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Patrick Burns ’08 Receives Arrupe Service Scholarship from John Carroll University
Pat Burns ’08 with his scholarship letter from John Carroll University, alongside Paul Cumbo ’97, Di
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The Canisius Community congratulates senior Patrick Burns, who will attend John Carroll University in Cleveland as an Arrupe Scholar. The Arrupe Scholars program recognizes JCU students for their significant commitment to two interrelated values of the University’s mission: intellectual inquiry that demands critical thinking, and the active engagement with social justice. Arrupe Scholars participate in academic classes that focus on service learning and justice issues. Also, they are involved with domestic and international immersion experiences sponsored by Campus Ministry.
Patrick commented on his own service experience: “I learned a great deal on the inaugural Companions trip to Laredo, Texas. I learned that service is not just supplying people with material things, but getting to know them and their situation on a personal level. In terms of poverty, I realized that it is not just about finances, but can be a lack of other things in one’s life. We learned that poverty is also the absence of freedom. Sometimes this limits a person’s freedom to break out of a cycle. Primarily, though, I learned to treat people with the human dignity that we all deserve.”
“Pat experienced something very powerful during his time in South Texas,” said Companions Program Director Paul Cumbo ’97. “He and his companions came to some initial understandings about the nature of poverty and the Jesuit call not only to charity, but also to actionfor social justice. That implies working to understand the root causes – economic, ideological, and social – behind problems like poverty, hunger, and homelessness. I’m confident that his receipt of this scholarship and engagement with its programs will only reinforce these lessons and his own generous commitment to a life of service.”
From the JCU Website: Rev. Pedro Arrupe, SJ, for whom the program is named, served as the Superior General of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) from 1965 to 1983. He grew in his understanding of the world, its struggles for justice and peace, and the way God continued to call people to be involved with this world. Students in the program can find in his life a paradigm for their own growth, to be unafraid to be challenged, to learn from cultures not their own, and to gauge their growth not in terms of how much they possess but in terms of how much they can give.
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