Transitions are never-ending for spiritual-growth agents like Jason Moore ’01, who thinks it best to embrace those moments whole-heartedly.
For three-plus years, Moore was assistant director in Edmundite Campus Ministry’s MOVE office, leading students with life-changing service experiences both locally and around the world. This year, he’s become an assistant director of campus ministry, and the new possibilities excite him.
“For all of us in the office, whatever our titles, I think our role is to journey with people trying to discover spirituality wherever they are starting from and no matter their faith tradition or absence of one, and to help them have lives that are engaged in what they discover,” said Moore.
Though his parents were not overtly religious, his grandfather, who lived close by, took him to Mass regularly as a child, deeply influencing Moore. “As long as I can remember, I had interest in spirituality,” he said. “I was educated in Catholic schools from first grade, attended Boston College High School and for a long time was considering the priesthood.” In fact, many of the high school’s Jesuit community “actively sought me out” to enter the seminary, but by late high school, Moore knew that while he wanted to be involved in ministry, it would likely take some other form.
Enthusiastic about his high school’s faith-based retreats and service work, Moore made such opportunities a priority in his college search. The Saint Michael’s Edmundites’ charism of service and hospitality, the friendly people he met and strong academics drew him to the college, Moore said, and he wanted to see what life was like beyond the Boston area for a while. Since he had long desired to teach, he double-majored in history and education, participating broadly in campus ministry activities all four years.
Moore found teaching jobs after college, first in public school and then at Burlington’s Mater Christi, a private Catholic K-8 school. One of his assignments there was teaching religion to middle-school students, and he revamped the curriculum, learning a lot in the process. “Seventh grade included New Testament study based in Scripture and a social justice unit, while eighth grade was a world religions curriculum,” he said. That opened him to a greater interest in ecumenical interfaith outreach, which has become a keen interest in his Saint Michael’s ministry.
Moore joined MOVE in 2005. “I knew it was an opportunity I had to consider,” he said. As an undergraduate, he had pursued Peace and Conflict studies across Ireland one year. “I love traveling and see service as a way of life for me,” he said. But he had little direct experience leading overseas service trips when called to organize his first MOVE trip to work with Mother Theresa’s community in Calcutta.
“Those trips challenge each of us in so many ways since we’ve never seen that much poverty and struggle,” he said. “I so appreciate watching the transformative effect it has on all of us.” His subsequent trips abroad and to domestic sites have re-enforced his belief in the importance of the college’s students having such opportunities.
Looking ahead, Moore would like to start a Catholic lay movement chapter of a group called the “Community of Sant’Egidio,” begun by the Vatican in 1968 around ideals of prayer rooted in the Gospel, solidarity in service, worldwide friendship, peace activity, long-term commitment to marginalized populations and interfaith dialogue. “In many ways it kind of encapsulates what I’d like my work to be in Campus Ministry.”
:—Mark Tarnacki
