Faith in Action: Mark Shriver, Youth, and Catholic Social Teaching
By Stephen Yin
When St. Ignatius founded the Society of Jesus, he called for radical generosity, a term that Jesuit Pedro Arrupe would later coin as “men and women for others.” Few people live this principle out in a more consistent manner than Mark K. Shriver, a former member of the Maryland House of Delegates and current president of Save the Children Action Network.
Shriver has spent a lifetime advocating for American youth, especially those coming from underprivileged backgrounds. While a delegate, he became the first chair of the Joint Committee on Children, Youth, and Families, as well chairing the Children and Youth Subcommittee in the state house. His passion for serving the next generation emerged during his time in public office, and he took these experiences to create Save the Children’s domestic emergency response program in 2005 to support children affected by disasters of all kinds and to coordinate reunions with their families. In addition, he created another program under the same organization that aims to reinvigorate literary, nutrition, and fitness in the United States through more than 160 corporate partnerships across the country. The results speak for themselves: 60 percent of children who participated in the literacy program showed marked improvement the following year, and the percentage reading at or above their grade level doubled in the subsequent years.
Throughout his array of experiences, Shriver has kept his Catholic faith at the center of his work. In his latest work, Pilgrimage: My Search for the Real Pope Francis, he seeks out those who knew the Jesuit priest before he ascended to the papacy, weaving a narrative of an Italian-Argentine who first heard the call to the priestly life when he was 16 years old. The writing experience also transformed Shriver, who was “disillusioned” about the Catholic Church but became enchanted by the Pope’s gestures of humility and mercy and emerged “from his Catholic funk.”
With his decades of generosity in advocating for youth of all ages and his faith, Shriver will undoubtedly contribute to a rich conversation exploring the message of Pope Francis and its implications for Georgetown alumni and young adults in their professional, personal, and spiritual lives. Joining him this Wednesday, April 5, discussion will be Patrick Conroy, S.J., the chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Michelle Siemietkowski, the director for graduate and undergraduate student formation in the Office of Mission and Ministry at Georgetown University. For more information and to RSVP visit here.
Stephen Yin (SFS'17) is a senior studying international political economy at Georgetown.