Jccu

“My name is Roberto. I have a wife and three young children. We are originally from the state of Morelos, Mexico. Our life in Morelos was beautiful. We lived in a small town nestled in the mountains.

Through these experiences, I have witnessed amazing humanizing efforts in the social apostolate: empowering women in a society where they are excluded, violated or killed; ... and announcing the Gospel values of justice, solidarity, hospitality and love amid a broken and searching world.

When I started my journey, I thought I was going to have a career in social work; instead, I have found a vocation. While my vocation has not been a call to the religious life it has been a clear and persistent call to a ministry deeply rooted in my faith.

Faith in Action’s model is transformative. At its center is a belief in the potential for transformation – of people, institutions, and our larger culture.

As I write this, over 7,000 Honduran migrants including children have crossed the Guatemalan and Mexican borders and are marching toward the United States border.

The retreat was very difficult—after being woken up by a gong at 4:30 am, and spending numerous sessions in silent meditation with only two small meals of brown rice and steamed vegetables, by the early evening most of my own meditation centred on food.

My work with refugees has led me back to a personal experience of loss. When I was a child, my family had a farm in Saguenay region (East Quebec), and later on we had to move to the city.

In April, as part of a three-week seminar on Catholic social teaching, my Jesuit novitiate visited the Louisiana State Penitentiary, better known as Angola Prison. Though in the past I worked for a program that assists recently released prisoners, until this day, I had not interacted with the permanently incarcerated.

I work in Camden, New Jersey. It is America's poorest and most violent city of its size and this year we are on course to set a new homicide record. Put in perspective, if New York City were to have the murder rate of Camden this year, it would mean that close to 6000 people would have been killed already.

San Quentin State Prison is an iconic American prison. Over 150 years old, it has witnessed thousands of prisoners pass through its massive iron gates. As all prisons, it has developed within its walls a spirit of oppression and cruelty.