Ashlinn Hoffmeister

Mr. Lynch

Senior Theology

3 January 2018

Advocacy Project Reflection​:

My social justice advocacy project was focused on the marginalized population in

nursing homes. The nursing home I visited was Keystone Place in Buzzards Bay. I developed an

interest in this location because my best friend and I painted nails and spent time with members

of assisted living junior year. In just a short amount of time, the women we spent time with

brought us so unexpected much joy. We loved seeing the way their faces lit up after we painted

their nails for an upcoming holiday. Most of the time, these residents don’t get many visitors

because their family lives far away or they are considered to be “taken care of enough” at the

nursing home. We got to know the residents in assisted living and looked forward to seeing them

every weekend. After thinking about a social justice project senior year, my partner and I

immediately knew we wanted to go back to the same facility. We are both interested in the

healthcare field and we wanted to meet the members of “The Bay” also known as memory care.

Memory care is a form of long-term care designed to meet the specific needs of a person with

Alzheimer's disease, dementia or other types of memory problems. After getting to know

residents in assisted living, we wanted to see what life was like living in the Bay with the hope

that they would get visitors and the same care the assisted living patients got. We knew it would

be a lot different but we wanted to advocate the fact that they are people too and should be

treated as such.
 Walking through the locked doors and into the memory care unit was a lot different than

visiting assisted living was. There were no enthusiastic greetings and barely any recognition

when we tried to talk to the residents. However, spending time with the residents playing cards,

doing puzzles, and listening to their stories became very important to us. With memory

problems, these stories were not always true but giving them someone to talk to was very special

to the residents. We learned a lot from these people and it was really eye-opening because

usually people with memory problems are looked down upon in society. Just because they have a

disease, they aren’t dumb or any less important than you and I. The reason we chose memory

care at Keystone was that of our underlying love for the residents there. We also wanted to

advocate the fact that these residents are people just like us and should be treated with the same

dignity and respect we expect for ourselves.

After going to Ecuador and visiting the Damien House, Sister Annie made a point that

really stuck with us. She talked about how she founded a hospital/living center for people with

Hansen's Disease also known as Leprosy. She made sure to stress that they are considered

residents and not patients. Just because they have a disease they should not be looked down

upon. After learning this, Victoria and I have called the “patients” in memory care residents

because that gives them more respect and dignity. We focused on the fact that people with

illnesses are not outcasts made a lot of special relationships.

The social justice themes we focused on were life and dignity of the human person and

rights and responsibilities. The dignity of the human person is the most fundamental theme of

Catholic social teaching. It means that all human beings are made in the image and likeness of

God, they have God-given dignity, and we as Christians are called to respect and protect human
life and dignity. Respecting human life and dignity means more than simply allowing others to

live. It also means helping others to live to the fullest, to thrive physically, socially, mentally,

and spiritually. This is the big focus on memory care because some people assume that memory

care patients do not need the right amount of time and care because they will “forget in a minute

anyway.” However, this is the opposite of how people should think. Memory Care patients are

people just like us and they deserve to get the same needs met as we do. Similarly, rights and

responsibilities are the realization that all human beings have a right to life and to having their

basic needs met, such as food, shelter, clothing, medical care, and employment. Along with these

rights come responsibilities, such as contributing to and participating in society and promoting

the common good. Even though these residents don’t go out in the community and contribute to

society like they used to, their knowledge, love, and presence teach us so many important lessons

and they should have the right to live as long as God intends them to.

Christian Service Reflection

Having Christian Service as a requirement is not something everybody experiences in

high school. However, this is what my school required and it later helped me develop a love for

community service and for others. Looking back at all we did from freshman year to completing

our social advocacy projects a senior year, my attitude and drive for serving others has changed

for the better.

Starting out in freshman year, I went to a Christian service opportunity at my soon to be

high school over the summer. Not knowing anyone, I showed up to the school and we made

sandwiches for the homeless. There was very little conversation about why we were doing what

we were doing because we were so focused getting to know everyone who we would be
spending the next four years with. We then walked the sandwiches down to the salvation army

and got to serve sandwiches and get to know the people we were giving them to. I still remember

the conversation I had with one woman and the girls I sat with not knowing they would be my

best friends until senior year of high school. This year consisted of basically doing service

because we had to and because it was a requirement. I was dreading adding more service hours

to every year of high school. Sophomore year, I caroled at a hospital which was totally out of my

comfort zone because I am not a singer and I also ran movie nights at my church. I really loved

these movie nights and how much joy it brought the little kids and their families. This was also

way out of my comfort zone because I had to get up and talk in front of a crowd of people. Now,

I am so much more comfortable talking in front of a crowd and this new involvement with my

church lead to my priest asking me to Eucharistic minister. This has really strengthened my faith

because there is something really special about saying “the body of Christ” and handing it to

people who I used to stare at through the pews as a little girl. Even though it was a lot of work I

looked forward to planning these movie nights and I really think it brought our parish together.

