Each year, the Holy Cross Mission Center works with campus ministry offices, service organizations, parishes, schools, and residence halls to facilitate group immersion experiences to Holy Cross ministries in Bangladesh, Chile, Kenya, Mexico, Peru, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Between September 2024 and August 2025, approximately 180  students, chaperones, parishioners, and faculty members affiliated with these U.S.-based Holy Cross ministries either have spent or will spend intentional time at Holy Cross ministries abroad. There, they will encounter CSCs and the lay people they serve alongside, and in the process will learn about their joys, struggles, cultural traditions, and expressions of faith.

We at the Holy Cross Mission Center are grateful to play a small part in their pre-immersion formation, typically by presenting to them on Holy Cross’s missionary history and the work of Holy Cross around the world today. This spring has been no different as the following groups heard from our office:

• NDBridge participants and Summer Fellows from the Institute for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame, who will be heading to Mexico, Peru, and Uganda for eight weeks over the summer.
• A Twinning group from Notre Dame High School (Sherman Oaks, California) who will visit Canto Grande, Peru, for a week in June to encounter the students, faculty, staff, and CSCs at Colegio Fe y Alegria no. 25 and learn about Holy Cross’s work alongside communities in need,
• Groups from the Physicians Assistant Program at King’s College who are offering their growing professional skillsets at Br. Andre Clinic in Canto Grande this summer.
• St. Monica Africa Ministry, which is sending a group of parishioners to visit Holy Cross ministries in Kenya this summer, and
• Moreau seminarians John Cahill, C.S.C., and Ethan Kelley, C.S.C., who are participating in the 2025 Ganguly Exchange, a international formation program available to U.S. Province men in formation.

What a gift it was to meet so many people, especially young people,  eager to encounter Christ made present in the people at Holy Cross ministries outside the U.S.!

Some students expressed a desire to learn how other Holy Cross schools welcome new students. Others looked forward to the change to hone their Spanish language skills. Those nearing the start of their professional lives looked forward to the opportunity to put their academic and professional experiences to use in communities that lack healthcare resources. We invite all travelers to consider their hopes while also being open to all that Christ has planned for them.

Through the HCMC presentations, these groups had opportunities to learn about Holy Cross history and charism, reflect on the history of missions in light of Catholic social teaching, learn about the Congregational Year of Mission,  and develop intercultural competencies that will help them respect the local culture that they encounter, always with an eye for the ways that culture might be able to draw them closer to Christ. Also, given the success of our first-ever student essay contest last year, the HCMC was also excited to invite each student traveler to apply to the 2025 Holy Cross Missions Student Essay Contest, the deadline for which is August 31. We hope that the prompts for this year’s contest foster prayer and reflection among the student participants.

We look forward to hearing more about how these students encounter Christ this summer! May God bless them abundantly during these memorable experiences of the Holy Cross family.

Published May 2025