   
Spring Break Mission Trips give students the opportunity to spend a week with their classmates in service, education, and reflection.
We offer these trips as a response to Jesus' call to serve and be served by others.
Our trips attempt to go beyond service and offer experiences that challenge us in how we live out our faith.
We are asking you to go beyond your comfort zone and engage the world in a new way. We hope these trips shake you, arrest you and change you.
Some of the issues our trips discuss:
our trips are a faith-based opportunities for students to pray, reflect, and learn from the people we serve.
These trips are great ways to increase our social awareness, deepen our faith, and have a lot of fun! Spaces fill up fast, so fill out an application as soon as they are available!
STUDENT PARTICIPATION EXPECTATIONS
1. Each participant will meet with his/her Mission Experience group.
We ask our student to meet for six (6) weeks prior to leaving to meet with your group. In these meetings, we will build fellowship, pray together, and learn more about the site. It is important that you are able to commit to this aspect of the experience. Accomodation will be made for those who are on co-op out of town or state. Those in state and those in classes are requested to make meetings.
2. Each participant is asked to Fundraise.
We want every student who wants to go on a Spring Break Mission Trip to be able to do so. We do this by having a low application fee. Thus, we need all students to fundraise. This is an important part of the whole experience. There are many opportunities during the year to fundraise. Your student coordinator will keep you informed on all fundraising opportunities. If you had a successful fundraiser in high school or college, let us know! We're always on the lookout for people with this gift!
3. Open Heart and Mind.
We'd like all students to be open to their experiences on the trips. We hope that you feel a little uncomfortable, but we also want you to feel supported as you work your way through your discomfort. We'd like all our students to participate fully in the week, doing whatever is asked of us, as well as evening prayer and reflection.
4. Reflection Paper
As a way to be examples to our faith community, at the end of your week, you'll be asked to write a one page reflection paper on your experience. This will be used on our website and other promotional/prayer materials for use in the parish. Your witness to the Gospel is an important voice in our world!
For specific information for each trip, click here.
Application as attachment below.
PHOTOS JAMAICA TRIP
Some reflection on the trip by students:
"While we were in Jamaica, we spent three days painting a local mission church in Grange Hill. We worked alongside local parishioners and painted both the inside and outside of this small community church. I had two predominate thoughts during this experience. The first was that we were painting the house of God. I decided that this was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. Jesus talks about building the kingdom and the church, and here we were actually doing it! That understanding alone floored me!"
Corey
" When people ask me about the trip to Jamaica my first response is that it was the absolute best thing that I have ever done in my whole life. When coming back to the states I felt like a changed person; I felt more cultured and that I have a bigger role in the world that I need to play out. It made me want to do something for the poor and needy."
Jenna
"Another great thing for me was celebrating mass in a different country, even though I was in a different culture mass was very similar it made me realize that the twinning relationship that my church has with St. Joseph is not just an abstract thing. But there are people and faces and life stories connected to this relationship. It also made me realize how universal my church is. "
Laura M.
"When we finally arrived in Jamaica, I was surprised by their unwavering hospitality and sincerity. We began the week by spending our first three days sanding and painting a church, and although the task seemed daunting, we surprised ourselves by completing the inside and most of the outside. Even though we worked hard, our host Urban Khan made sure we experienced the fun side Jamaica as well as its culture."
Laura B.
GAINESVILLE TRIP
Some reflection on the trip by students:
"Also, every Wednesday, the house was opened to Dorothy’s Café, where anyone could come for a meal. This wasn’t a normal meal, but one where the poor and homeless were waited on and served. They were treated with respect and dignity while they enjoyed their meals and engaged in conversation. This idea, while very true, really changed my way of thinking. These people are no different than any other human beings, so why treat them any different? This was an amazing educational experience and has changed my outlook on poverty and homelessness."
Alex
"During the two months leading up to the trip, we spent one day each week preparing and growing as a group. We began the meetings as strangers connected by similar interests and left for Florida as friends yearning for a holy adventure. Before we knew it, we were there; excited and nervous for the journey that is the Catholic Worker. From our first steps out of the suburban, we were welcomed with loving smiles and gracious hello’s. I had never felt so welcomed as a stranger in my life... It was the perfect start to an amazing week."
Ali
"My experience this spring break has ruined me. My ways of thinking have been changed for good. I have a different outlook on service on what it is to serve others. It is meant to be a way of life rather than a weekend thing. I hope in my everyday life I am able to let God shine through my acts and my words, spreading the Gospel just by living."
Chelsea
"My view of the homeless has changed since this trip. Most are very kind and very grateful to those in the house. Also, as I was sharing a meal with them, I forgot for a while their circumstances. I forgot to judge them like I sometimes do. It allowed me to open up and talk with them. Talking with them created a connection with them I formally never had with any of the homeless. It changes my whole perspective. "
Caitlin
"People are always people and should be treated with dignity. It’s a common paraphrase of many of the theologies emphasized by the Catholic faith and religions around the world, but my spring break didn’t just teach-- it lived. My experience at the Catholic worker house wasn’t a life changing realization in human nature or my relationship with the world, but a genuine example of the way people should experience each other—an application of the way we are called to live."
Lisa
ST. LOUIS TRIP
Some reflection on the trip by students:
"The trip was amazing, it really was. I am back in Cincinnati and I see everything in a different way now. I almost feel like I am still there and will be waking up to go work at the Northside Community Center. I loved all the different types of service we did. I especially liked working in the urban farm and I would love to learn more about that and possibly get involved in something along that same level. Karen House was really an inspiration as well. I could go on and on, but overall time and time again I saw others giving of themselves for the betterment of others. That was so wonderful to me because I sometimes feel like I am surrounded by selfish people that only live for themselves. Jesus was put on earth to save us, and although no one can ever be as perfect as Jesus, we can work to help and in small ways save those around us."
Kelly
"I was personally amazed at the Meals on Wheels program they have there—they deliver about 450 meals every day! The particular route I helped out on involved distributing 92 lunches. Needless to say, the ladies, Ethel and Victoria, were glad to have my help. Those two surprised me as well. I couldn’t imagine doing their job every day, especially in the rain and cold and snow. But they do it, and they do it with smiles on their faces, constantly thanking Jesus for little things like the lack of rain. I also really enjoyed spending time with the elderly. I talked to one woman for about 2 hours. She told me all about her family, and the story wasn’t an entirely happy one, either. I think she was glad to have someone to talk to, and I was perfectly glad to listen. The time I spent there made me realize that I enjoy spending time with the older members of our society—they have so much history and so many stories to tell. It helped me discover that the perfect place for me to volunteer would be with the elderly, and that’s what I intend to do this summer."
Kendra
WEST VIRGINIA TRIP
Some reflection on the trip by students:
"the trip really did produce much personal and physical change in the participants and the people we helped. We were able to give Wes more time to work on his plight by serving on his farm. We were able to get a strong feel for the Appalachian culture and struggle by living without showers and most of the conveniences of the Cincinnati city life, while partaking in an Appalachian style dinner. We were able to connect with nature and were able to experience the different strata of the world’s wealth through many of Jeanie’s demonstrations. We were able to bond as individuals and forge meaningful relationships, while having a blast as a group. Most importantly we were able to witness firsthand the destruction that mountain top removal so we could come back to UC to make a difference. "
Nick
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Spring Break Mission Trips |