Volunteer.

I’ve come to realize that teaching English to those of other native tongues is simply being able to talk to them and being able to communicate my thoughts. It’s not about constant 7 page lesson plans explaining the process of how to find the area of different geometric figures, like I thought based on studying education in college. My lesson plan consists of what am I going to talk to them about today.

Chris instructing his English literacy students.

There’s something special about being around my participants on a daily basis. I teach participants at a literacy level of English. This means they speak minimal to no English, and their reading and writing skills are equally limited. Still, having a multiple conversations and laughs throughout an hour class period allows me to see something in them that I’m very familiar with. What I see in them is God.

This vision of God transcends what I see in the literacy level classroom and also appears in the job readiness class I lead during the week. After entering the US, a refugee only has a certain amount of time to receive Public Aid. Our job class helps refugees gain the interview and job skills that they need in order to obtain a job as quickly as possible, while still being mindful of their need for English language training. I see something in every one of the job readiness participants. They have such a desire to be able to get a job that they “go to work” in job class. They have so much fun with it, too! One day we were learning what to do when you have an appointment, are sick, or are going to be late for work, and together we made a script on how to call your boss. In that class it didn’t even occur to me that each of them once had no knowledge of the English language. It reminded me that we are all the same on this Earth; we just have unique, individual characteristics that define who we are.

Before I came to Heartland, I was studying Math and Special Education in college. I had already been immersed with Educational history, techniques, philosophies, and lesson plans that would help me become a teacher. However, in all of my classes, student teaching days, and observations, I never received a piece of information so essential and so important about education as I did from one of my participants this year. He said, “The easy way is not good for learning.” It’s remarkable that he said such a thing in English; and what a simple but incredible piece of knowledge! Everyone should follow it. The quote is now posted in that classroom, along with translations in several different languages for all of the participants to see. Bright occurrences like these make me thankful for being blessed with all that I have, especially with the talents to be able to help those who just want to live life normally, like most of us do every day.

I do have to say that there are times when participants aren’t all so lucky when they come here. The same participant who gave me the great quote to base my educational philosophy on, couldn’t do anything other than go back home when his father, back in Syria, passed away. This would be okay if he were able to come back to the US to continue to pursue his new life, but he isn’t allowed to come back here because already he fled his country from the violence.

These are the struggles that refugees face every day. To put it in perspective, would you flee your country to go to some unknown country where you don’t know the language? Would you be willing to leave behind your family to do so? Sometimes refugees don’t have the choice to bring their family; most of the time they simply can’t. Quite frankly, refugees break boundaries and barriers of the “I can’t” mentality. Some people think a motivational speaker helps make a difference in their lives. Well, I have about 20 motivational speakers every day. I help them learn English and they help me find new meaning to life; they show me different ways that I can see the needs of the world.

Heartland participants and even staff regularly say the Islamic term “Insha’Allah,” which means “God (Allah) willing” or “if God (Allah) wills it.” It is a beautiful term that gives so much meaning to continuing to find justice for these participants. I feel that God wills all of the works we at Heartland and others do to help the alleviate injustices of refugees. Awareness of the injustices and challenges refugees face shouldn’t stop with me. It should continue to all communities and neighborhoods, especially through education refugees and how difficult their journey is.

I get up every morning to see these participants because I continue to be a blessing in their lives and because they bless mine. I am grateful that I am blessed with their culture, their enthusiasm, and their lives. I hope to continue to experience this kind of blessing past this year of service and in my future, “Insha’Allah.”

Insha'Allah written in Arabic caligraphy.

To learn more information about the Heartland Alliance agency, or for information on contributing to this agency, visit the Heartland Alliance website at www.heartlandalliance.org.

Career as Ministry

Stacey Sangtian served as a Dominican Volunteer from 2011-2012 at St. Anthony of Padua School in New Orleans, LA, where she lived in community with the Dominican Sisters of Peace. Stacey is currently working on a Master’s in Speech Pathology at the University of South Carolina and expects to graduate in August 2016.

