High school theology teacher Amanda Vallimont, MTS’08 (left), talks with Grace Agolia, a first-year MTS student. Agolia holds a map of expo presenters.
Third-year M.Div. student James Luisi and Steven Patzke, who is in his final year of work toward joint master’s degrees in theology and ministry and social work (MA/MSW), arrived around an hour into the expo. The two met as undergraduates at Loyola University Chicago, and afterward each devoted himself to volunteer work—Luisi at a Catholic social-justice lobby in Washington, D.C., and a Jesuit prep school in Dallas, and Patzke as a youth minister at a boys high school in New York City. Luisi, sporting a vivid pink tie covered in miniature Texas flags, was at the expo “to network.” After talking with Catholic Health’s Hibner, he said, “It hadn’t crossed my mind that Catholic hospitals need people with degrees in theology. . . . Not only that, it’s opened my eyes to ‘mission and identity’ offices at other Catholic organizations as potential workplaces.” Patzke spoke with Erin DaCosta,
image : Lee Pellegrini
MA’13, and Kayla Greenwood ’12, M.Ed.’14, theology teachers at nearby Mount Alvernia High School and Austin Preparatory School, respectively. He came away struck by the importance of “finding a school that looks to its mission to shape its students and staff.” The expo, he said, “shows where the Church’s arms really stretch out,” adding, “It’s clear I’ve got to learn Spanish.” Gisella Mendizabal, MA/MSW’12, a social worker at Boston Children’s Hospital, was one of four alumni stationed at the “Social Work/Counseling” table. A native of Peru, Mendizabal spent a year after her graduation from Loyola Marymount University as a member of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps at a homeless shelter in Detroit (“I wanted to go where no one wants to go”). With a big smile and a rapid-fire manner of speaking (“we all talk fast in Peru”), her message to students was: “Your profession is not just a job; it’s a call-
ing. And it’s not about me telling you. How do you see your life making an impact in this world? It’s a continuous search.” There were seven campus ministry representatives manning the tables, and they had a steady stream of visitors. So far, 10 of last year’s 135 graduates entered the field (30 are engaged in parish ministry, 18 teach high school, and 23 are pursuing further study). Two hours after setting up, the staff began clearing the tables and restoring the room, pausing occasionally at a tray of cookies. Nate Hibner appeared even more enthused than when he arrived. “I came tonight with two conversations—one to explain that our industry is huge—Catholic hospitals serve five million people—and there are jobs; the other approach is that healthcare ethics is a rewarding vocation. That clearly was what people wanted to talk about this afternoon.” n
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