DSW Service Year is all about giving a year serving people in need, living as a community, praying, and giving focused attention to the spiritual aspect of life. Year-long volunteers are recent college graduates, young people on a non-college career path, or students taking a year off of school. They take advantage of their relative freedom to give a year of direct service before beginning their careers. The year begins and ends in August.
Salesian Spirituality, Service, Community, Prayer
Four Pillars of DSW Service Year
I. Salesian Spirituality
The Oblates believe that the spirituality of our patron, St. Francis de Sales, has a lot to offer our complicated and aggressive world. During the year we examine the insights of our saint in the following ways:
1. Read and discuss key books on Salesian spirituality and Catholic social teaching.
2. Benefit from presentations, conversation and four retreats during the year that draw on the talents of various Oblates in the area.
3. Live as a community & serve in the community putting Salesian spirituality into practice.
4. Benefit from a process of spiritual direction and mentoring.
II. Service
1. Volunteers have the choice of a variety of service opportunities. An individual’s placement can either be all with one agency or can be made up of a combination of placements. There are service placements to meet each volunteer’s interests and talents.
- Guadalupe Family Services is a placement that particularly reaches out to families who have experienced violent crime. Service volunteers conduct anger management and conflict resolution education for ages 1-8 at Holy Name School.
- Holy Name School, our Catholic grade school, school nurse, physical education, tutoring, art, music, campus ministry and service projects.
- New Visions, homeless day shelter.
- Holy Name urban gardening project.
- Cathedral Sandwich ministry & outreach to the homeless
- “Pastoral Visiting” that involves going house to house in the neighborhood to connect, to invite to the parish community, to access needs, and to bless each home.
- HopeWorks, a computer/web training center.
- St. Luke medical clinic.
- Camden Law Center offers neighborhood legal aid, focusing in the area of domestic abuse and immigration.
2. All Service Year Volunteers have the opportunity to participate in high school, college and parish Salesian Service Retreats, sharing their insight & experience about poverty, the Gospel, Catholic social teaching, and Salesian wisdom. hyper link to News “High school service retreats”
III. Community
Christianity cannot even be imagined without community. DSW Volunteers are invited to form community with fellow Volunteers, the Oblates, and the with local neighborhood community. Sometimes Christian community is made up of people who just “click” and are all friends; sometimes it can be more of a challenge; it never just happens by itself. Community life involves sharing the DSW house, meals, and prayer. Volunteers develop a covenant that will establish goals and minimum expectations for group participation in community activities.
IV. Prayer
Common prayer is part of the DSW experience. This takes the form of weekly community Mass and one other weekly prayer planned and developed by Volunteers. As with community, Volunteers will establish minimums and goals to commit to for the year. Participants are encouraged to take advantage of spiritual direction, and there are four retreats to benefit spiritual life. St. Francis de Sales has a lot to teach us about prayer and living in the presence of God----and connecting that to service and community.
Check out the FAQs for more information.
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