Following Passions and Listening to Others

Today's reflection is from Julia Siwierka.

Julia served as a 2013-14 Dominican Volunteer in New York.

From 2013-2014, I was a Dominican Volunteer on Long Island, NY ministering with The Opening Word, an adult literacy program that works with immigrant women. While there, I was a job readiness/computer instructor for the Bridge students on their way out of the program. I lived in the St. Hugh of Lincoln community located right next door to one of the three school locations. Two years after finishing the program, I still find myself thinking about that year often. Whether it was the fun times getting Carvel ice cream and playing Words with Friends or the informative times going to lectures and learning about the Amityville Motherhouse, I smile remembering those times. I am going into my third year of graduate school-- Go Wichita State Shockers! I just received my Masters of Arts in Psychology this past May and am continuing on for my PhD. in Community Psychology. Ministering with The Opening Word changed the course of my life in that my overall research and hopeful practice areas are literacy and education. My previous students' stories about their hopes for their futures and their children have inspired me to better understand and advocate for literacy among various populations. Here in Kansas, there are enormous educational disparities such that many children are being left behind. In one local elementary school,96.6% of students there come from economically disadvantaged households; 56% of these same students are below the state reading level. Between changes in curriculum, barriers in the classroom and at home, access to quality reading materials, parents' literacy levels, and so many other factors, it is clear that something needs to be done. So not only is it important to educate kids, parents, teachers, policymakers, etc., but it's also important to advocate for change for our young students. 

My chosen field of Community Psychology fights to help empower those who have been oppressed and offers a cohesive look at the multiple forces that affect individuals and societies. It complements the Dominican values very nicely, and it seemed like a seamless transition into this program. Over the past three years, I have learned to follow my passions, fight the actually good fight, ask questions, and wait my turn when others need to speak... and while these lessons were supported by my books over the past two years, it really only took one year in New York to commit these lessons to heart because of my students.

Making a World of Difference

My name is Sean Mundy and I was a Dominican Volunteer from 2011-2012 at St. Pius V School in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago.  I lived at the Carlos Morales house (a lay community), but shared community with the Dominican Sisters of Springfield at Martin de Porres Convent and the friars of the Central Province. My community allowed me to discover new ways of living out my faith life.  My fellow volunteers and extended community taught me new ways to pray, their experiences of faith, and more about official Church teaching.  I even learned more about Ignatian spirituality (thanks Becky, go Creighton!).  We watched documentaries and held study nights, exposing me to many social justice issues.  I tried new foods and I grew in so many ways.  I was excited to be able to work in education, a field that I had studied in college.  I learned a great deal about Hispanic ministry, since St. Pius V School serves a majority of Mexican American students. 

Also, our students were below the poverty line, with close to 90% of our students receiving free or reduced breakfast and lunch.  Despite having a lack of resources and opportunities, our students thrived in their academics.  Students were able to overcome difficult home lives in order to succeed. I was blessed to be a part of that.  Working in the resource room gave me the freedom to work with a variety of age levels and provide services in the classroom, as well as lead small group instruction for remedial work or enrichment experiences.  Working at recess, I soon learned all of the students’ names from early education through 8th grade.  I worked with students who had learning disabilities, social-emotional disorders, and many of whom were English language learners.  We even had some students who freshly arrived from Korea, for whom communication was particularly challenging. 

To top it all off, I had the amazing opportunity to work with a dedicated faculty, staff, and administration who became my mentors, inspiration, and friends.  It is truly a vocation and a calling to work as a Catholic school teacher with an underserved population.  I was able to make and maintain relationships with my community members, the friars and sisters, the students, the faculty, administration, and staff, and my Pilsen neighbors.  This was at the heart of my ministry.  I was lucky enough to be hired on as the sixth grade teach four the following four years.  Now, my fiancé and I are moving to Orlando, Florida where I hope to be working in the public school system there.  St. Pius V School’s motto is “Making a World of Difference” and I truly believe that I was able to do that, one interaction at a time.  We never know or will see the ripple effect of our service, but seeing my students grow, mature, learn, and even graduate to go on to outstanding Catholic and public high schools has made the entire experience worth it. 

For all alumni, DVUSA staff, communities, and current volunteers, I share with you the Dominican blessing, which was a great source of strength during my community’s volunteer year: May God Creator bless us, May God Redeemer heal us, and May God the Holy Spirit, fill us with light.

Everyone Teaches and Everyone Learns

Current Dominican Volunteer David Gayes was asked to speak at our recent annual fundraiser on April, 23, 2016. David did a marvelous job of representing his fellow volunteers, his work sites, and the Dominican charism. His words and conviction move our hearts and challenge us to action. We share David's speech here with much pride-- proud to be a part of the same Dominican family!

Good evening.

My name is David Gayes and I am one of the 2015-16 Dominican Volunteers. I am one of four second-year volunteers. Thank you very much for coming our annual fundraiser and thank you for all the many ways in which you have generously supported DVUSA. 

For the past two years, I have served as an English as a Second Language teacher.  The first year, I taught exclusively with the Tolton Center, which offers English classes to Latino families. The second year I continued with the Tolton Center and also taught lessons with the Interfaith Committee for Detained Immigrants.  This small organization offers hospitality and accompaniment to people who have been recently released from detention. 

