With more than 120 Jesuit high schools and universities in the US and Canada, it’s no surprise education is what the Society of Jesus is best known for in our part of the world. And listeners to AMDG might be familiar with newer educational initiatives that have Jesuit roots, like the Cristo Rey Network of high schools or MiguelNativity presecondary schools or the relatively new handful of two-year colleges growing out of Jesuit universities. These last three initiatives were designed to serve students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

If you head to Central and South America, you’ll find yet another innovative Jesuit-rooted approach to education that has been growing and transforming lives for more than 70 years: Fe y Alegría, which is Spanish for Faith and Joy, is an international education movement that was founded in Caracas, Venezuela in 1955 by a Jesuit named Fr. José María Vélaz. Today, the network is working in more than 20 countries in Latin America, Africa and Europe, and its mission is to provide quality education to people living in poverty and on the margins. Fe y Alegría serves well over a million students through schools, vocational training programs, and community education initiatives, all rooted in a commitment to human dignity.

Fr. Marco Gómez, SJ, is the national director of Fe y Alegria in Panama. He joined host Mike Jordan Laskey for an interview during a recent speaking tour of the United States. Fr. Marco talked about his background and the important work Fe y Alegría is doing in Panama, where it is serving young people who are facing extremely difficult living situations. As American foreign and domestic policy decisions can have an impact on the lives of our neighbors here in this hemisphere, especially those who are already struggling with poverty and violence, we hope you’ll find it both enlightening and challenging to hear Fr. Marco’s perspective from his vantage point in Central America. And we hope you’ll learn that Fe y Alegría movement is doing work all Jesuits and Catholics should be proud of, no matter where you live in the world.

Fe y Alegría: https://www.feyalegria.org/en/home-fya-international/

AMDG is a production of the Jesuit Media Lab, which is a project of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.

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