When I attended the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice (IFTJ) in Washington, D.C., in 2025, I knew I wanted to deepen my involvement in advocacy and social justice. What I didn't know was that my experience at the largest Catholic social justice gathering in the U.S. would eventually lead me to move to another country and dedicate a year of my life to service.

Ignatian Solidarity Network - a national social justice education & advocacy network

The palpable care she and fellow attendees witnessed in the midst of a socio-political environment of pain and fear emerged as she prayed with the first reading from Exodus, where God prohibits the oppression of foreigners, "for you were once [foreigners] yourselves in the land of Egypt." That grace was deepened with the Gospel reading, in which Jesus commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Ignatian Solidarity Network - a national social justice education & advocacy network

The "Voting Is an Act of Love" campaign kicked off with a webinar titled "Don't Vote Alone: Forming Communities for Civic Love." The session invited students, parishioners, and other network members to see voting as a communal act of love for neighbor, rather than a solitary task.

Ignatian Solidarity Network - a national social justice education & advocacy network

This November, Barry University—a Catholic institution in Miami, Florida, founded by the Adrian Dominican Sisters— will join a growing community of Catholic colleges and universities sponsored by other religious congregations and dioceses that participate in the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice in Washington, D.C., the largest Catholic social justice conference in the U.S.

Ignatian Solidarity Network - a national social justice education & advocacy network

The Ignatian Solidarity Network (ISN) hosted a virtual vigil on September 9, 2026, to mourn the death of Pierre Damas Bel, a 20-year-old member of Springfield, Ohio's Haitian community, and to stand in solidarity with immigrant communities across the country affected by escalating immigration enforcement tactics.

Ignatian Solidarity Network - a national social justice education & advocacy network