I have been shaped by the Dominican charism. I graduated from this [Dominican] university in January of 2014, having learned about the pursuit of love and truth, and having been challenged to “participate in the creation of a more just and humane world.” On many occasions I heard and pondered St. Catherine of Siena’s words, “be who you are meant to be and you will set the world on fire.”

When I started my first year of service with DVUSA, I was ready to go. Ready to set my world a blaze as an English as a Second Language teacher with the Tolton Center – an organization in the Pilsen neighborhood that offers an array of services to local Latino families. Over that summer, I met with two experienced ESL teachers and learned about the principles of teaching. I learned about building one lesson upon the previous lesson – like building blocks. I checked out books from the library and read lesson plans online. I came up with my own lesson plans for the first couple weeks of class. I was prepared.

But, then….reality. 

-sometimes my students didn’t show up for class. 

-One student consistently left early.

-And, many students were very quiet in class.  If you know anything about learning a language, you know that you have to speak to learn.

And I lived in a state that did not pay its bills, which led to an inadequate number of staff.

Slowly, I got to know my students. I learned that my students were quite committed to learning English, but they had full lives outside of my classroom. They had childcare to arrange, public transportation to navigate, illnesses untreated because of inadequate health care access, and sometimes 2 or 3 jobs to juggle. They were tired. Getting to class on time was tough. The student who left early? – She was headed to work, yet managed to fit class in before her evening workshift started.

The motto of the Tolton Center is “everyone teaches and everyone learns,” and I can say that I have learned as much from my students as I hope they have learned from me.

My students let me into their lives and we worked together on their goals - whether that be to get a job, help kids with homework, or simply communicate with grandchildren. I am so grateful for their warmth and their kindness. I will always remember with fondness the elderly student who gave me an apple after my first few weeks of teaching, because she appreciated that I was her teacher.

I appreciated that she was my teacher.

She and my other students have taught me that service is not always glamorous.  It’s hard, and there is so much to learn.

I believe, that as a society, we tend to think of the marginalized - immigrants, the elderly, the disabled, people who are homeless - as labels and statistics. Perhaps we do it because we don’t like to think of them as people like us. Being a Dominican Volunteer allows, indeed forces, one to see that the people we serve are real people.  People with their own hopes and dreams.  And people with dignity.

David teaching ESL, with some of his students

During my second year as a volunteer, I also taught at the Men’s Hospitality House – it is a temporary residence sponsored by the Interfaith Committee for Detained Immigrants for men who have been released from detention and have no place to go.

One of my students was Omar (not his real name). Omar left his home country of Pakistan to come to the United States. He left his wife and he left his two little children.  Why would he do that? He left because he was threatened by his government. It was not safe to stay home.  Not safe for him, and not safe for his family. Omar was alone in the United States, but he had a goal. Every day, he would show up early to my class, book and homework in hand, ready to learn. Because of his persistence, Omar was able to get a job, and enroll in community college. If allowed to stay, he hopes to bring his wife and children to the U.S.

I think about Omar often. He is 26 years old, close to my age. Most people I know that age are moving forward with the next step of their careers; some have started families. Nearly all are posting hopeful, optimistic stories and photos on Facebook. Omar on the other hand, has grown up with stress and fear and violence. He left all that he knew, even his closest loved ones, to have a chance of making a better life for himself and his family. And, it is just a chance – the U.S may not allow him to stay.

The experiences of Omar and my other students can be so foreign to me.  So difficult to process. It is sometimes hard to wrap my head around the injustice that I am forced to confront in my work as an English as a Second Language teacher. I am not “just” teaching.  I am learning.

Grappling with injustice and the pain of people’s experience is a necessary part of my life’s journey.

One thing I now know for certain: I cannot face these questions alone. An essential part of the DVUSA experience is community. I need my Dominican community to support me, and they need me to support them. My fellow volunteers face societal injustices in their ministries with the elderly, with victims of domestic violence, with those who are homeless, with those who have mental illness. We travel this journey together.

David and fellow 2nd year Dominican Volunteers

And the sisters!  Where would we possibly be without our Dominican Sisters? There is such richness in the mentorship and friendship that we volunteers experience with these women who commit their lives so joyfully to the service of others.

Former staff and former Dominican Volunteer celebrate with Mary Alice, O.P.

The sisters remind us through their words, their witness, and their service how to grapple with these injustices and how to live a life that is truly Dominican. Their wisdom and companionship is at the core of the DV experience.

Mary Jones, O.P. with Pat Wormann, O.P.

So, about setting the world ablaze, ala St. Catherine of Siena….it happens.  But, one has to allow oneself to also be transformed by the flames of love and truth.

I have cerebral palsy and require support for basic needs and for access to what others might take for granted. I have come to realize that, like me, my English as a Second Language clients also seek support for basic needs and access to what others take for granted. Dominican Volunteers USA provides that access.  A quadriplegic inclusion minister, Judith Snow, likes to imagine God as a quadriplegic.  Yes, you heard that right – she imagines God as a quadriplegic!  She says that God needs us to break down barriers. “We are God’s hands, feet, arms and legs in the world.” “We are God’s personal assistants.”  I like that image – our bodies doing the work that God needs done.

