Message from Campus Ministry
I hear that Community Service is the theme for this Newsletter. Great!! Community Service and Caring might call on us to go off to distant lands, volunteering to help people in need. Some people do that - like missionaries. We did that too - in the Tsunami recovery. We went to help - and that was good. Evidence of God’s love is needed in far off places, too. But this Service must begin right at school. Do you remember the two week-ends when we hosted SEASAC tournaments at RIS-RIST? They were great weekends!! We welcomed the Fine Arts students and then basketball teams from several schools. We hosted, took care of new friends, showed sportsmanship, and worked hard to welcome teachers and students who visited our campus. Both weekends were full of community service and caring. People were happy, for we shared and we cared.
How about other days, when it is just “us” at school? No visitors - just us. Fellow-students, fellow-teachers might walk around in a daze at times, hurt by words, feeling that they are being pushed into a corner, or just having a bad day. Maybe we caused it, for that happens, too. Our spirit of Community Service and Caring urges us to come to the rescue!! People of RIS-RIST should be happy. We must do what we can to promote that happiness. We used to call our attitude (at the old campus) “Family Spirit”. Perhaps now, since our schools have expanded, we can promote “Community Spirit”. That’s it! “Community Spirit” promoting Community Service and Caring. RIS-RIST is this special school, up and down the corridors, into offices and classrooms with Service and Caring. Every day.
Best of all, Community Service and Caring begins at home, right with Mom and Dad, brothers and sisters and others in the household. Community Service fits families too, begging for bushels and bushels of caring. This “Family Spirit”, whether with “visitors”, or among “us” or with Mom and Dad, helps us avoid bushels and bushels of trouble.
God bless you.
Father Leo Travis, C.Ss.R.
Campus (community) Ministry
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