Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (“To the Greater Glory of God”): Alternative Means of Discovering Grace.

Our service immersion program offers rising seniors an opportunity to put their faith into action in a very challenging and real way. They are about responding to the Gospel call to serve those in need, while questioning the reasons behind why people are in need. While each immersion has its own unique slant, they all encourage participants to learn about living in solidarity with people and experiencing a different way of living, often without many material possessions.

Each year, the Bellarmine forum allows us as an intellectual community to engage one another and the wider public, in and beyond Los Angeles, in serious and sustained conversation about the profound questions of human existence.    The Forum promotes the mission of Loyola Marymount University as a Catholic university grounded in the liberal arts and committed to academic excellence and transformative education.

The mission of the Center for Service & Action is to educate and form men and women with and for others, especially with and for the disadvantaged and the oppressed. Through direct personal contact between students and the marginalized in service experiences, we foster a solidarity with the poor that will lead to intellectual inquiry, moral reflection and social action.

Members live the Ignatian ideal through prayer, contemplation, discernment and action. CLC is a discerning community for Mission, which gives us a sense of Church that leads us to be present where God’s love is lacking. http://www.clc-usa.org/

Christian Service is required of all students at Jesuit, and opportunities to reflect on the Christian dimension of service are part of the curriculum at all four levels. The theme of Freshman Christian Service is "Family." Students collect food on their overnight retreat and for the Christmas Food Drive and continue by completing 16 hours of service with and/or for their own families while enrolled in Global Studies. The Sophomore theme is "Friends." Sophomores work with one another to complete 16 hours of service while enrolled in Morality A. Juniors and Seniors complete their service hours at sites in the Sacramento community that serve people with "special needs." Juniors complete 16 hours of service while enrolled in Social Justice, and Seniors take a one-semester course entitled "Christian Service" which includes 50 hours of service in the community and 10 hours of class time.

• Amnesty International
• Music For Others
• Social Justice
• Frosh/Soph Social Justice
• Environmental Club
• Pro-Life Club
• United Students Against Sweatshops
• S.M.A.S.H.

The Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education is dedicated to preserve and extend the Catholic identity and Jesuit mission of Santa Clara University. Competence, conscience, and compassion these critical qualities are built into the foundations of a Santa Clara University education. The Center's work provides students, faculty and staff with opportunities to examine Jesuit and Catholic ideals, promote social justice through community-based learning, and encourage solidarity through immersion.

Bellarmine currently supports a number of different Immersion experiences for students and faculty members. In June of each year, Bellarmine sends a delegation of approximately 10 students and 4 faculty members to El Salvador to spend two weeks with the people there, learning about their lives, and the important connection that the Jesuits have with El Salvador

The Lane Center engages and develops Catholic social thought for the Church, the city and the world with an emphasis on social concerns. The Center sponsors academic programs, research and public praxis that promote and engage Catholic social thought and contemporary issues in order to fashion a more just and humane world.

The Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good is dedicated to inspiring and preparing students at USF to pursue lives and careers of ethical public service and the common good.

The McCarthy Center provides a forum for education, service and research in public policy-making and programs for the common good. It supports undergraduate and graduate academic programs, provides service learning, and government experiences for students and generates publishable research. A curriculum that blends rigorous intellectual training with fieldwork experience prepares students to articulate and promote the common good of all society's members through careers or service in government, non-profits or the private sector.

Immersion trips aim to introduce students to new cultures, allowing them to assimilate unfamiliar perspectives into their own worldview with the intention of creating more globally minded citizens. These trips do not necessarily incorporate homestays, but they do allow for cultural experiences and plenty of time for getting to know the locals.

Direct service trips focus on placing students in a position to directly aid communities through hands-on experiences (ie trail maintenance, basic construction, teaching English, childcare, etc). While there is usually some time built in for education and getting to know the culture, the main goal of these trips is to directly be in service to others.

Issue specific trips are theme based, aimed at educating students about particular socioeconomic and environmental issues that affect our world. In Juarez, for example, students learn about the myriad of issues that are contributing to the recent femicide. There is usually some related direct service and cultural experiences that are built in to these trips.

*While trips usually contain all three of these components in some respect, we have categorized trips in order to highlight the main focus of each Alternative Break.

The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University is one of the preeminent centers for research and dialogue on ethical issues in critical areas of American life. The center works with faculty, staff, students, community leaders, and the public to address ethical issues more effectively in teaching, research, and action.

One week duration service trip with Franciscans as local contacts but hoping for more Jesuit Involvement.
 

 A group of students and faculty leaders will travel to Mexico for a 12-day Immersion in language, culture, and service. Starting in Mexico City the group will explore the vast capital city and familiarize themselves with the smells, the sights and the sounds of this metropolis of over 21 million people.  Students then travel to the outskirts of Puebla, living in solidarity with the orphan boys at IPODERAC. The group completes 50 hours of service at the orphanage while living as the community lives and helping daily with jobs that have included harvesting alfalfa for goats, woodworking, gardening, and maintenance. After 6 days of work the group heads north to the small colonial town Guanajuato, where the group will explore many attractions and reflect on their experience at the orphanage.  A final afternoon is spent back in Mexico City, where the group will further explore the city in a special walking tour.

PASSION is a LMU student run social justice publication of the Campus Ministry’s Human Rights Coalition. PASSION Magazine believes in the interconnectedness of all humanity and seeks to encourage all members of the LMU community to find their place in the struggle for social justice. Being a voice for those who go unheard, PASSION Magazine aims to stir the passions of LMU students and our readers to commit themselves to helping renew the lost and marginalized voices of our society. PASSION Magazine strives recognize the human dignity of all people by publishing articles that put a real face to the issues and struggles of the forgotten. PASSION is a place where we share our stories, experiences, and reflections of working for justice and peace while inspiring others to seek social justice as well in their own unique ways.

This student-run group, based out of the Campus Ministry department, convenes weekly to discuss and learn about current issues, reflect on them in light of members' experience and beliefs, and respond to them in a way that respects the dignity of all creation. One of the primary tasks of the group is to create a safe environment in which participants can learn and develop tools for the promotion of justice beyond SCU.