FIT students visit Sister Diocese in the DR

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Apr 4, 2024
At a Holy Thursday service earlier in the day, Deacon Manuel “Yadir” Diaz washes the feet of an FIT student. (COURTESY)

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC | Students, staff and an alumnus from the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne traveled to the Dominican Republic to go on mission during Holy Week. From working on the aqueduct in the town of La Cucarita to climbing a mountain reliving the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, the missioners found the experience was more than they expected.

Florida Institute of Technology Catholic Campus Ministry students from Melbourne go on mission with the Diocese of Orlando to the Dominican Republic during Holy Week. The students, Chaplain Father Randall Meissen, center, and mission office director Raquel Cespedes, second from right, visit Los Guayuyos. (COURTESY)

Legionaries of Christ Father Randall Meissen, chaplain, took the group of six, which included alumnus Alexis Hopkins. After joining Bishop Moore Catholic High School on their October 2023 mission trip, Hopkins felt the Holy Spirit calling her to return. “If I learned one lesson during the week, it was community,” she said.

Father Meissen agreed. “There were tremendous gestures of communion and community from the people in La Cucarita,” he said. “It was very powerful to be working shoulder to shoulder with the community. It was impressive to see every household benefiting from the (aqueduct) project was part of the work force.” He noted their group of six worked among roughly 70 digging and working in the trenches.”

The washing of the feet on Holy Thursday was another highlight. Father Meissen invited all those from the small town of La Cueva who wished to have their feet washed to come forward. He was assisted by Deacon Manuel “Yadir” Diaz FIT students visit Sister Diocese in the DR and Father Fred Ruse. Many children came forward as well as older residents. He said scars from shoe straps across the top of their feet bore witness to a tough life.

Florida Institute of Technology Catholic Campus Ministry students from Melbourne go on mission with the Diocese of Orlando to the Dominican Republic during Holy Week. Chaplain Father Randall Meissen joins Deacon Manuel “Yadir” Diaz and Father Fred Ruse in washing the feet of residents during the Mass of the Last Supper. (COURTESY)

“The feet of the community tell a story of lots of walking across dusty and rocky paths,” Father Meissen said. “A lot of the children play, run and work in flip flops or sandals.”

The chaplain shared his desire for the trip was to give “direct opportunities for experiencing service and exposure to the needs of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world – opening their vision to that Catholic viewpoint that the world, and its needs – the way of living the faith – is broader than the small corner of the United States in which they might have grown.”

Staff report, April 04, 2024