BERSI Takes Part in March for Life

Washington, D.C. — After a year hiatus, students from Catholic Memorial took part in January’s Blessed Edmund Rice Solidarity Initiative (BERSI) service trip to Washington D.C., which included visits to several monuments and memorials across the city and participation in the 48th annual March for Life. The trip, designed to teach students about the value of life and dignity in all forms, is part of the Blessed Edmund Rice Solidarity Initiative (BERSI), a series of travel-based educational service and immersion programs offered by CM’s campus ministry.

Aidan Healy ’22, Nicholas Emello ’22, Daniel Alvarez ’23, Jack Bailey ’25, Thomas O’Brien ’25, Evan Markos ’22, and Lucas Kenneally ’24 were joined by Campus Ministry Director Michael Dermody ‘07 and Campus Minister Tabi Array for a three-day trip that included visits to museums and national monuments in addition to the walk.

“The trip was a wonderful experience with a great group of students where we were given the opportunity to spend time together in faith and reflection outside the typical school day. It was a lot of fun,” Dermody says.

The first day saw the group visit the National Mall, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture. With other museums closed at the time of visit, the group spent three hours in one of the newer museums on the mall and had an experience that may not have happened if not for the closures.

“It felt like a blessing that those places were closed since we could explore new places. To see the evolution of Black excellence and Black heritage and the black contributions to American culture,” notes Array.

The group also visited several memorials including the Martin Luther King Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, and Korean War Memorial to pay respect to those who fought and died for others.

Following the walk, the group visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, ending the visit with an intense experience on the systematic destruction of life and an up-close experience on the value of human dignity.

“It’s one thing to learn it in the classroom and another thing to see it and experience it,” Dermody says, noting that one of the last exhibits in the museum is a room of the shoes of those who died in the holocaust, which quantifies the sheer number of lives taken.

Upon their return home, the trip showed the strength of the CM brotherhood where seven boys who may not know each other well can share a trip that they value as a memorable part of their high school experience.

“That’s the beauty of those trips,” Dermody said. “Boys across different grades not knowing anyone and getting to know each other over meals celebrating sacrifice and the joy of brotherhood inside and outside the classroom.”

In addition to the March for Life, past BERSI trips include Brownsville, Texas in solidarity with those facing poverty and injustice, Lima, Peru to assist the poor and marginalized, and Philadelphia to serve those facing hunger in urban areas.