Orientation Recap

This blog post was written by Mark Piper, one of this year's South House Volunteers.

The beginning seems to be a good place to start – and so let me tell you this tale from its beginning.

Amate House 2010 – 2011 began the weekend of July 31/August 1. The weekend was filled with an ample amount of heat, humidity, and sunshine (an omen for the weather we would have for our two weeks of orientation). As the 34 of us volunteers moved into our new Amate House homes, our orientation began.

Our official schedule was this:

1 - Move In on or before Sunday August 1^st

2 - Partake in the opening BBQ and Liturgy at South House / St. Maurice Church of Blessed Sacrament Parish.

3 - Let the two weeks of orientation begin!

I myself moved into South House on Saturday the 31^st after a 3 hour drive down from Wisconsin with my parents. Of course my welcome to Chicago wouldn’t have been complete without the bumper to bumper traffic on the Kennedy. (Part 1 complete)

My family had to head out of town, but between Saturday and Sunday I had already begun to meet my new housemates; from Jen who greeted me at the door, to Kevin whom I would share the Mother Superior Suite with (never thought I’d inhabit a Mother Superior Suite). We, the 2010-2011 Amate House volunteers, began to walk down the awkward road of salutations, information gathering, and community building. The opening barbeque and liturgy helped keep the awkwardness of “newness” and the “unknown” away and we began in earnest to learn who we will be as Amate House volunteers, what our mission is, and how to build our intentional community. (Part 2 complete)

With move in and the opening ceremony complete, it was now time to orient ourselves to the tenants of Amate house (Faith, Service, Community, Social Justice, and Stewardship) and to begin living in solidarity with those whom we will serve this year.

We did many things in many places during orientation. We talked about and reflected on each tenet. We had time as a whole group (the 34 of us) we had time in our house (South House 12; Little Village 9; and North House 13) and we had time to ourselves (although they kept us pretty busy). We explored the city, and our neighborhoods with scavenger hunts aided by our curiosity. From DePaul to Roosevelt University, Millennium Park to McKinley Park, Irons Oaks to the Cardinal Meyer Center, we spent the better part of orientation learning who we will be living with, how we will live together “simply,” mindful of our modest stipend and more importantly, I think, we examined who we are now, so that by June we can assess who we have become. Oh, and of course there were a few late nights, mostly filled with conversation, card-games, or in the case of South House, watching White-Collar.

At the opening barbeque, one of the founders of Amate House shared with us the story of the program’s ‘patron saint.’ Obviously not officially recognized by the Vatican – at least not yet – her name was Sr. Mary Ellen Nolan RSM. Throughout all of orientation -the talks, writings, readings, reflections, and insights, what has had the deepest resonance with me was what I heard about Sr. Mary Ellen. Furthermore, she exemplifies the service, vision, and dedication to the common good that we hope to embody throughout our year at Amate House. This was our orientation; yet from time spent with the alumni, I know it is only the beginning of what promises to be a wonderful and challenging year.