Social Justice Immersions are immersive service learning trips that can last from 3 days up to multiple weeks. Students learn about the historical and current context of critical social issues, enter into meaningful dialogue and deep reflection with each other and with community partners, and expand their ability to imagine possibilities for social change. While some immersions offer opportunities for direct service, the focus is on planting seed of understanding and hope while engaging authentically with communities affected by the social justice issues each immersion is centered on. Trips are located both close to campus and across the country, and are led by student coordinators with the support of Moreau Center staff, and each trip also brings a staff of faculty accompanier. Students who participate in immersions must commit to attending up to four preparatory seminars (depending on the time of year of your trip), fundraising (for Spring and Summer Immersions) and also must commit to at least one follow-up engagement after returning from the trip. Social Justice Immersions invite students to engage the Moreau Center for Service and Justice’s core core commitments of Community, Social Justice, Solidarity, and Reflection, which are rooted in Catholic Social Teaching. The immersion is more than just the trip itself! It starts with preparation and community building and ends with reflection on how students can continue putting into practice everything they’ve learned on immersion.
Social Justice Immersions occur during all or a portion of academic intercessions: Fall Vacation (October), Christmas Vacation (January), Spring Vacation (March), and Summer Vacation (May).
We invite you to read student reflections from our immersions:
- Affordable Housing Immersion (formerly Collegiate Challenge)
- Border Immersion
- Civil Rights Immersion
- Community Organizing and Resistance (CORE) Immersion
- Environmental Justice Immersion
- L’Arche Bologna
- North Portland Civil Rights Immersion
- Peru Immersion
- Rural Immersion
- Tanzania Immersion
- Urban Immersion
Please accept the invitation to join us in our individual and collective immersions. As you are inspired and moved, you may share a monetary donation, offer prayers and words of encouragement, and follow along and comment on our blogs, as we document our reflections.