International Solidarity, Holy Cross Style

International Solidarity, Holy Cross Style

By Michael Griffin, MDiv, adjunct professor of philosophy and religion

“Often we must make ourselves at home among more than one people or culture.”  (Holy Cross Constitutions, 17)

“Akwaaba.” When I first heard that Ghanaian word of welcome from Br. Michael Amakyi, CSC, I knew that my experience of international solidarity, Holy Cross style, had begun. The year was 2004. I had just been hired with a twofold task: take the reins of the annual Ghana trip from Bob Kloska, who had begun this experience in 2000, and expand the trips to include other countries where Holy Cross Brothers, Sisters, and Priests serve.

The decision to bring me on board was part of the college’s larger decision to require every student in the Bachelor of Arts program to complete an international experience. In 2004, that meant Ghana, and so, along with the very first class of BA students, I headed across the Atlantic to West Africa. Unsure of what to expect, we quickly learned that hospitality—Akwaaba—is the trademark of Ghanaian culture.

On the first trip, and for a few years after, I wondered why the college had decided to require an international experience. My understanding of that wisdom would come as the program grew. The first expansion came in 2005. A small group of us traveled to Lima, Peru, where Holy Cross operates one of the largest parishes in the world—almost 250,000 people! When Holy Cross went to Lima more than twenty five years ago, they told the Bishop they wanted to live and work in the poorest section of the diocese and remain there for the long haul. Now, the parish is full of health centers and schools, and family ministries. While we are there, we help out the Holy Cross religious and the amazing teams of committed laypersons who do this work. The result is not so much that we offer “service,” but that we learn the Holy Cross wisdom that we are called to “reach out to the afflicted and in a preferential way to the poor and oppressed.” (Constitutions, 13)

While in Peru, the group also traveled to Machu Picchu, the ancient lost city of the Incas and one of the seven wonders of the modern world. Tucked high in the Andes mountains, Machu Picchu is among the most beautiful settings in the world. Historians are not sure why Pizarro and the Spanish conquistadores did not find it when they were laying waste to Inca cities in the 1500’s. Thank God they did not, because it remains intact as an amazing testament to the skill of the Incas and to the power of natural beauty. What a gift it has been to witness our Holy Cross students standing on this ancient site.

In 2007, the International Experience took another step in expansion, this time eastward, very eastward, to India. Holy Cross Brothers are serving, mainly in the southern cities of Bangalore, Salem, and Chennai. The work the Brothers do is impressive: an orphanage, many schools, and a formidable formation program of new Brothers. In a country of very few Christians, perhaps what stuck us most was, the Holy Cross Brothers are booming. And, these young Brothers are not seeking to remain in a church enclave. Rather, they serve the local community no matter what religion they are. For example, in the Holy Cross school of Salem, about 3,500 of the 4,000 students are Hindu. Indeed, we found that Holy Cross has won the admiration of countless Hindus who admire the Brothers’ zeal for education. None of those on that first trip to India will ever forget Brothers like Sabu, Sesu, nanam, and Britto, the superior. One day, Br. Sabu took us on a hike. We climbed a mountain, passing a Hindu ashram, or monastery. From this “holy hill” we could see all the surrounding villages. We could see the larger mountain where the Brothers grow coffee beans and where their novitiate (formation center) stands. Then, from this mountaintop, Br.Sabu began to tell us about his life and why he became a Brother.

I felt like I was listening to the Sermon on the Mount! Br. Sabu spoke to us of his faith, but then said that faith alone was not his motivation to enter. Rather, it was his desire to share the lot of the poor in his land, to make his life entirely other centered. From Br. Sabu we learned the Holy Cross wisdom that “as disciples of Jesus we stand side by side with all people,” and that “like them we hope for a world where justice and love prevail,” and that with them we “form communities of the coming kingdom.” (Constitutions, 12)

