Our Lady of the Angels Province friar and Associate Chaplain for the CUA Faculty & Staff, Fr. Louis Maximilian Smith, OFM Conv. alongside the participants on the Rural Appalachian Service Immersion, in West Virginia.

Our province contributes to the Service & Justice Immersion Program at the Catholic University of America (CUA). Our donation helps keep the cost down; making the program accessible to students from more diverse economic backgrounds. This year, CUA students were able to engage in immersion trips outside the USA to Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, as well as trips to the Appalachian region of West Virginia, Philadelphia-PA, El Paso-TX, and Apopka-FL. The program has expanded through the years to facilitate more experiences, opening the participants’ eyes to different realities, struggles and gifts of communities far from their home. These experiences fall right in line with our Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) charism; inspiring the participants to get more involved in social justice.

From volunteering with children to farming with migrants, the students were able to experience different cultures and learn ways to live in solidarity with the poor and marginalized. The students who traveled to rural West Virginia learned about the environmental impacts of mining, and also worked with various social services. Some students lived with migrant families in Florida, while working on the farms with them, and learning more about the challenges immigrants face in the United States. A group of students also went to Jamaica and worked with the Missionaries of the Poor and the Passionist volunteers.

Since returning to campus, many of the student participants have begun volunteering in the Washington, DC area. In just a few weeks, another set of students will travel to Belize and El Salvador for Summer Immersion Trips. Your support of our friars helps our continued support of programs affiliated with our varied ministries. We currently have four friars serving the students, faculty, staff and visitors of The Catholic University of America through the Campus Ministry Office:
Fr. Jude DeAngelo, OFM Conv. (University Chaplain & Director of Campus Ministry),
Fr. Andrzej Brzeziński, OFM Conv. (Associate Chaplain for Faith Development),
Fr. Louis Maximilian Smith, OFM Conv. (Associate Chaplain for University Faculty and Staff),
and Fr. Albert Puliyadan, OFM Conv. (Associate Chaplain for Liturgy and Worship).
Our province also has several student friars in study at CUA, and together with our friars in ministry, they help to enhance CUA’s Campus Ministry as a place where friends soon become family, expanding the capacity to serve and love others, while finding the freedom to take a deeper dive into what it means to live a life of faith.
Learn more about Campus Ministry at CUA