The service trip to Camden, N.J., each summer brings our students to the Romero Center, whose ministries serve the poor and vulnerable members of the Camden community. The Romero Center works with churches, nonprofits and volunteers to provide students such as those at Xavier the possibility of ministering in various ways. From prepping and serving food to visiting with the elderly or young children, there are many possibilities.
While at the Romero Center, students also have a chance to learn about Catholic social teaching and to reflect on and share their experiences.
Xavier is a school in which students learn that “to lead is to serve.” The Romero Center is an organization that heeds the call of Jesus to serve the “least among us.” Our students get to experience that.
Brother Philip Revell, C.F.X., wrote after one of those trips: “Our individual contributions in works of charity may often seem quite small or insignificant, but the Xavier service trip to Camden helped us all to remember the words of Jesus, ‘Whatsoever you did to the least of my brethren, you did it to me,’ and to understand what those words mean in the context of modern society.”