"By preference, by option, our Jesuit
point of view is that of the poor."

Rev. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ
Superior General of the Society of Jesus

The Poverty and Solidarity program's goals are to enhance student learning about poverty and to foster recognition among students that they have a social responsibility to work toward the alleviation of poverty.

These goals are consistent with John Carroll University 's mission as "a Catholic and Jesuit University dedicated to developing women and men with the knowledge and character to lead and to serve." Furthermore, according to the mission statement, the university hopes to prepare students "to engage in responsible social action" and who are "sensitive to the need for social justice in response to current social pressures and problems."

The program's goals reflect the charge laid out by Rev. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., in his October 2000 address at Santa Clara University on " The Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice in American Jesuit Higher Education ": " students. must let the gritty reality of this world into their lives, so they can learn to feel it, think about it critically, respond to its suffering and engage it constructively. They should learn to perceive, think, judge, choose and act for the rights of others, especially the disadvantaged and the oppressed.Students need close involvement with the poor and the marginal now, in order to learn about reality and become adults of solidarity in the future ."

Link to Full text of Fr. Kolvenbach's address