My required community service was still a requirement in my head but it started to become

enjoyable and something I did with my own independence. Junior year I painted nails at a

nursing home called Keystone in Buzzards Bay. This really made me develop a love for people,

especially the elderly and I loved getting to know the residents there. I went into the nursing

home nervous about what the residents would say and if anyone would even show up to get their

nails done. I fell in love with the people there and I even did extra hours than what my school

required. I continued my community service the following year at the same location except I

spent time with residents in memory care. I looked forward to seeing these people every
weekend, especially because some of them I had met the year before in assisted living. Even

though they are less responsive and it is harder to see people struggle this way, spending time

with them and letting them know that there was someone there was the best. I hated leaving them

every weekend and I am going to continue to visit the residents even though my project is

complete. I had to step out of my comfort zone, make myself open to meeting people different

than me, and it helped me develop a lot more compassion for others.

This past Thanksgiving, I traveled to Ecuador with a group of people from my school.

This wasn’t considered a true service trip because the focus was just “to be” and exist among the

poor there. We weren’t doing anything to help the people there or give them anything we had.

During this week we were equals and living simply made me thankful for what I have and

appreciate the love of others around me. Playing soccer, games, and simply talking with the kids

there really made me want to become more involved with serving other people. Even with a

language barrier and two totally different cultures and social statuses, we were able to come

together as one with sharing laughter and sharing the love of God through each other.

After reflecting on each year and what I did for Christian Service, I realized that my

personal approach of living as a disciple of Christ is through making others happy and letting

them know that there is someone caring and praying for them. I am not a fan of building houses

or making food behind closed doors because I love human interaction and I feed off of other

people's joy. Since freshman year we have done service to help other people in some way or

another. Personally, my favorite way of serving others is by giving them the gift of just being

present to them and sharing the love God has for them. God’s love doesn’t have to be shared by

quoting the bible or reading the gospel. God’s love is spread through loving others and treating
them all with the same respect and dignity he gives us. Moving on in life, I am definitely going

to continue my service in college and hopefully someday bring my kids to do the same thing.

“We should be more concerned with reaching the lost than pampering the saved.” David McGee.

One common theme with all the people I have met this past for years is how gracious they are for

kids our age taking time out of our days to visit, talk, or play with them. God gives us gifts and

we should use them to give people who need them the most because the most joy comes from

simply loving others.

Social Justice Themes Reflection

As children of God, we are all called to serve the community and treat everyone with

dignity and respect. We are called to love others and follow the Golden Rule, however, life gets

in the way of this and steers us away from God at times. Things like power, money, material

things and temptations steer us away from understanding the common good.

“Authority is mainly a moral power; therefore, it must first call upon the conscience, that

is, upon the duty that each person has to contribute willingly to the common good.” Pope John

XXIII. According to Open Wide Our Hearts, we are called to walk humbly with God by

rebuilding lost relationships, healing our communities, and working towards shaping ourselves

into disciples. Evangelization, which is the work of the Church, “means not only preaching but

witnessing; not only conversion but renewal; not only entry into the community but the building

up of the community.” This relates to the common good because that is the benefit for all people

not only ourselves. We are called to work and serve others based on what will be best for the

community as a whole, not just ourselves. Walking humbly is not waking for ourselves but it is

walking for others.

 “The life of the community, both domestically and internationally, clearly demonstrates

that respect for rights, and the guarantees that follow from them, are measures of the common

good that serve to evaluate the relationship between justice and injustice, development and

poverty, security and conflict.” Benedict XVI. Racism is one of our biggest issues to this day

and it certainly alters our view of the common good. Treating one culture or race a certain way

and the other difference is not serving the community as a whole because the other group(s) is

being treated unjustly. Through his Resurrection, Christ united the one human race to the Father.

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the

blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” John 1:7 Even though Christ’s victory over sin

and death is complete, we still live in a world affected by them. “Racism arises when—either

consciously or unconsciously—a person holds that his or her own race or ethnicity is superior,

and therefore judges persons of other races or ethnicities as inferior and unworthy of equal

regard.” (Open Wide Our Hearts) When we see one person or group of people treating

themselves as superior to the other, we need to remember the First Letter of John: “Everyone

who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in

him” (1 Jn 3:15). We don’t hate, discriminate, or treat others differently because of the way God

made them. “I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or

against. I'm a human being first and foremost, and as such I'm for whoever and whatever benefits

humanity as a whole.” Malcolm X. We should have the same belief as Malcolm X and live by

treating everyone lovingly and equally, living to help the community as a whole, being selfless,

and walking humbly down the path God carved for us.