Wisconsin Province Society of Jesus

Jesuit Journeys
Fall 2000

Parade Time

No crowds line the streets. There is no applause along the route. But when this band of Jesuit scholastics and Fordham University undergraduate students ends its weekly march, young hearts soar with hope, potential, and appreciation.

A parade marches through our Bronx neighborhood each Tuesday. Like any parade, this one offers a lot of excitement. This parade's excitement comes not from clowns and candy, however, but from older hearts seeking to enrich younger ones that beat just as boldly.
The parade begins on a Belmont Avenue stoop outside a Jesuit residence near Fordham University. Dozens of undergraduates join a handful of Jesuit scholastics. Five scholastics

and 50 Fordham students, we are the parade. Tradition dictates that we meet and walk together to our weekly destination.
   We weave through one of the city's Little Italies, climb four steep flights of stairs some six blocks from where we start, and arrive at a cluster of aged classrooms where we facilitate the St. Martin of Tours Grade School Enrichment Program. We are greeted by more than 60 school children, some tired, some full of life, but all eager for the arrival of their Fordham friends.
   Originally the enrichment program catered to a small number of eighth graders in after-school groups. Now the entire eighth grade, most of the seventh grade, and significant numbers of students in the fifth and sixth grades participate. As involvement among the Fordham undergraduates grows, we are approaching our ideal goal of pairing one tutor with each student.
   Our weekly routine falls within the frame of 2 short hours in which we first ask the children to write for about 20 minutes. Next we look at homework and study for over an hour. We conclude with spelling bees and other learning games like classroom Jeopardy. We take a series of field trips to such places as the Museum of Natural History and sometimes move the classrooms outside to play games on the lawns of Fordham's campus.
   Of the program's three regular components, the St. Martin's Writing Project is my favorite. Each week, the children are asked to respond to different questions which range in difficulty, but always invite the young authorsto think deeply and seriously about their lives. Sometimes this is the most daunting part of the task.
   Our culture dictates that we move quickly in a material world and spend crazily. Reflecting about the daily experiences of our lives is not particularly easy for minds conditioned by the constant stimuli of mass media. We offer the children time, though limited, and an often-compromised silence in which to discern the rhythm of their hearts.
   For the spring 2000 semester we chose a theme of emotion. Focused on happiness, sadness, and anger, children wrote from their hearts and compiled portfolios based on personal experience. They selected their favorite pieces and submitted them for publication in a program booklet, our second annual edition, entitled Listen to Our Hearts: Psalms from the Bronx. (See excerpts on pages 7, 8.)
   Some of the young authors expose their hearts while others guard them. They write about a grandmother's love or the longing foran absent father. They write about the peace and comfort of family, or the violence and struggle of the streets. As we read their words we see that they play basketball passionately and skate on roller-blades intensely. They have watched the birthing of their baby brothers and the burial of their older sisters. Their psalms give testament to the power of these events.
   We celebrate that the children of St. Mar-tin's think and write, finish assignments and study for tests. This was the original mission of the Jesuit scholastics who first began to work in the school. We have witnessed another dimension of the experience with the program, however. We have seen the formation of relationships as young children and college mentors sit together on Tuesdays and become friends.
   The friendships we witness bridge two worlds. One world, Fordham University, resembles an old city park with Ivy League overtones. Tall trees shade a campus where a church with its high cupola towers over stone-chiseled lecture halls and well-kept lawns. Bells chime, dormitories and classrooms resound with life in a part of academia where young and seasoned minds converge to glorify God in a strong tradition of Jesuit education.
   The other world offers different sights and sounds. There are fewer trees and almost no green space. Car horns honk in endless streams of traffic. Crowds walk the streets of the congested neighborhood where the corner bodega across from St. Martin of Tours sells groceries. Through open windows, tenants of once-proud apartment buildings air fresh laundry to the tunes of Latin folk lyrics.
   This is a world where families live, play, and pray. Yet it is a sometimes-violent world where the blast of a pistol in an adolescent's hand easily trumps the calliope-like ditty of an ice-cream truck.
   When our parade marchers gather, these different worlds look into each other's eyes. A philosopher writes that "face to face remains the ultimate situation." Every Tuesday, the children of St. Martin of Tours affirm his belief.

   Note: Daniel Hendrickson, SJ is a Wisconsin Province Jesuit who spent the past three years studying philosophy at Fordham University.

H ow often have I been told that listen- ing involves more than just hearing? How often I have claimed to know the difference between the two! Not until I became a tutor at St. Martin of Tours, however, did I learn about the importance of listening from the very students I had come to teach.
   The students invited me to explore their hearts as well as their minds. They entrusted me with their individuality and allowed me to listen - listen to their sighs of frustration in tackling a math problem, listen to their clapping hands at the successful completion of an assignment. Over many shared afternoons, I also found myself listening intently to the poetry that flowed in their journals, to the rap songs I was serenaded with. I even learned to listen with my eyes while sharing the caricatures drawn by these budding artists.
   I became an avid listener and, as a result, I heard an invitation to friendship. Consequently, my role as tutor assumed far greater value and far deeper meaning. The students of St. Martin of Tours greeted me with their unconditional acceptance and graced me with their friendship. Most significantly, however, they taught me to listen to my own heart.
   Because of their example, my heart reopened and grew, but had it not been for the Jesuit scholastics at Fordham University, Lauren Costello (left) with a St. Martin of Tours student.

