18th Annual Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice

The Ignatian Solidarity Network hosted their 18th annual Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice on Nov. 7-9, in Washington, D.C. The IFTJ attracted 1,600 students and young adults, all of whom gathered together to effect social change. “Bridges” was the theme for this year’s gathering; participants were inspired to connect not just to each other but to connect to those suffering around the world. Christopher Kerr, the executive director of the Ignatian Solidarity Network reflected on this theme; he said, “We’re asked to reflect on the bridges in our world. The bridges that need crossing, to expand our circles of compassion. The bridges that need repairing, to let light shine forth. The bridges that need imagining, to create new spaces and new possibilities. The bridges that the world is calling us to create, in collaboration with each other.”

On Nov. 9th, during the event’s Advocacy Day, IFTJ participants took a step towards change by meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Students attended a rally on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol and then visited the offices of their Congressional representatives to lobby for attention to domestic poverty, humane immigration reform, and improvement of human rights policies in Central America. Seán O’Rourke, a student from Boston College, reflected on this experience. “It’s really empowering for a group of young people to have the opportunity and exposure to people in these higher positions of power,” he said. “We’re all called to be men and women for others in the world and with others in our own communities, parishes, schools and dorms. I’m really excited to go in and feel like I have a voice, like I can be heard and actually meet people face to face.”

IFTJ keynote speakers included Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J., anti-death penalty activist and New York Times bestselling author of “Dead Man Walking;” Sister Simone Campbell, S.S.S., executive director of the Catholic lobbying organization NETWORK; Father James Martin, SJ, bestselling author and editor-at-large at America Magazine; Justice Janine Geske, director of Marquette University Law School’s Restorative Justice Initiative; and Hector Verdugo, associate executive director of Homeboy Industries.

For more information about this year’s IFTJ, check out this article.

Students from Creighton University at the rally before meeting with lawmakers to advocate for social change. Jesuits.org