By Sixteen Carroll students traveled to Denver and Browning, Montana, for Caritas trips over spring break as a part of the Carroll Campus Ministry’s annual week-long immersion trip.
Those who went to the Blackfoot Reservation in Browning, Montana, serve as teacher-aides in the De La Salle school, and those who traveled to the Denver location worked alongside Christ in the City (CIC) missionaries serving the homeless. In both locations, the students attending were provided opportunities for daily Mass, prayer, reflective talks, and community service.
In Denver, students participated in the typical day-to-day life of the missionaries. Students aided the CIC community in their weekly Lunch in the Park event and accompanied missionaries on their assigned street routes. CIC missionaries also have night ministries one to two times a week, where they visit a prison, hospital, retirement community, specified street routes, and friends who have found housing.
CIC’s main field is the poverty of loneliness. CIC missionaries live off donated food, a fund-raised salary, and the desire to serve human dignity. Walking the streets and building authentic friendships through simple conversation or kind gestures is how CIC strives to build community.
Celi Chapman, a sophomore philosophy and Catholic studies double major, and political science minor from Montana City, shared that encountering true poverty was a transformative and eye-opening experience.
“The Caritas trip with Christ in the City was truly life-changing,” Chapman said. “It is true that I got to encounter Jesus a lot in the poor, but I also found that I encountered myself a lot in them. It was a beautiful way for the Lord to show me all the ways I am poor as well. It was also just a life-giving experience to spend time loving our brothers and sisters who live on the streets of Denver!”
In Browning, the students were hosted by the De La Salle Brothers. Apart from prayer and community building, students served the needs of the teachers by aiding in classroom activities, facilitating games, providing one-on-one student instruction, and eating with the children at lunchtime.
Charles Markham, a senior chemistry major from Spokane, Washington, said that the Caritas trip was a wonderful experience.
“The Caritas trip to Browning was an incredibly beautiful opportunity that allowed me to get a new aspect on life,” Markham stated. “I think one of the biggest graces I received on this trip was just getting to know the elementary school kids and seeing the love that they had for one another. The children at De La Salle showed me that it is possible to have true, simple love, even in hard or difficult circumstances.”
In addition to serving the community in Browning, Montana, the Carroll students were also given the opportunity to immerse themselves in Blackfoot culture. Each day, there was a speaker from the Blackfoot tribe and time to reflect on the events of the day.
Carroll Campus Ministry offers these Caritas trips as opportunities to be immersed in “the realities and needs of people with economic, educational, cultural, and social challenges.”
Sean Monaco, a sophomore philosophy major and Catholic studies minor from North Augusta, South Carolina, discovered small acts of love can make a big difference.
“It really opened my eyes to see people who just wanted someone to notice them,” Monaco shared. “To say hi to them, shake their hand, etc. Simple humane acts are taken so much for granted by us. Not for them. They cherish each smile they get, and each person that notices them. It’s beautifully shocking.”
