alumni feature, ministry
By Greg Mellor
(Sacramento 2004-05)
In August of 2005, I drove away from the gates of New Folsom Prison for the last time as a Jesuit Volunteer. My year in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps was hands down the most transformational experience of my life. It is an experience from which I regularly draw new wisdom, inspiration, and self-understanding.
As a full-time prison chaplain, I learned how to actively and effectively share Christ’s love and compassion to the men inmates of the maximum-security prison. I also learned how to show this love and compassion to the administrators, correctional officers, and other prison staff. What most astounded me was the profound love and care that several of the men inmates showed me. To this day, I consider the C-Yard chapel in New Folsom Prison to be the place where I feel most safe physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Since completing my year in JVC, I’ve lived in six different cities and the bulk of my professional career has been dedicated to high school and university campus ministry at Jesuit institutions. This work and ministry have surely been life-giving. However, as I continue to listen to the desires that lie deepest in my heart, I return to prison over and over again. The desire to serve men in a prison was planted in me as a Jesuit Volunteer and simply has not left.
Therefore, my plan is to respond to this desire and to take a leap of faith this summer. I will move to Sacramento and pursue work in prison ministry. As the old JVC motto says, I truly was "ruined for life."
fjv, alumni feature, love stories
"Living in a community of parallels, marred by trauma, supported by deep love, helped us recognize how much responsibility we carry in this world as stewards of social justice."
fjv, alumni feature, love stories
"We credit JVC for giving us a strong foundation for our relationship and the values that we are actively passing on to the next generation of F(uture) Jesuit Volunteers."
fjv, alumni feature, love stories
"The four values of JVC, simple living, social justice, community, and spirituality have been infused in our relationship and marriage, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. We are at our best when we are surrounded and supported by community; the best and worst moments of our relationship have been made better when shared with the people we love."
fjv, alumni feature, love stories, international program
"JVC showed us how to care for each other more in radical ways, in more soulful ways. Together, we still ask the questions. How can we live in this world that is always demanding so much of us with a sense of abundance rather than depletion? How do we exist in a community with a sense of all of us belonging to each other?"
fjv, community, love stories, alumni feature
"JVC taught us to communicate openly and clearly with each other and we still use some of the things we learned in Milwaukee to make our big emotional decisions."