The students have arrived in Arlington and Chicago and are blogging about their experiences!

To read more (and see pictures!) from the Arlington/Baltimore student’s blogs, please visit:  http://arlingtonandbaltimoreurbanplunge15.blogspot.com/

To read more (and see pictures!) from the Chicago/Dayton student’s blogs, please visit:  http://chicagoanddaytonurbanplunge15.blogspot.com/  

It is Wednesday of Holy Week and the students are flooding out of Duquesne and heading home for a short break.  But before they left campus we gathered with those who went with us on the Cross Cultural Mission Experience and had a final meeting.  The grace of the experience is still fresh and vital in the students.  They have been meeting together not as "mission trip" members but as friends in the weeks since we returned.  Our official meeting was more like a homecoming for them and they talked and joked not only about what we did on the trip but they caught each other up on what they have been doing together since their return and even made a few plans for more get togethers.  They shared a desire to continue the service aspect of the trip as well and they're looking for a way to participate together in Spring Clean Up and other service opportunities.

Every year we take students on mission trip and every year the same grace is experienced.  Community is built, service is given and friendships are born.  You, our donors and our friends, were a big part of that grace.  We were able to do more this year than in any of the years prior because of your generous support.  And I'm happy to let you know that the funds we didn't use during the trip itself have been donated to the groups we partnered with while on the CCME.

Thank you again for your generous support and may the grace that has been new life for our students and the people they served on the trips also be given to you in this Easter feast.

Fr. Bill