Service

Community service is part of our Catholic School identity and is a focal point for the modeling of our Christian formation. "As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace" (1 Peter 4:10). In service we receive God's gifts, use them responsibly, and share them lovingly in justice with others. Living out the Gospel, we are truly blessed at Spalding to be able to offer religious studies classes, retreats, liturgies, mission trips, and an opportunity to engage in service ministry. Each of these aspects of our school seeks to support our Catholic Christocentric mission to help students grow spiritually, to connect them to the divine, and to help them love as Christ loved. The life of Christian service models the life of Jesus. At the core of Spalding’s mission is the forming of our young people to be first true to the mission and joy of the Gospel and then to themselves. Amidst the emphasis on requirements, deadlines, and assignments, we can lose sight of the purpose of our Christian baptismal calling – our Catholic mission – and, ultimately why God has created us – not to give Him what is left, but to give to Him first, through serving in this world as One In Christ.

Archbishop Spalding’s service and justice program has been established to achieve a three fold-purpose: to address the immediate needs of underserved and marginalized populations at home and abroad, to seek ways to change the systems which inherently prove unjust to individuals, societies, and the world, and to transform our students into men and women who understand the reciprocal nature of service and justice. There are a multitude of reasons to become involved in service and justice work; some come motivated by their faith, some students come for humanitarian purposes, and some come because it’s part of their requirement. Whatever your motivation is for visiting our website, we are delighted you are taking a step toward, what we hope, can become a truly transformative experience! We hope for our students to truly become one in Christ through their experiences - in word, action, evaluation, and celebration.

Direct service, or charity, is an immediate response to issues addressing individual needs, such as poverty, environmental or educational needs, and the health of our societies. Justice is rooted in advocacy work that seeks to change systemic, structural injustices. Both service and justice work are rooted in the Gospel, and both are important to a student’s journey here at Spalding. We ask our students to enter into charity and to emerge with questions, and hopefully solutions, for a just and better world.