The Path to Peace Starts With Us

By Patricia R. '26

“Steadfast Hope in Precarious Times.”

This statement might seem outrageous – it is hard to think about how we can look for hope in tense times like these. Between wars dividing countries, elections breaking up families, and all the despair in our world, it has become exceedingly difficult to look for the light at the end of the tunnel, however, eight of D.A’s upperclassmen learned how to keep this hope alive at the 2024 Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice, held in late October. From hearing keynote speakers to breakout sessions to speaking with representatives from New York senators’ offices, hope filled the air and the spirits of all who participated. 

The Teach-In was created after six Jesuits and two lay people were murdered in El Salvador in an attempt to silence the Catholic Faith in 1989. Their spirit is the main theme of this annual event, which echoes with the hope which guided them, and a belief in God who would give them salvation. 

Finding Strength in Diversity

The first keynote speaker of the weekend was Fr. Bryan Massingale, who teaches theology at Fordham University. He spoke about this year’s theme of steadfast hope in precarious times – how throughout all of humanity we have faced difficult periods and how the Church often fails to keep up with our changing world. He said that this point is still relevant, but we as Catholics need to continue to have hope, even when all else fails. 

Throughout his journey in his priesthood, Fr. Massingale has faced discrimination as a person of color and a member of the LQBTQ+ community. The hardships that he has faced shaped the person and the priest he is today, expressing that he had been mad at God for making him this way. However, he later thanked God for allowing him to experience the world in such a way. Fr. Massingale called each of us to action through love and hope saying, “Injustice prevails because hopelessness persists. Hope is your superpower.” 

Stories of Injustice and Resilience

Our first breakout session was: Stories of Death Row: Mobilizing Young Catholics for Change. Here, we heard from Shujaa Graham, a man who was wrongly convicted of killing a prison guard and was put on death row. Throughout his teenage years, Graham was in and out of juvenile detention in California. When he turned 18, he was sent to federal prison. There, he was convicted of killing a guard. Over the next four years, Graham spent his days wondering if he was going to die. During his time on death row, local high schoolers visited Graham, promising to get him off death row. At this point in his talk, Graham began to cry as he gazed at the crowd, a room filled to the brim with high schoolers trying to abolish death row, he stated that it’s utterly ridiculous that thirty years later, teenagers are still fighting the death penalty. 

Tying into the theme, he talked about how this may sound disheartening, but there is even more hope than ever. On the same panel, was Fr. Dustin Feddon, a spiritual guide for those on death row. Fr. Feddon spoke about the difficulties of forming connections with people who you know are going to die, but how it is an honor to be with them in their final days of life. Hearing firsthand how death row dehumanizes people was truly moving. By the end, there was not a dry eye in the room. We all ended the night by praying for the Jesuit martyrs. 

Advocating for Migrant Justice

Day two began with an opening prayer followed by a speaker from Regis High School. David S. ’25 spoke about his experience as a child of an immigrant. Later in the morning, we heard from Ruben Garcia, the executive director of Annunciation House, a non-profit organization in El Paso, Texas, where refugees can seek shelter. He compared his idea of hope to the image of women at the feet of Jesus’ cross saying, “When I think about steadfastness and the hope that is a part of it, I have found myself thinking about the women at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified…Talk about what it must have taken to be identified with Jesus in a time when the crowd would turn on you for it.’’ To Garcia, that is hope – the idea of going out of the way to stand up for what is right. 

Lessons from Modern Saints

The second breakout session had about 15 options to choose from. I attended a talk from Jesuits about 20th century saints and learned about people like Dorothy Day and Pedro Arrupe, both of whom I studied in ethics class. Many of these people faced the same issues that we do today such as the climate crisis, immigration, and violence. Often, when we hear about saints, they seem otherworldly, with problems that are much different from our own, but hearing about the ways they faced struggles in the modern world made them more relatable. 

Service as a Path to Solidarity

For the third breakout session, I went to Kitchen as Classroom: Service Learning as Solidarity, where I learned about the importance of service as an action that primarily helps those in need, but can also provide us with valuable insights and perspective. Then came a fan favorite, keynote speaker Sr. Peggy O’Neill. Sr. Peggy has been living in El Salvador for the past 30 years, where she uses the arts as a way to promote peace. Sr. Peggy’s stories and wisdom were filled with joy, despite the clear struggles she faced. She expressed the idea that peace doesn’t come overnight, it is something we have to consistently work for. 

The Celebration of the Eucharist followed Sr. Peggy’s talk, where about eight priests said Mass in a lively, engaging way, promoting joy, love, and gratitude. During the homily, Fr. Adam Deleon, S.J., spoke about the Me Too and Black Lives Matter movements, saying that our issues also need to become the Church’s issue, comparing these to instances of the Bible, where the apostles themselves were often silenced. He reflected that “We need to cry out because, like blind Bartimaeus, and like the apostles, we are blessed children of God... What is important to remember about Mark's Gospel is that this is the only gospel to give this beggar a name... He is a human being. He has dignity. He, like each of us here and everyone around the world, is created in God's image and likeness. He has been called by name and nobody can take that away.” 

Advocacy on Capitol Hill

The next day, we made our way to Capitol Hill for Advocacy Day. As we stood behind the Capitol, we sang and heard from some final speakers. We had breakfast in the Senate building before meeting with Kirsten Gillidbrand’s office, where a group of students discussed topics including ecological migration and immigration. 

Junior Nina W. had the opportunity to speak about her first-hand experience regarding climate migration. She talked about how Hurricane Sandy destroyed the homes of many, including her family friend. She also mentioned a more recent occurrence, Hurricane Helene, which destroyed the hometown of her mother. Our actions in New York can have positive repercussions around America, Nina said. Hearing the experiences of my peers made the problems at hand even more personal. 

As we made our way back to New York, all of us were filled with hope from the talks and from advocacy day. Learning more about these issues in our world made me realize that, by getting involved, we can all work together and take on the responsibility to restore peace and equality.