In 2007, we also saw the expansion of our program to Monterrey, Mexico. Just before Christmas Angel Cortes, PhD, assistant professor of history, led the first Holy Cross group to this rapidly developing city. In Monterrey, Holy Cross serves many of those who have not shared in the economic expansion of the city. One day, our group walked through a section of the parish called Las Sabanas. Right in the shadow of an upscale condominium development—and on the side where the condos do not have windows—stands a kind of shanty town. The living there is not the “them” of a documentary but the “us” of the parish. The people there, along with our students, share the distinction of being part of the Holy Cross family. Being in that neighbor-hood was one of the most powerful experiences for the group. Also powerful was witnessing the vibrancy of faith. Most of our students had never spent so much time in a church! Nor had they witnessed homes where religious shrines and even altars are commonplace. Here, in the heart of the Mexican barrio, our students were learning the Holy Cross wisdom that “often we must make ourselves at home among more than one people or culture.” (Constitutions, 17) 

So that is where our program stands after the latest rounds of expansion. But what about that question of “why require it?” What Holy Cross wisdom here is so impor-tant that we want all of our students to learn it? And, how best to describe that wisdom in an understandable way?

Solidarity. There it is, the one word answer. Solidarity is our commitment to unity, to seeing our lives as being connected to the lives of people everywhere. It is what the Holy Cross Constitutions call “concern for the dignity of every human being as God’s cherished child.” (Constitutions, 15) Solidarity is what the Catholic Church means when we say, using the famous words of the Second Vatican Council, “the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties” of people in our world are shared by us as followers of Christ. Solidarity is what these trips are about. Now, all this can sound like theo-babble, lofty words to express vague concepts, but here is what solidarity means on the ground floor. When our students return from Ghana, they care about what happens there. They learn about economic exploitation there and they want to help end it. And why? Not because Ghana has become “an issue” to them, but because they still e-mail with Kweku, or with Br. Ebenezer, or because they still care about the children they met in Moree.

Students who come back from Peru think differently about the mission of the church. No longer is it just pie-in-the-sky spirituality; It is a concrete commitment to liberation. How could you not connect Christ to liberation after spending time with the Holy Cross community in Lima? The community’s whole life is devoted to planting themselves in the midst of suffering people and working side by side with them to build up the kingdom of God.

Solidarity means that our students no longer study “India” as a mass of a billion plus people or as an economic monolith. Rather, they have been introduced to just a taste—a small slice—of the amazing complexity of life there. And hey, if some Indian Brother named Sabu can teach us about the Gospel, then maybe we have something to learn from this part of the world. Such a shattering of generalizations can also occur to a student who has been on the Mexico trip. Maybe for them solidarity means that the next time they hear stereotypes of those who live south of the border, they will think of the families they met in Monterrey. They will remember that behind stereotypes are real people whose lives matter.

So, it’s all about uniting with the world in solidarity. And, solidarity is a challenge not only in the spiritual but also in the practical realm. So I want to ask all those who love the mission of Holy Cross, especially the alumni who want to embrace this unity, to please consider supporting our international programs. They are costly but worth it. Consider perhaps sponsoring a student each year, or sponsoring one of the trips. Also, we would even be open to an alumni supporter who would like to go on one of these experiences with the students. In whatever way each of us can, we need to support the mission of inter-national solidarity as central to our Holy Cross character.

Why do our students go on the inter-national experience? They go to learn. And what they learn is solidarity. Notice how these experiences engage both the mind and the heart, a cornerstone of the Holy Cross education. And, notice how the experiences can connect learning-as-students to action-as-citizens of the world. Such a connection is captured in the motto for the BA program, “the competence to see and the courage to act.” This phrase comes from the Holy Cross Constitutions on mission, and its full context helps us see the meaning of solidarity, Holy Cross style.

“The mission is not simple, for the impoverishments we would relieve are not simple. There are networks of privilege, prejudice, and power so commonplace that often neither oppressors nor victims are aware of them. We must be aware, and also understand by reason of fellowship with the impoverished, and by reason of patient learning. For the kingdom to come in this world, disciples must have the competence to see and courage to act.” (Constitutions, 14)