The Immigrant Crosses traveling installation came to Viatorian-endorsed Cristo Rey St. Martin College Prep last week, where students organized educational and prayer activities and hosted visiting hours for the community.
The installation was set up in the chapel at the front of the school.
The student club Oportunidades Para Todos (OPT; Spanish for Opportunities for All) led a morning of reflection last Thursday, and it concluded with a prayer service beside the installation. The students invited representatives from the three religious communities that co-endorse the school to speak at the service: the Sinsinawa Dominicans, the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, and the Clerics of St. Viator.
Sr. Mary Popit, SHCJ, reflected on her community’s evolving call to educational ministry by citing her sisters’ Casa Cornelia Law Center in California, focused especially on victims of trafficking and unaccompanied minors. Sr. Laura Goedken, OP, affirmed her sister who works as an immigration attorney in Chicago as well as her community’s endorsement of a school that works so faithfully for justice.
Br. Michael shared a brief reflection on behalf of the Viatorians.
Br. Michael Gosch, CSV, and Fr. Corey Brost, CSV, represented the Viatorians and Viator House of Hospitality, along with Bart Hisgen, who works at Viator House as a case manager. “Viatorians came to the US from Canada, and we came initially to work in a heavily immigrant area in the Kankakee River valley,” Br. Michael said. “These immigrant crosses and this prayer are very important to us and our ministry and the people who we serve.”
In addition to this prayer service, OPT organized a student dress-down day the day before the service to mark St. Viator Day. Dress-down donations totaled $600, and the club has donated these proceeds to Viator House.
In the past, their activism has also included a public witness event on Green Bay Road, a busy road in the far north suburbs, where they demonstrated similarly to the events in Arlington Heights and Chicago. Many students who are active in campus ministry and OPT have been part of the Viatorian Youth Congress (VYC), and Campus Minister Iris Sanchez, who moderates OPT, has often served as their VYC delegation leader.
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