Mission Matters

A team of 35 Duquesne students will be among the first to see Pope Francis in his historic first visit to the United States later this month.

While Spring Break provides an opportunity for students to vacation or stay home for relaxation, 65 Duquesne students and staff will take this time to embark on Cross-Cultural Mission Experiences (CCME) that will impact six different areas in the country.

Sean Tierney, a Duquesne University graduate and instructor in the McAnulty College of Liberal Arts, delivered the following speech at the 2015 Founders Week Faces of Courage luncheon in the Africa Room on Feb. 5.

Immokalee is a quiet town in southwest Florida with a long history of unjust wages, unsafe working conditions and, in extreme instances, prosecuted cases of modern-day slavery for the migrant farmworkers who harvest 90 percent of the United States’ winter tomatoes.

Heritage Week provides a great opportunity to take the time to see how the Spiritans are involved on campus in ways that we may not even realize.

Ten students and two members of the Spiritan Campus Ministry staff will travel to a Spiritan mission in San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic, on Saturday, Aug. 2, to run a day camp for 80 children as part of the seventh Cross-Cultural Mission Experience (CCME) in the Dominican Republic.

Spiritan Campus Minister Kate Lecci, who participated in the migrant farmworker experience in Florida, shares how Duquesne students, faculty and staff share of themselves and learn about others over spring break.

For the eighth consecutive year, the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) is helping needy families in Pittsburgh obtain turkeys for their holiday meals.

“Preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary use words.” These words, often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, provide a framework from which to understand how Fr. Ray French, C.S.Sp., recently appointed vice president for mission and identity, will approach his new University position.

The University mission informs and enlivens every aspect of University life, but when engaged in daily tasks it’s easy to forget how the mission can manifest itself in the most commonplace ways. Resident Director Adam Wasilko reminds the campus community that living the Spiritan mission is not only achieved through grand gestures, but also through the smallest of everyday actions.