David delivering this speech at the Praedicare Event

I come to this event tonight to celebrate. To celebrate what DVUSA has meant to me and to so many current and former volunteers. To celebrate the founders who have given so much to make DVUSA the organization it is today.  To celebrate the ways we have made a difference in the lives of people on society’s margins. To give thanks to the sisters and the wisdom and love they share. To celebrate the hope and possibility of the future of Dominican Volunteers USA and the many volunteers, sisters, and clients that will be positively impacted by its mission.

Thank you.

Bundt Cake and Bananas

Dominican Volunteer Hannah Abalos shares community with the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose at Immaculate Conception Priory.

I get a lot of strange looks when people learn I live in a convent. And almost every time without fail, they have the same question for me: “Do you have a curfew?” To which I smile and tell them about my first week in the convent, when one of the sisters gave me a big wink and told me to go out that night, have a good time, “and don’t come back till 1 AM!” If that doesn’t assuage their skepticism, the fact that I get free room and board certainly does. In San Francisco, that’s solid gold.

Of all the DV communities, mine is the largest. I live with seventeen other women—fifteen religious sisters and two other Dominican Volunteers. Our community is multicultural: we have Mexican sisters, Irish sisters, a Korean sister, a Polish sister, and of course, American sisters. Many of the sisters are San Francisco natives who have seen the city transform before their very eyes. Our community is also intergenerational: being in our early twenties, we DVs bring the average age of the convent way down; the sisters, on the other hand, range in age from 32 to 89.

In general, community life has been good. I've matured immensely as a result of an intergenerational community. The sisters bring so much wisdom from their experiences in life and ministry. They have so many stories to share, from seeing John F. Kennedy the night before he was assassinated, to the much humbler story of Fluffy the (spoiled, beloved) cat. Years from now, I know I’ll think fondly to the times we gathered around the dinner table, simply enjoying each others’ presences. (I’ll also miss the five-second commute to my ministry at Immaculate Conception Academy, but that’s another story.)

Because our community is so big, there is almost always conflict. Personalities grate, for one thing. And things aren’t helped that nearly everyone has a packed schedule between ministry and social life. We recently had our April Community Chapter, where we convened to continue our discussion on Becoming Community. In our meeting, it was brought to our attention that in the hustle and bustle of spring, one sister felt that we seemed to have forgotten what it meant to be part of a community. To participate in common life—especially with regards to housekeeping.

“For example, this morning in the kitchen,” recounted the irate sister, “we had a mango bundt cake out for breakfast. And you know what? There were crumbs left all over the counter. Just left there, for someone else to clean up! And I know that many slices of the bundt cake were eaten, which meant multiple people took a slice and didn’t bother to clean it up! So thoughtless!”

“And here’s another good example,” agreed another sister. “The bananas. We know we’re a community of monkeys based on how quickly the bananas go. But sometimes, someone will take the last banana and they won’t replenish the supply—even though as we all know, there are bananas just waiting in the kitchen closet!”

Galvanized, various sisters started sharing other foibles they had noticed: the community room door left open and unattended—dangerous, in the city; or a sharp knife left in the dishpan, almost causing one sister to cut herself. Sometimes, the culprits even admitted their guilt: “That was me,” said one sister unabashedly when the butter dish was brought up. “All me.”

Some of these points might seem overly fastidious. Fussy, even. But in an intentional community, it’s these little annoyances, born from complacency, that build up and cause friction. They are a manifestation of a shift from a “We” mindset to an “I” mindset. It is perhaps an inevitable shift—but thankfully, not an irreversible one.

From my seat in the community circle, I couldn’t help but notice that the conversation taking place before me was almost exactly the same conversation that had taken place back in September, at my very first community chapter. One might be tempted to look at the two community meetings as evidence of a failed community, thanks to human nature and the impossibility of change. But perhaps there’s a way to look at the situation positively.

If there’s anything that living in community has taught me, it’s that we as humans fail. Constantly. No matter what goals we aspire to as a community (and believe me, we set pretty lofty goals this year), we will always fall short, leaving our community to deal with bundt cake crumbs and hair in the shower drain. It may be age, or forgetfulness, or even selfishness. But whatever the reason behind absent bananas or overflowing garbage bags, what gives me hope is that there is always an opportunity for an act of charity. For redemption. That act of charity might be cleaning up the crumbs myself—or it might be gently confronting my housemate to let her know what she has forgotten. Either way, if I take this opportunity to act with hope, mercy, and patience—and not just turn a complacent or disgusted eye the other way—our community wins. And together, we grow only stronger. In a way, this struggle is holy, for it is not unlike our own dynamic relationships with God.

In the three months I have left here, then, I’ll continue to do my best to be a member of my community. Together, we DVs and the sisters will continue to become community. And, while I’m at it, I’ll make sure I replenish those bananas when I snag the last one for “breakfast-on-the-go”

Hannah and some of her community