Social Justice Internship Ministry Intern at
Misericordia
Emily Saperstein
Social Justice
Internship
Social Justice Internship
Group of chosen students placed at Misericordia, Catholic
Charities, and Madonna House. We meet once every three
weeks in the classroom to discuss social justice issues and
share internship experiences.
Misericordia
Home for people with developmental disabilities, which
fosters each persons spirituality, dignity, respect, and
quality of life.
Ministry Intern Responsibilities:
Choir
Every week I participate in the choir, the Misericordia
Heartzingers! I am lucky to be welcomed into this family,
because it truly is a family. Bob and Madge, the choir
directors, offer support for all the members, calling their
family members for birthdays and visiting them when they
are in the hospital. Of course, we rehearse as a choir and I
help keep the singers in tune, but this is perhaps not the
point of the activity. Residents learn valuable skills, such as
focusing attention and taking turns, but they also make
friends and practice sign language. The amount of support
gained through participating in the choir is irreplaceable.
Even as the intern, I have received so much support from the
choir members and from Bob and Madge. We pray for one
another and build our faith lives together. Our theme song is
Keep on the Sunnyside, which we sing for someone who is
having a bad day to make them smile.
Mass
Every Saturday I help with the liturgy by singing with the
choir, preparing the readers and altar servers, administering
Communion, and meeting new residents. There are two
masses; the first one is longer and includes more people,
while the second Mass is shorter and aimed towards those
who cannot sit through a formal Mass.
Prayer at Rice and Polk Home
This was the main aspect of my internship. I visited these
two homes and led a prayer service with the residents. I got
to meet them individually and get to know them as friends. I
played guitar and we did many sing-a-long songs. After the
service, they invited me for dinner each week. I especially
enjoyed coming into their homes and building relationships
with them. I helped them with weekly prayer, but they
contributed to my own spiritual growth by offering different
insights and ways to dig deeper.
Spiritual Direction
Most special job
I am the spiritual director, but really am just a friend
I listen and pray with Christa
Christa named her stuffed bear after me
Appreciate her openness and vulnerability
Grateful for her trust and energy!
Became best friends!
Highlights
Bob and Madge are the choir directors of 30+
years
But so much more
Choir and Misericordia are their family
Know everyones names
Make everyone feel loved and special
Role models of faith and life
Visit residents in the hospital
New friends
Elena always talks to me about life, talks to me like
a real friend
Fran and Mike always save me a seat and sing trios
with me in the choir
The choir - there for me when I am worried about
school or work
Courtney and Abbey walk with me to choir and
email me
Christa shares so much of her story with me
Spiritual direction:
Christa will leave a huge impact on me. I am her
spiritual director, but really I just listen as she tells me
about her week every Saturday. She is a great friend
who also teaches me a lot. I have been able to ask her
candidly about her disability and she explains what
her experience is like. She has been a model of
courage for me as she describes everything she has
been through, from medical to emotional struggles.
She tells me ways she deals with her anxieties and I
try to keep her in mind during my personal struggles.
Challenges
She has helped me on my faith journey much more
than I have probably helped her.
Consistent schedule for people with
disabilities
Prayer service should follow the same format
Help them follow along and know what to expect
But I felt bored with this consistency
When I got bored, had to remember it was not
about me
Found ways to be more interested
New songs to add to our playlist
Remembering that the residents are disabled
and having appropriate expectations.
Bob and Madge pointed out that staff often are so
used to having regular conversations with residents
that when they act out, the staff forgets they are
disbaled and expcts them to act like us.
Had to remind myself that I had to be patient and not
have unreasonable expectations, like making sure it is
completely quiet before proceeding with prayer. Need
to have an understanding of what the residents need
so I can meet them where they are.
What I learned
Disabilities: People with disabilities are present and
understand you. Somemay seem like they are not
focused, but I was amazed when Bob would call on
them during choir to sing a solo, picking up where we
left off, and they knew every word and exactly where
we were.
The importance of being knowledgeable:. It is
essential to know about current events in society so
that people can work to create a more just world. I
knew nothing about current events at the start of my
internship, but I had a wake-up call when we talked in
class about the events of the presidential election. I
realized I did not have much to contribute because I
was not up to date with the events. Since then I have
tried to make more of an effort to read the news, but
it is difficult to change old habits. I would like to read
What I gained
Humility: I have gained humility through this
experience. I started my internship expecting to help
people, even though I did not think I had the Savior
mentality. I did not realize it at the time, but I thought I
knew what the residents needed and that I would be able
to give it to them. I thought my job was to help them build
their faith lives by reflecting with them, because that was
my job in other ministry areas of my life. I am a Christian
Life Community leader, where my group works together
through prayer and reflection to grow closer to God. This
is a great opportunity, but the difference is that those who
are in CLC choose it. The residents at Misericordia may
choose to join the prayer service each week, but there is
no application or orientation of what they should expect
to get out of it. My way of leading CLC may not be what
the residents at Misericordia want. Throughout the year,
they seem to be happy with singing songs and passing
around the candle. They need to be challenged
differently, because they are not college students and
they have different ways of processing. The choir
directors at Misericordia, Bob and Madge, always say that
some people pray in ways that only God understands, and
I have witnessed that. They are specifically talking about
the residents who are nonverbal, but it applies in any
circumstance. Prayers are meant to be between the
person and God, and it is perfectly okay if my residents
have different needs than the members of my CLC. I have
been humbled by realizing that I do not know everything
there is to know about people with disabilities.
Patience: One of the most challenging lessons I learned
was about patience. At the start, I wanted to do many
complicated activities and reflections (like the ones I did
in my CLC meetings), but quickly learned that the
residents needed something simple and consistent. I
would often get bored after multiple weeks of the same
prayer service and the same songs, but consistency is
very important in this population. It helps the residents
know what to expect if the layout of the program is the
same every week. They can participate more if they know
how the service works. I struggled to be patient because I
wanted to change things to be more interesting. The most
important part of it all was that I had to realize that this
experience was not for me, but for the residents. I had to
do what they wanted and needed, not what I wanted to
do. Instead, I found small ways to compromise, by adding
a few new songs to our sing-a-long and by bringing
different coloring sheets each week. This made it a little
bit more interesting for me, but kept the same
expectations for the residents. Learning that their success
is more important than mine was extremely valuable.
Friendships: In addition to gaining humility, I gained
valuable friendships. While I expected to build
relationships, I did not expect to make real friends. I found
many people who truly cared for me and would help me
along my journey. Franny and Mike were two of the choir
members who I got very close with by the end of my
internship. They would save me a seat during choir each
week and mike would always pull up an extra chair for
me. Mike has cancer, so his absence was apparent when
he would be in the hospital and have to miss practice.
There would be no one to guide me past the throngs of
people during Communion, and no one to wait with me
after choir practice was over. Franny would give me the
updates about Mike and when he finally came back after a
month of being away he gave me the biggest hug. The
three of us sit together and sing as a trio during choir, and
I help bring out their best voices while they help bring out
my best self. When I would be nervous about a job
interview or anything else, they would always talk to me
about it and make me feel better. They inspire me to