Xavier Stands with Pope Francis at 18th Annual Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice

By Nick Byrne '11 

On Monday, November 9, a delegation from Xavier joined an estimated 1,200 individuals on Capitol Hill in the year’s largest Catholic advocacy day, urging members of Congress to address the moral issues raised by Pope Francis during his recent visit to the U.S., including climate change and immigration reform.

The advocacy day was part of the 18th Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice (IFTJ), the largest annual Catholic social justice gathering in the U.S., held November 7-9 in Washington, D.C. Attendees were largely students and young adults affiliated with U.S. Jesuit institutions and the larger Catholic Church. The record crowd of over 1,700 at this year’s Teach-In came on the heels of Francis’s September visit to the U.S., during which he addressed Congress and the UN General Assembly—possibly a sign of what some church observers have termed “The Francis Effect.”

For the fifth consecutive year, Director of Campus Ministry Kaija DeWitt led a group of 13 students to the Capitol to advocate about issues of humane immigration reform, environmental justice, and U.S. policies in Latin America.

“The IFTJ is rooted in the memory of the Jesuit martyrs of El Salvador and their companions,” Ms. DeWitt said. “In the early '90s, people in the Ignatian community began gathering at the gates of Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia, home to the School of the Americas (now WHINSEC) who had trained the Latin American military officers ultimately responsible for the deaths of the Jesuits. That peaceful protest grew over the years to include education on a number of justice issues important to the Catholic and Ignatian communities. In 2010, the Teach-In moved to Washington D.C. after outgrowing the space in Columbus. The Teach-In now includes an advocacy component where students are able to meet with their senators and representatives to advocate for justice issues.”

Capping off the weekend-long conference, the Ignatian Solidarity Network (ISN) hosted a day of advocacy on Capitol Hill Monday morning. The day began with a rally on the U.S. Capitol West Lawn that featured singing and addresses from speakers, including Sr. Simone Campbell of NETWORK and “Nuns on the Bus,” an undocumented immigrant student from the University of San Francisco, and Br. Ken Homan, SJ, a Jesuit high school teacher and climate change activist.

“We know that faith-rooted justice is what builds bridges,” said Campbell, alluding to the theme of the Teach-In, called “Bridges.” “Faith-rooted justice what takes of our earth, what takes care of our people, takes care of our politics.”

Immediately following the rally, students fanned out to lawmakers’ offices to raise concerns about U.S. policy on Central America, criminal justice, immigration, and climate change.

Teach-In attendees represented over 90 Catholic institutions in 25 states, Canada, El Salvador, and Mexico. They came from 26 Jesuit universities, over 30 Catholic high schools, parishes, and other Catholic universities. Speakers included Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J., anti-death penalty activist and New York Times bestselling author of Dead Man Walking, and Hector Verdugo, associate executive director of Homeboy Industries.

ISN executive director Christopher Kerr said the Teach-In plays a critical role in championing “the voices of our brothers and sisters marginalized by the realities of unfair immigration system, by violence and injustice facing the people of Central America, and the desperate state of our climate that is leaving over 1 billion people in our human family at great risk.” Referencing Pope Francis’s address to Congress, he said, “Pope Francis can be a great model for us as we head to Capitol Hill because he did the same thing this past September.”