As outlined in the agreement signed between CRS and Assumption on May 6, the goals of the partnership are to promote global solidarity through an institutional partnership between the College and CRS that engages the three core constituencies of the College: institutional, faculty and students. Assumption students can participate as CRS Student Ambassadors on campus and the CRS Faculty Learning Commons program provides numerous educational resources for faculty and student engagement. Finally, an interdisciplinary CRS advisory group is tasked with sustaining the partnership and supporting broad engagement with CRS on campus, including during major global emergencies.

“As a Catholic Relief Services Global Campus, Assumption College joins a worldwide effort to call attention to, and serve, those in the greatest of need,” said President Cesareo. “Through this new opportunity, students and faculty will have access to significant resources such as experts who are addressing pressing humanitarian matters throughout the developed and underdeveloped world. Assumption students are challenged to discover their gifts and talents and use what they have learned in the classroom to improve the world in which they live. I am hopeful that many students will be inspired by the work of CRS and use their knowledge in service to the least among us.”

On Pentecost Sunday, May 15, 2016, family, friends, Lay Assumptionists and the greater Assumptionist community of priests and brothers gathered in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit at Assumption College to celebrate Fr. Claude’s 50^th Anniversary of Ordination to the Priesthood. Concelebrants included Very Rev. Miguel Diaz Allon, AA, Provincial Superior, Rev. Peter Precourt, AA, Delegate of the Provincial, priest friends and community members. Among the guests in attendance were classmates from Assumption Prep and Fr. Claude’s college days at Assumption.

In his homily, Fr. Claude preached passionately on the Solemnity of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church. As did the apostles, in coming together with their diversity and limitations in the upper room and then their miraculous ability to go out and preach to peoples of all languages and cultures after the power of the Holy Spirit came in wind and fire, so we, too, are called through our Baptism to bear witness to Jesus and his gospel in our daily lives. He concluded by expressing his heartfelt gratitude to his family, friends and brother Assumptionists for their support and prayers over the years. Of particular significance to Fr. Claude was the quote found in the liturgical aide from 1 Corinthians 15:10, “By the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective.”

Each summer, Assumption College invites students to develop proposals to receive grants that enable them to explore a particular vocation or to conduct academic research. This summer, Global Studies major Sarah Clancy ’18, of Dedham, MA, will use her High Impact Summer Grant to work closely with immigrants and their children while attaining a better understanding of God’s calling for her in Chaparral, New Mexico.

While in Chaparral, Clancy will work with the Religious Sisters of Assumption as an Assumption Mission Associate (AMA), serving as a leader of a summer camp for children of immigrants. Over the years, the Sisters have built a bond of trust with the local people, which has allowed them to help the immigrant community in many different ways.  A cornerstone of the mission is the educational and recreational programs offered to children and youth, with an eye to helping them develop leadership skills and a culture of community service.  During the summer, the Sisters will welcome groups from other parts of the country and Mexico for three or four weeks of camps; in addition to all the fun, these groups get a chance to learn about the realities of life on the border (Chaparral is located near the U.S. and Mexico border).