Service Learning Mission Statement

Corpus Christi College provides educational opportunities grounded in Catholic social teaching values to CCC students. In combination with our courses taught in Social Justice and Peace studies we seek to develop mutually beneficial, reciprocal relationships with local community and international organizations in order to develop a sense of social responsibility in our students. We encourage all of our students to engage in community internships and placements, and participate in our international programs.

Our Social Justice and Service Philosophy

The Four Pillars

Social Justice

Love one another as I have loved you (John 15:12)

Peace and Service programs at Corpus Christi College are modeled on the tradition of Catholic social services and encourage our young men and women to engage in service to others. Through work in local community organizations, Guatemala and Tanzania, our students learn to reconsider the social realities of the world they live in and to personally take responsibility for their own ideas with respect to social service, faith and justice.

Community

I want to stay in your home today (Luke 19)

It is a crucial component of our programs that our students work in community in the act of serving others. Everyone has something to offer through their own unique gifts and talents. By living in community we learn to appreciate and recognize what each individual has to offer and to put the needs of others before those of our own.

Simplicity

Blessed are the gentle of heart (Matthew 5)

Simplicity and simple living are two other values our members are asked to observe. In an age where consumerism, resource exploitation and material comfort have reached record levels, we ask our students to evaluate what they really need to be happy and comfortable in life. As they walk in the path of those who have so much less in material terms than we do in Vancouver, our students learn to appreciate hospitality and generosity in the most simple of terms.

Life in the Spirit

If you but knew the gift of God (John 4:10)

The foundation of our service programs is that of spirituality. We are founded on the Catholic principles of social justice and service and yet we are not exclusively open to just those who profess the Catholic faith. We encourage all students to reflect on their call to service and to explore how service, justice and faith will ground them in all of the choices they make in life. The spiritual journey that our students make through their service experience is the one that will stay with them long after they have arrived back home and are back to their familiar routine. It is what brings students back again and again to participate in more service work at the College.