Each year, 12-15 young adults live as Rostro de Cristo (RdC) volunteers on the edges of Guayaquil, Ecuador. They live together for a year in community inspired by the best of ancient Catholic religious life - simplicity, service, prayer, and hospitality. They do so in response to God's call to love our neighbor.
Serving
On the margins of Ecuador's largest city love is hard work. RdC volunteers wake up to cold showers and quickly begin to sweat in the tropical heat. Each has a job in the local community supporting initiatives that responds to the poverty of their neighbors. Volunteers serve as educators in local Catholic schools and school programs: staff in community health centers; pastoral ministers in local parishes; and in many other ways.
Fostering Relationships
In addition to serving local organizations, volunteers cultivate authentic friendships in the community, the kind that can only be developed after sharing in daily life - shopping in the local market; visits to the lonely and infirm; offering a listening ear; celebrating Sunday Mass, and joining impromptu soccer games. Every day is an opportunity to encounter, encourage, learn, listen, and pray together - an opportunity to be a friend, neighbor, brother or sister.
Creating Community and Building Bridges
Rostro de Crito volunteers live simply in intentional community - pooling modest stipends, sharing meals, gathering for prayer and reflection, supporting and encouraging one another. Volunteers also mentor groups of U.S. high school and college students who visit for week-long immersion experiences. These students are profoundly impacted by what they see in the streets and by the witness in the volunteers.
The life of Rostro de Cristo volunteers is the living gospel: full of sacrifice, unconditional acceptance, patience, endurance, and most of all, love.
On the margins of Ecuador's largest city love is hard work. RdC volunteers wake up to cold showers and quickly begin to sweat in the tropical heat. Each has a job in the local community supporting initiatives that responds to the poverty of their neighbors. Volunteers serve as educators in local Catholic schools and school programs: staff in community health centers; pastoral ministers in local parishes; and in many other ways.
Fostering Relationships
In addition to serving local organizations, volunteers cultivate authentic friendships in the community, the kind that can only be developed after sharing in daily life - shopping in the local market; visits to the lonely and infirm; offering a listening ear; celebrating Sunday Mass, and joining impromptu soccer games. Every day is an opportunity to encounter, encourage, learn, listen, and pray together - an opportunity to be a friend, neighbor, brother or sister.
Creating Community and Building Bridges
Rostro de Crito volunteers live simply in intentional community - pooling modest stipends, sharing meals, gathering for prayer and reflection, supporting and encouraging one another. Volunteers also mentor groups of U.S. high school and college students who visit for week-long immersion experiences. These students are profoundly impacted by what they see in the streets and by the witness in the volunteers.
The life of Rostro de Cristo volunteers is the living gospel: full of sacrifice, unconditional acceptance, patience, endurance, and most of all, love.