by Dominic Gideon ’14
“We’re Ignatius men forever.” Every Ignatius student has sung the phrase countless times, whether at an all school assembly in Sullivan or on a Saturday night at Byers, but what does it mean?
Over Christmas break, six alumni grasped, in a greater sense, what exactly that verse means to them while a part of the first ever alumni mission trip.
The idea all started in the summer of 2012 when Fr. Bill Murphy SJ, the president of Saint Ignatius, went on the mission trip to El Salvador with Ms. Barnes and a group of seniors.
“The trip blew me away,” Fr. Murphy said. “The history of the civil war is really horrific, but the hope, love, and grace in the people of El Salvador is really amazing.”
Following such an impactful week, Fr. Murphy thought it was unfortunate the experience was limited just to students. “I came home from that trip and I thought, ‘What would it be like to go with a group of alums?’”
And after talking to Mr. Dan Malone ‘00, head of Alumni Relations, getting some others on board with the idea, and doing some planning, Fr. Murphy got Mr. Mark Kaiser ‘06 and a group of six alumni from all over the nation (Jim Dodok ’72, Tom Gorman ’70, Fred Schnell ’66, Gerry Schroer ’82, Tim Clarke ’63, and Bill Beargie ’74) to go on a four day mission trip a year and a half later.
Unlike many mission trips, this was an immersion experience, “not a work trip where they give you a shovel and you’re building a school,” as Fr. Murphy put it. “It’s more like a pilgrimage, so it’s more about historical and cultural learning and understanding.”
Although it was an abbreviated period of time compared to the normal week long experience the students have had, Mr. Kaiser thought it “was the perfect amount of time for us to see and do things in El Salvador; for us to learn about the culture, the people, the environment, and the government.”
Each day was packed with a great deal of learning about El Salvador’s past as well as experiencing some of the Salvadoran lifestyle and culture. The group’s itinerary included visiting sites like the death places of Archbishop Oscar Romero and Fr. Rutilio Grande; the Acaccpamu bakery co-operative which Saint Ignatius has helped fund; a soy co-op in San Salvador; the chapel dedicated to the four American churchwomen killed during the country’s civil war; Central American University, the only Jesuit university in the country; and a museum which featured Oscar Romero, the four churchwomen, and six Jesuits who were also murdered during the civil war.
The alumni were greatly moved by all they saw and learned. Fr. Murphy thought they got even more out of the trip than students normally do.
“Through [the students’] work with the CAT team, with pallbearers, with Labre, through Sophomore Service… [they’re] already in pretty regular contact with the material poor,” Fr. Murphy said. “When I’m on a trip with successful, working alums, for a lot of them it’s been a lot longer since they’ve encountered the materially poor. And frankly when they were at Ignatius, that wasn’t a focus as it is today, so it’s a little bit more of a shock,” he added.
The group also meshed extremely well. “It was amazing how everyone kinda clicked,” Mr. Kaiser said.
All coming from different graduating classes, none of them directly knew each other; however through their strong ties back to Saint Ignatius, Cleveland, and the people they’ve met over the years, they already had an abundance of commonalities which connected them.
In regards to future alumni mission trips, nothing is quite certain. Fr. Murphy said the first trip was just an experiment to see how things go; and after such a successful first trial, he would love to keep such trips going, but no plans have been made.
That being said, the future of the alumni mission trip looks very bright considering how much of a success the trip was– etching a powerful impression on the alumni who went as well as emphasizing the idea that past students are forever an active part of the school’s mission– forever Ignatius men.
