Jesus Christ of the Slums

Being in formation for the priesthood requires all participants to be active in ministerial work. This can be a vast number of things, from teaching English, to working in parishes, or Catholic organizations, the options are many. I spent two years working in a program called 'The Mantle' at Port Ministries, an outreach program founded by Franciscan friars in the south-side of Chicago. Founded by Fr.Gus in 1984, the Port decided to make its mission the service to the needy. Beginning with a soup kitchen, the port now extends its services to distribution of food through a 'Bred-truck', a healthcare clinic, educational programs for adults, home-visiting ministries and a program called 'The Mantle' that tutors kids after school.

After two years of service in the Mantle, I have shared many wonderful experiences and have come across many hard realities. The place where the Port is located is one of the most dangerous and poor neighborhoods of Chicago. Poverty and crime are a reality that the children who attend the after school program face everyday. As I got to know the children and their stories unfolded- I began to know the Jesus Christ of the Slums. It is very common for these children to experience friends and relatives being shot or killed. It is far more common for them to experience absentee parenting, it is yet even more likely for them to never reach high school or graduation, but as these rough realities were being unfolded I met the Jesus Christ they know. As part of a daily activity the kids are encourage to keep a journal where they can freely write about something that is happening in their life. A young girl y the age of twelve once wrote of her gratitude and love for the world. She wrote of the small heaven that was the Mantle, where she felt loved and could love in return and referring to the tough times of the neighborhood she wrote of a Jesus who spoke to her in day-to-day small gifts like having her family and friends coming and going from home safely. Her immense gratitude at the things most of us take for granted opened my eyes to this Christ.

I graduate from Loyola University of Chicago this year with a bachelor's in philosophy which is also part of the formation program for the priesthood. As I travel everyday to school during these two years, I witness the geographical institutionalized racism of the city of Chicago. As soon as you cross certain streets, the Jesus Christ of the Slums is no longer visible. He is a reality that only this young black girl gets to experience by having been born in a particular quadrant of the city. You do not witness gun shots, robberies, infrastructure falling part, prostitution or drug circulation in the North side of the city giving the impression that we have left Jesus Christ crucified and have forgotten about it.

This two years of formation were a milestone in my understanding of mission and the priesthood. In a recent speech, our new pope said, 'the shepherds must smell like their sheep,' referring to the identity of the priesthood. These words resemble the reality I saw at this place called the Mantle. The mission is to places of need, our call and identity is to be with the people we are called to serve.