The Immersion Program at Christ Our Hope

Due to COVID-19 and safety procedures, our Immersion Program is being reimaged. If you are interested in participating in or volunteering with the program please email Deanna Tighe.

What is an Immersion?

At Christ Our Hope an immersion is not a deep dive into another language, rather it is a jumping into to our faith. Immersions remind us of the impact our faith can have when we let it guide our actions. More concretely, an immersion is a facilitated day of service, often for students. 

The day starts with participants arriving early in the morning into our beautiful space in downtown Seattle. Father or Deacon welcomes them and opens the day in prayer and we go over the agenda: what people can expect for the day, who they will met, our partner agencies they will visit, and why they should pay attention to where they see Christ today.

Why Christ Our Hope?

in the past we've asked students (and their often-wandering attention spans), to see if they notice anything different about our space compared to other Catholic parishes. One Friday, a student from St. Therese mentioned the baptismal font while another mentioned the intricate detail on the ceiling. Both are certainly unique parts of our parish. But we direct particpants to see the glass windows behind the altar and then those on the right of the Sanctuary. What’s different?

One student got it – “you can see through the stained glass on that side!” It's certainly something not often seen in a Catholic parish. By design, the openness of the glass windows along Second Avenue allows passerby to see into celebration of our faith. But more importantly, it reminds us that our faith does not stay inside the church alone. Our faith is not just lived on Sundays. Jesus calls us to live our faith out every day of the week and to be with people: to go out and build relationships with others. Relationships with our neighbors which are often forgotten. We tell our particpants that they have that opportunity to build relationships with our neighbors here and how Christ is alive in all of us.

The Schedule

Afterwards, participants leave and for the next two hours embrace putting themselves fully into a project. That might be here at the Josephinum or one of our various partner agencies such as Recovery Café, Mary’s Place, Heritage House, or Urban Rest Stop to name a few. It can be as simple as cooking a meal, playing bingo with residents, or just sitting and having a conversation with someone.

Then they return for our favorite part of the day: participants break bread together with Josephinum residents. Participants sit in pairs with the residents to eat and have conversations. We encourage them before to lean into any discomfort they might feel and to have ice breaker questions ready: “how long have you lived at the Josephinum” or “do you think the Seahawks will win on Monday night football?”.

Often, participants can and do go deeper.  A student asks, “what does it mean to have us here today,” another asks, “do you have any stories to share with me”. During our reflection time (after the dreaded clean-up of course), we ask the participants about those conversations. One student stated, “He said to be grateful with the things I have because I don’t know what will happen next” and the next responds, “She said I was doing God’s work”.

God’s work. That’s what an immersion is.

The gospel calls us today to give back what we’ve been given and use it to grow the kingdom of God. Immersion Participants grow the kingdom of God by building relationships. We close our immersions with a simple prayer: To ask that God continues to accompany us on our journey, give us open minds and hearts, as we serve as neighbors searching for a greater understanding of his unending love and joy. 

• Christ the King                       
• Eastside Catholic School (middle and high school)                          
• Holy Family                            
• Kennedy High School                        
• Our Lady of the Lake                         
• Seattle Pacific University - CityQuest                       
• Seattle Prep                           
• Seattle University                              
• St. Benedict                           
• St. Bernadette                        
• St. Catherine of Siena School                       
• St. Cecilia Catholic School                            
• St. Edward's                          
• St. George                             
• St. John's School                               
• St. Madeline Sophie                          
• St. Mark's                               
• St. Mary Magdalen                            
• St. Matthew's                         
• St. Philiomina                        
• St. Therese Catholic Academy          

• All Saints Parish
• St. Joseph Parish (Vancouver)
• St. Luke's Parish