This week I headed back to school to continue studies for my Master’s in Speech Pathology. Some weeks I wish I could go back to my DV year (2011-2012) in New Orleans as a pre-school teacher’s assistant where the lead teacher said my work “doesn’t have to be perfect; it just has to be better than a 3-year-old’s.” Those were the days of being with 3-year-old pre-schoolers by day and 70+-year-old nuns by night, an atypical, but invaluable, experience for a fresh college graduate.

Stacey teaching students how to cut paper.

Those pre-schoolers gave me something to genuinely smile and laugh about every single day. They found joy in the smallest things, an ability I try to imitate in my life. I mean, when was the last time I had an ecstatic response to getting an extra animal cracker at snack time? Over time, however, I discovered the realities some of those children faced outside of the school environment. That girl who loved playing on the magnet board? A different person picked her up from school every day, a glimpse into her unstable family life. That boy who loved running around the gymnasium? He lived in a neighborhood where it wasn’t safe for him to play outside in his own yard. Despite their adversities, the parents did their best to provide their children with a good Catholic education in a safe environment by enrolling them at St. Anthony’s. In return, it was my responsibility to foster that safe, nurturing environment for the children to grow and learn to love school.

Stacey helping a student hold scissors.

Generally speaking, working with three-year-olds was easy. When the children had something to say, they called out my name as their whole bodies wriggled with eagerness to share: “Miss Stacey! So-and-so touched my paper,” or “Miss Stacey! MISS STACEY! MISS STACEY…Today I ate a cookie.” But there was one child in my class, whom I will call DF, whose speech was more difficult to decipher than his peers’. DF didn’t live in the safest area of New Orleans and came from an unstable family, but he loved school. He loved learning, taking on challenges, and tried to choose right over wrong, which is why my heart sank each time a frown and exasperated look of defeat showed on DF’s face at moments when the neither the lead teacher nor I could figure out what he was saying.

One time I sent DF to the “calming square” because he knocked over someone’s block tower…or so I thought. His limited intelligibility made it difficult for him to defend himself, through no fault of his own. Fortunately, one of his classmates came over and explained that it was an accident. Given the context, I pieced together what DF had unsuccessfully tried to tell me and realized my mistake. I apologized to DF, thanked him for trying to tell me the truth, and he went back to playing – no hard feelings, no grudges, just a smile of satisfaction knowing that he was understood.

It was my experiences with DF that first inspired me to explore the field of speech pathology. It is easy for children (and adults) like DF to get brushed aside because they struggle with clearly articulating their needs; consequently, their needs are not met. Think about how frustrating it would be to have the words in your head but be unable to get them out. How does that impact your home life? Your social life? Your life at school? What about answering the phone, or ordering at a restaurant?

The children I served at St. Anthony’s faced a variety of challenging circumstances. Some of the challenges require systemic change for a meaningful effect to take place. Some challenges can be overcome through hard work by the individual. It is easy to get overwhelmed thinking about the levels of challenges people face in the world and figuring out where you fit in the midst of it all.

My experiences as a DV, through my ministry and through witnessing the great work done by the Sisters in a variety of areas, have taught me that there is always room to be part of the solution. I may not be able to fix everything, but I can fix something. At closing retreat, my fellow DV Margaret Knows The Ground (2011-2013) gave a piece of advice that worked as a spring board as I pondered how I would combine my call to service with choosing a job: “View your career as a ministry.” It didn’t happen right away, but I realized that speech pathology would be my career and my ministry.

Stacey beginning a day of school work.

As a speech pathologist, I am able to minister to others by helping them get their voices heard, whether it be through their actual voice or an alternative means of communication. Furthermore, as swallowing falls under the speech pathologist’s scope of practice, I am also able to help people gain the ability to enjoy eating that extra animal cracker at snack time!

As for DF, during my DV year he was ineligible for speech services provided by the state due to his young age. His family could not afford private services. Even though I no longer interact with DF in person, I am reminded of him in the patients I treat and do my best to provide these patients with the same care I would have wanted DF to receive.

You can learn more about identifying signs of communication disorders at identifythesigns.org