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<\/a>Florida native Jackson Graham works as a housing advocate at Afrikana, an organization that helps Black, Arab, and Muslim migrants access vital services.<\/p>\n\u201cPeople\u2019s mentality is often that the Jesuits are here to save the day, but that\u2019s not our approach,\u201d says Kevin Yonkers-Talz, director of praxis learning. \u201cIt\u2019s not to discount these guys. They have a lot of gifts. But the community leaders are really the educators of these men.\u201d <\/p>\n
Luke Olsen is a Jesuit scholastic who taught South Sudanese refugees in Uganda before coming to Ciszek and now works with day laborers in the South Bronx.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are tricky things, right? A danger of wanting to help is that you can be condescending or think you\u2019re doing something good without knowing enough to understand what people need,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s something that can only happen as a result of the trust that builds over time.\u201d<\/p>\n
From the Classroom to the Streets<\/p>\n
On Tuesday mornings, the Jesuits gather in a Duane Library seminar room for a core course on the complex factors affecting their work in the community. \u201cThe focus is on helping them develop the ability to interpret the historical, social, economic, and cultural context for the purposes of doing ministry,\u201d says William Sheahan, SJ, the rector of Ciszek Hall.<\/p>\n
The connections between Fordham Jesuits and the Bronx run deep. In the 1970s, scholastics and brothers worked to organize and empower<\/a> groups focused on housing and other issues. Now, the hands-on approach is part of the curriculum.<\/p>\n Each Jesuit is connected with a single nonprofit for their three years in the program. The length of their commitment helps them develop expertise and foster camaraderie. Alvaro Pacheco and Carlos Martinez-Vela lead a storytelling class at Belmont Catholic Community Center, for example, in collaboration with Grupo de Mujeres Latinas. The aim is to help build bridges of understanding.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all carry stories that sometimes define who we are and what we do, butwe don\u2019t know it because sometimes we haven\u2019t told them,\u201d Martinez-Vela says. \u201cWe make sense of our life and realities through stories. They make us human.\u201d<\/p>\n Sometimes that humanity is shared over coffee. Ryan Cruise works at Grounds Caf\u00e9, a coffee shop conceived as a community-building space, including job training for Bronx women. The concept was a social-impact finalist in the 2024 Fordham Foundry Pitch Challenge.<\/p>\n The rituals of daily living in Ciszek Hall keep the scholastics and brothers grounded. They celebrate Mass every evening before sharing a meal. Household duties are shared, too, as are games and movie nights to unwind. But most often, the men retreat to their rooms for private prayer and long stretches of studying the finer points of Aristotle and Aquinas.<\/p>\n The days are intense. Between their academic and community commitments, plus regular one-on-ones with their spiritual director, the Jesuits are pulled in several directions at once. And that\u2019s the point, says Michael Zampelli, SJ, \u201986 MA, director of the master\u2019s degree program.<\/p>\n<\/a>Jesuits-in-formation gather for \u201cContextual Learning in the Bronx\u201d in a Duane Library seminar room.<\/p>\n<\/a>Alvaro Pacheco (center) and Carlos Martinez-Vela (right) listen to a member of Grupo de Mujeres Latinas during a storytelling class at Belmont Catholic Community Center.<\/p>\n<\/a>Ryan Cruise chats with a customer at Grounds Caf\u00e9, a local coffee shop that doubles as a community builder.<\/p>\n<\/a>Rector William Sheahan, SJ (second from left), joins the men in a board game.<\/p>\n