Greetings!

Hello Everyone -

As I write this, I am in the middle of packing for the trip. I just wanted to extend an initial greeting to you all, and to say how much we are looking forward to this experience. I hope that the boys come away both challenged, and with new sense of their own connection to the Ignatian ideal. As Pedro Arrupe, SJ opened his landmark speech 'Men for Others', he stated, "Today our prime educational objective must be to form men-and-women-for-others; men and women who will live not for themselves but for God and his Christ - for the God-man who lived and died for all the world; men and women who cannot even conceive of love of God which does not include love for the least of their neighbors; men and women completely convinced that love of God which does not issue in justice for others is a farce".

My hope is that the insights that come from our experience in Camden will reflect this ideal of finding Christ in the poor. I am grateful to have been invited to be a partner on our students' journey in this experience. This may be my only posting, as I hope that the boys' postings will serve as the window into their own reflection process. My prayer for them is the simple but profound prayer of St. Ignatius for generosity: "Lord, Teach me to be generous; Teach me to serve You as You Deserve; to give, and not to count the cost; to fight, and not to heed the wound; to toil, and not to ask for rest; to labor, and not to ask for any reward, save that of knowing that I do Your Will. Amen"

AMDG,

Mr. Chris Hayes '85
Religious Ed. Dept.