program Vision

The Arrupe International Immersion Program empowers participating students, primarily through student leaders, with support from staff leaders and other mentors, to build intentional faith-sharing communities through which students open themselves to:

• Learn about the complex reality, from a historical, social, economic, political and religious perspective, of people of another country who struggle in poverty.
• Humbly encounter and hear the story of people from this country in their own words.
• Develop a sense of compassion and responsibility for those who suffer, both in the country visited and all throughout the world.
• By tapping the wisdom of Catholic social teaching and Ignatian Spirituality, deepen their faith – especially as it relates to engaging the world in agapic love through service and justice – and in the process, deepen their understanding of themselves and discern their life’s vocation(s).
• Translate their learning into action by developing a commitment and a capacity to freely give their passions, talents and abilities joyfully to a world in need.

Defining Statement:

• Those who participate in the Arrupe program strive to become members of a discerning, agapic community, loving in solidarity.

Summary Statement:

• Discerning.  Loving.  In Solidarity.

Program Overview

Arrupe program winter break trips run for 7, 8 or 9 days during the last part of winter break, each trip beginning sometime after January 1.  All Arrupe Trips travel to various destinations throughout Latin America – Mexico, Central America, and South America.

The application process for Student Leader candidates begins in November (more than a year prior to trip departure dates) for candidates who will be studying abroad during the following spring semester, and in January for candidates who are at Boston College during the spring semester.  After submitting an application and interviewing, Student Leaders are selected, 2 for each Arrupe program, ideally before spring break. 

The application process for Participants (non-Student Leaders) begins in March, typically right after spring break, with campus-wide publicity and a series of information sessions facilitated by Arrupe Program Coordinators and Student Leaders.  Applications for Participants are due via an on-line process in mid to late March and, after a review process by each program’s selection committee, comprised of that program’s Student Leaders and Arrupe Mentors, interviews are conducted in early to mid April by members of this committee.  Teams are selected by late April, and Participants immediately launch their collective effort to raise funds for their respective program, beginning with the “Solidarity Letter Campaign.”  Each Student Participant continues to raise funds throughout the summer, and begins to prepare for their Arrupe experience by learning about the country to which they will visit the following January.

Beginning in mid September, each team of 14 to 16, including the 2 Student Leaders and 2 Arrupe Mentors (Boston College-affiliated faculty members, administrators and/or graduate students who accompany the team of undergrads throughout the entire experience) meet for a full-weekend Pre-Trip Retreat and then continue to meet weekly, typically for two hours, as well as for periodic presentations on relevant topics and other activities.  Throughout the trip preparation process Student Leaders lead their team in the process of building an intentional community of trust and inquiry.  Since Boston College’s Campus Ministry sponsors these faith-based international immersion experiences, prayer and journaling, and reflection and sharing with each other – influenced by Boston College’s Jesuit Catholic tradition and other faith traditions – are vital components of each program, of the retreats and weekly meetings.  During the preparation process and the trip, the Student Leaders, with support from their Arrupe Mentors, lead their respective small communities in reflecting on and sharing about each other’s life experience and the insights gained from this experience, while in conversation with a variety of wisdom sources, including Catholic social teaching and Ignatian Spirituality. 

Then, upon returning to campus after the trips, Participants continue to meet, for a Post-Trip Retreat and for weekly meetings and periodic presentations, to process their overall Arrupe experience and to begin to discern ways in which they can integrate their experience into their everyday lived experience and future aspirations.  Ideally, each Participant begins to learn how to live in solidarity with the people they met in-country and with the rest of their brothers and sisters throughout the world.