We Witnessed the World Set on Fire (Catholic Charities Series No. 02)

This blog post is the second in a series written by Jaclynne Nader, N’18 and Jacy Neczypor, N’18, who will chronicle their journey of starting a Pre-Orientation program for first year students at Georgetown in August 2017. The pair is working with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington and looks forward to sharing its progress on this project over the next month.

We have begun our visits to various Catholic Charities sites. Every site was filled with such amazing and selfless individuals that each location left us more inspired than before. After leaving each site, Jaclynne Nader and I had an almost tangible excitement for incoming students to be able to spend time at these remarkable places as well. Over the course of three days, we spent time at Anchor Behavioral Health, McCarrick Family Clinic, Sanctuaries for Life, and Community Partners. It seemed that a partnership between Georgetown University and Catholic Charities has been long overdue.

One unique aspect of Georgetown is that the School of Nursing and Health Studies teaches its students not only to strive for excellence as healthcare professionals, but also to treat all individuals in the spirit of Cura Personalis. This idea of caring for others in a physical, emotional, and spiritual manner is also near to the heart of the work done through Catholic Charities. Every employee we met at the sites embodied being men and women for others through their authentic love of serving the marginalized individuals that seek their services.

As Jaclynne and I toured the McCarrick Family Clinic and Sanctuaries for Life, the passion exuded by the employees was contagious. The work we saw was performed with such dignity and care for people of vulnerable populations. This only reaffirmed our desire to work to in the healthcare field. We witnessed the world set on fire. As we move forward in developing the Pre-Orientation Program, we are eager to light the same spark for many generations of incoming students.

Written by Jacy Neczypor, N’18