Aydee Cruz Mejía, an undergraduate student at Fairfield University and an alumnus of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Milwaukee, credits the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice as a major catalyst in her justice-seeking vocation. She has attended five of them so far, presented at three of them, and deepened her leadership skills as a high schooler at the Arrupe Leaders Summit. Aydee is a fantastic example of a student who is not only open to growth but also provokes growth from the people and institutions to which she belongs.

• Read about the last Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice, at which Aydee presented a breakout session called “Building Solidarity and Justice in Predominantly White Institutions.”
• Read about the recent Arrupe Leaders Summit, a formative experience Aydee underwent as a high schooler.

Xavier High School in New York City organized a prayer service and two mile march from their school down to Federal Plaza, where federal immigration court is located. Brandon Sumba, and John Mahovlic, both current juniors at Xavier, participated in that public witness on behalf of migrants and, a few days later, attended the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice in Washington, D.C., where they got another experience of advocacy on Capitol Hill. In this episode, Brandon and John talk about what they experienced and learned over these formative experiences, providing rich examples of faith in action. During the Catholic Church’s Season of Faithful Witness, the Xavier witness is a fantastic model to follow for embodying faith-filled advocacy.

1. Read about Xavier’s participation in the One Church One Family campaign through their 2-mile march through New York City.
2. Learn about the opportunity to mobilize your community on March 24, 2026—the feast of St. Óscar Romero—to stand in solidarity with immigrants across the country.
3. Fascilitate deeper engagemetn with this episode using this free discussion guide from Education for Justice.

Ruth Morgan, an undergraduate student at Georgetown University studying healthcare management and policy, features on this podcast episode. Ruth is introduced in the first segment by one of her mentors, Kimberly Mazcyk, the Associate Director for Engagement of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University. Kim moderated a panel at the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice, where Ruth offered deeply engaging insights along with a couple racial justice veterans who are well-known in Catholic circles. That breakout session was titled: “Walking by Faith, Fighting for Racial Justice: Voices for Our Time.”

The conversation with Ruth gives a glimpse of her work and career trajectory, in which she explores social justice through the lens of racial justice and health equity, grounded in the Jesuit value of being people for others.

1. Read about the IFTJ breakout session Ruth and Kim were a part of at IFTJ.
2. Read a feature piece that Georgetown University did on Ruth.
3. Check out some of the fascinating webinar conversations the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life has organized recently.
4. Facilitate deeper engagement with this episode using this free discussion guide resource from Education for Justice.

Season 2 Episode 3: Featured on this episode is Sarah Flores, a New Yorker and a student at Loyola University Maryland. Sarah hyped up those gathered in front of the U.S. Capitol before the Advocacy Day of the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice. In all three segments, Sarah expresses how her campus ministers and what she has been learning about inter-religious dialogue grounded her experience of the Teach-In.

1. Watch the entire recording of Sarah’s address in front of Capitol Hill.
2. Facilitate deeper engagement with this episode using this free discussion guide resource from Education for Justice.

Bishop O’Dowd High School senior, London Walker, joins us in three segments: live from D.C. at the Ignatian Family Teach-In before her mainstage address, a clip of her mainstage address, and from her school in Oakland, CA, as she reflects on her Teach-In experience.

1. Watch the entire recording of London’s mainstage address at IFTJ.

Check out HBCU Prep School, the publishing company that published London’s children’s book on cybersecurity.

Kicking off season 2 of the podcast—which will focus largely on speakers and presenters at the 2025 Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice—we are joined by Micahel Libunao-Macalintal, director of campus ministry at Regis High School in NYC, and Lucas Bujosa, a senior at Regis. In addition to captivating clips from their respective mainstage addresses, hear them speak about the inspiration behind the bold themes in their speeches.

1. Watch the entire recording of Mike breaking open the “Pressing On” theme at IFTJ.
2. Watch the entire recording of Lucas’ speech at IFTJ.
3. Read more of Mike’s brilliant contributions to ISN’s reflection series.
4. Learn more about REACH, the academic mentorship program Lucas participated in as a middle schooler that laid the foundation for his impressive career at Regis.
5. Facilitate deeper engagement with this episode using this free discussion guide resource from Education for Justice!

Interluding seasons one and two of the Ignatian Voices for Justice Podcast, we offer a thoughtful reflection from Dr. Annmarie Caño on the birthday of one of the UCA Jesuit martyrs, Ignacio Martín-Baró. Many in the Ignatian family will be gathered with us on the anniversary of the 6 Jesuits and their two lay companions assassinated in El Salvador at the 28th annual Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice in mid-November. Stay tuned for in-depth conversations about faith-rooted justice work that we will cover in Season 2, as well as the fires that are fueled each year at IFTJ.

Remembering Ignacio Martín-Baró, by Annmarie Caño: https://ignatiansolidarity.net/blog/2025/11/07/remembering-ignacio-martin-baro-sj/

Leading Toward Liberation: How to Build Cultures of Thriving in Higher Education (Hopkins Press, 2025): https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/53804/leading-toward-liberation?srsltid=AfmBOooiPDo9MTAg9Wkp4I840PEbtFKkNJ6QfKRBiM32g773bmz0VdV9 (edited)

Wrapping up our first season of the podcast, we sit down with Alyssa Perez Marquez, who just started a new role at Cristo Rey San José. So far, all of our featured guests are currently in high school, college, or just starting their full-time professional careers. The intention to feature these impressive individuals was to demonstrate to our network—especially the young leaders in our Ignatian network—that leadership in the faith-doing-justice world is a role they can and should step into right now. Our choice to wrap up the array of leaders this season with Alyssa was also intentional. The recipient of ISN’s 2025 Moira O’Donnell Emerging Leader Award, Alyssa has a decade of professional experience under her belt and is an inspiring exemplar to all of our young leaders of how a rich and fulfilling career in justice advocacy can unfold. All told, Alyssa has been to nine Ignatian Family Teach-Ins for Justice, starting in high school and culminating in MC-ing one. She’s facilitated leadership programming for ISN and contributed to our reflection series. In short, ISN has received so much from Alyssa and is honored to have played a part in her formation as well.

As her mentor, Patrick Furlong, the director of the Pam Rector Center for Service and Action at LMU mentions in our first segment, Alyssa’s impactful leadership is due to her authentic presence and the way that the perennial wisdom of Saint Ignatius flows through her.

Alyssa was awarded the 2025 Moira O’Donnell Emerging Leader Award in San Francisco. Read about the award night celebrating justice here: https://ignatiansolidarity.net/blog/2025/05/13/ignite-illuminates-san-francisco/

Alyssa mentioned her reflection centering lessons on radical hospitality from her time as a Jesuit Volunteer in Belize. Read that reflection here: https://ignatiansolidarity.net/blog/2024/07/15/trusting-in-radical-hospitality/

Alyssa has written many reflections for ISN in our weekly Rise Up series and our annual Lenten series. Access all her contributions here: ​​https://ignatiansolidarity.net/blog/author/aperez/

Patrick Furlong, Alyssa’s mentor at LMU, highlighted the impactful work he gets to participate in at the Pam Rector Center for Service and Action. Explore their work here: https://studentaffairs.lmu.edu/activities/centerforserviceandaction/