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Inspiring spiritual missions
By Sarah O'Brien Mackey
Late on the eve of his second trip to Kenya with the Holy Cross Arrupe Immersion Program, Adam Musser ’05 sat down to record the first of several reflections about the journey ahead. Wide awake and full of anticipation, he pondered what it meant to "live with" or "live for" his brothers and sisters around the world. He felt he had experienced both - living with poor and disease-ravaged communities during his first trip to Kenya the previous year, and living for those same communities while working as a Lilly Ministry intern with International Partners in Mission in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.
"Neither is ‘more’ nor ‘greater,’" he concluded. "Each plays its necessary and equal part in the Christian’s call to serve love."
Still, Musser wrote, he felt eager to return once again to Kenya. Over the next four weeks, he lived with the children of a Nairobi orphanage whose parents had died of AIDS. He volunteered with a primary school, whose mission was to rescue Maasai girls from early forced marriages and provide them with a home and an education. He also prayed, reflected and spent time simply listening to those he met.
"Despite some of the terribly sad things I saw, I felt such gratitude for having this experience," he says. "It was just what the Gospels are all about - living with and loving the poor."
A faith-based program sponsored by the Chaplains’ Office, the Arrupe Immersion Program offers Holy Cross students the opportunity to live with poor and marginalized communities in Jamaica, Kenya and Mexico each year. Led by a chaplain and, in some instances, a faculty member, the trips are designed to promote reflection, prayer and opportunities for experiencing fellowship in a deeply meaningful way.
"Arrupe Immersion offers an experience quite distinct from traditional service missions," explains Katherine M. McElaney ’76, director of the Office of the College Chaplains. "We want our students not to feel that they have to march in and do something but, rather, to consider what they are learning from the people they meet and to contemplate how we are called to live in our first world as Christians."
To help more Holy Cross students experience this unique call to service, John ’79 and Diane ’80 Fisher recently made a gift of $100,000 to the Arrupe Immersion Program. Made in honor of their 25th reunions, the Fishers’ gift will provide scholarship funds to offset the costs of the program’s trips, which range from $1,200 to $2,400.
"The Fishers’ generosity will help us realize two of our most pressing goals," says McElaney. "First, we will be able to lower the cost of participating in the program for all students and, second, we will be able to offer full scholarships for those who could not attend any other way. We are all very excited because so many students will feel the impact of this gift."
"John and I feel strongly that programs like Arrupe Immersion represent what a Catholic education is all about," says Diane Fisher. "They expose students to different people and different ways of life around the world - and the spiritual component adds so much more to the experience. We have heard Holy Cross students talk about their experiences with service, and we have been so inspired by their sense of spiritual mission.
"I attended Holy Cross on a crazy quilt of financial aid," Fisher adds. "I worked every summer, so I would not have been able to afford the cost of going on one of these trips. John and I are thrilled that our gift will make that experience possible for someone else."
The Fishers reside in Pittsburgh, Pa., with their four sons. John Fisher is president of the institutional sales division of Federated Corporation, one of the nation’s largest investment management organizations. He is the son of Richard Fisher ’47. Diane Fisher, a full-time mother, serves on the boards of several organizations. The Fishers support many Catholic institutions, including Holy Cross, the Little Sisters of the Poor and their local parish.
The Arrupe Immersion Program has grown in both scope and popularity since it began 17 years ago with a single trip to Mexico. Last year, a total of 41 Holy Cross students participated in the three programs. "When people ask me about the program, I tell them that it is something they need to do right now," says Musser. "Even if you are the most educated, most well-read person, you can’t really understand what’s happening in the world until you see it for yourself. To be able to build friendships, and put a face to problems you only hear about on the news, will change your perspective forever. That’s what the Arrupe Program does best - it puts a face to the world that you will never forget."