Lauren Costello (left) with a St. Martin of Tours student.

I might never have embraced my role as tutor, undoubtedly one of the most rewarding experiences of my undergraduate life. I was struggling to sustain my faith and my desire to effect change. At a time when my motivation to be a person of conscience was challenged daily, Jesuit scholastics offered hope and encouragement.
   They invited me to learn by participating in the real world outside my college classrooms. But even more significantly, they brought alive the ideals of a Jesuit education. Their passion and dedication to a lifetime of service inspired me to be of service to others. In being of service to others, my faith was renewed.
   How truly fortunate I was to see them go into areas where human promise and potential existed yet remained dormant or unfulfilled. How truly fortunate and blessed were the men, women, and children whose lives the Jesuit scholastics touched.
   I am grateful for the friendships formed from working with them.

'Psalms' speak of things sweet, sad, and hopeful

The following works were written and published this year by St. Martin of Tours Enrichment Program students in a booklet titled Listen to our Hearts: Psalms from the Bronx.

By Wilfredo Gonzalez - Eighth Grade

Here is an experience I had about bringing happiness to others.

It was near Christmas. My dad and I were on the train heading to Manhattan. We went to a lot of places like the Hard Rock Café. We saw the Christmas parade, too. It had a lot of balloons. Then my dad and I went to Mc-Donald's. After we finished eating, we played the Monopoly game, and we won free Big Macs! We started walking. On the sidewalk, I saw a homeless father and a 6-year-old boy. My father said, "Let's give them the Big Macs." And that is what we did. Then, we went home.

Victoria Haggard - Seventh Grade

I feel sadness because my friend has passed away. I miss my friend because he is not there anymore. My friend died about two years ago when he was stabbed to death by another boy in front of the store.

Christopher Maldonado - Sixth Grade

One day I went to see my father. The last time I saw him was when I was two. I was so ecstatic that I felt as if I was going to blow. I didn't know what he looked like, but when I saw him, he looked buff. I hope I look just like him when I grow up. I hope I meet him again some day. I would go to a football game with him.

That was my greatest day.

Hakim Samad - Sixth Grade

My mom is my best friend. She is brown skinned and average height. My mom does many things for me like buy clothes and give me some money. My mom also does things for other people like giving clothes to the Salvation Army. She makes me feel like I can do anything -- I just have to put my mind to it. For instance, when I'm failing a subject like math, my mom gives me some support by saying that she knows I can pass it in the end. My heart is happy when I do things for my mother and she says that I did a good job.

Christal Richardson - Sixth Grade

There are a lot of times when I was very happy, but a time when I was really happy was last summer of '99 when my little brother and my mom and I went to Richmond, Virginia. We went there to see my mom's best friend and her two children. We rented a Blazer andwe drove all the way. When we got there we went to the mall, restaurants, Old Navy, and Busch Gardens. We also stayed in the house and watched television or we stayed in the yard playing basketball and running. When we were there I had so much fun I didn't want to leave! The best part of the whole thing was going to Virginia. I thought it was much better than the Bronx because there was no fighting or littering, and no violence - like shooting-up things. I witness all this when there is trash on the ground and people spitting, and I really hate people robbing stores and other things.

Bruce Billingy - Eighth Grade

I love basketball because when I play basketball I feel unstoppable and I, I can do anything. Even when people block my shots sometimes I still feel unstoppable. I mean, even if my ankles or feet hurt, I still play the game. Even if my body is saying no more basketball, my mind is saying more basketball. I don't care if people make fun of me or say I'm no good. I wouldn't care because I feel unstoppable. When I go to high school and college I hope to be on the varsity basketball team. And maybe even be in the NBA, if I work hard enough. And if I am eligible to be in the NBA or get drafted, hopefully I will be able to play with Allen Iverson on the 76ers. Peace Out!!!

A brief history of the Enrichment Program

1989-94: Fr. Jeff Chojnacki, SJ begins a formal relationship with St. Martin of Tours Parish with scholastics volunteering to serve the parish youths. Efforts grow in scope to include a variety of services, including a scholastic-run tutoring/mentoring program for eighth graders.

1995-97: Brian Fain, SJ directs the tutoring program. He and other scholastics discerned that Fordham undergraduates might enjoy and benefit from joining the service program. About 10 undergraduates volunteer.

1997-98: Under the direction of James Sears, SJ the program formally changes itsname to St. Martin of Tours Enrichment Program, and the number of undergraduates increases to about 20. At this point grades six through eight participate.

1998-2000: With Daniel Hendrickson, SJ now acting as director, the program grows to include fifth-grade students and approximately 50 undergraduate volunteers.

For more information on how to support the training of Jesuit scholastics and projects like the St. Martin of Tours Enrichment Program, contact The Jesuit Partnership at 1-800-537-3736.

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