Solidarity and Kinship
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he goal of Jesuit education is to challenge students to go beyond the pursuit of knowledge in the classroom and apply that knowledge to the issues that confront society. Jesuit graduate programs exist to meet particular societal needs. Our experience is in the graduate program in health services administration, which addresses society’s health needs by developing values-driven leaders of health-related organizations. One of the core Jesuit values is the development of men and women for others. This means living in solidarity with fellow human beings, being selfless and working for positive change in one’s society. It is an opportunity to practice the principles of social justice, humility bone to the dog is and action.
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Social justice is central to solidarity. Health is the bone shared with services administration students have a social responsibility to ensure the dog when you the just distribution of are just as hungry health care services. For example, in our program as the dog we collaborate with two organizations that Jack London work with underserved populations. Urban Health Project (UHP) places medical students in internships at local not-for-profit health care organizations. Medical Volunteers of the University of Cincinnati (MedVoUC) runs a free health clinic at Cincinnati’s largest homeless shelter. We practice social justice by working with physicians and medical students to ensure the effectiveness, sustainability and growth of these organizations.
not charity.
Charity
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Humility starts with selflessness, which is a precondition for being a man or woman for others. This cannot happen unless one is willing to look beyond one’s own needs to focus on the needs of others. As future health care leaders, we must have a twofold humility. First, we must be humble individuals as we make decisions that affect others. Second, we must be humble leaders of the health care organizations that exist to serve their communities.
Dan Laughlin and Laura Leighton | Health Services Administration
Solidarity is not only a spontaneous movement of the heart that responds immediately, but also a decision to take action to join with, to form community with, those who are suffering. Marie J. Giblin
Solidarity is learned “through contact” rather than “concepts.” When the heart is touched by direct experience, the mind may be challenged to change. Personal involvement with innocent suffering, with the injustice others suffer, is a catalyst for solidarity which then gives rise to intellectual inquiry and moral reflection. Students, in the course of their formation, must let the gritty reality of this world into their lives, so they can learn to feel it, think about it critically, respond to its suffering and engage it constructively. Rev. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J.
solidarity
Finally, solidarity requires growth through action. Our leadership roles with UHP and MedVoUC have afforded us the opportunity to develop our sense of social justice by immersing ourselves in the community. We do these things because we are part of a larger society; we do not do them for ourselves. This experience has made us acutely aware of our community’s health care needs that remain unmet daily. By working with future physicians, learning from each other and combining our skills, we can achieve our shared goal of ensuring the just distribution of health care services.
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