The Los Angeles Regional Council of the Ignatian Volunteer Corps (IVC Los Angeles) honored Loyola High School of Los Angeles' Community Service Program (CSP) at its 2009 Madonna Della Strada Reception, held April 19 at Blessed Sacrament Church in Hollywood.

Jesuit Father Peter Filice, superior of the Jesuit community at Loyola High, received the award for Loyola. The IVC also honored Tom Zeko, director of the CSP and former IVC Los Angeles Advisory Council member, for his continued responsibility for this program and his outstanding commitment to its success.

Each year, the IVC honors individuals and programs in cities across the country that reflect the Ignatian values of direct service to the poor and of working and educating for a more just society. Former recipients in Los Angeles include Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary Sister Peg Dolan, alumni chaplain at Loyola Marymount University, and Jesuit Father Michael Kennedy, former pastor of Dolores Mission Church, Boyle Heights.

Retired Bishop Gordon Bennett, former principal of Loyola High and founder of its Community Service program, recalled the CSP's beginnings.

"At the time," he noted, "the two questions I asked myself were: what do we want the students to know, and what do we want the students to be like? The first question relates to their academic development while the second question speaks to the objective of a Jesuit education, developing men for others."

Bishop Bennett stressed that he wanted to cultivate compassion, generosity and wisdom in the students. The Community Service Program is instrumental in seeing this goal to fruition.

In presenting the award, Anne Hansen, regional director for IVC Los Angeles, noted that over the last 30 years, Loyola's CSP has provided the opportunity for thousands of Loyola students to become engaged in the world in a new way, to actively participate in the Gospel's call to service.

"Like Sister Dolan and Father Kennedy," said Hansen, "Loyola students have touched and enriched the lives of tens of thousands of individuals who are poor or marginalized in Los Angeles."

Current Loyola students Ben Campos, '10, Leonard Talavera, '09, and Kyle Moran, '09 spoke movingly about the importance of this program in their lives as students. Graduate Paul Golding, '08, now a student at USC, shared how his time in service to others at Loyola had impacted his life.

The Ignatian Volunteer Corps, founded 14 years ago, has now grown into a national organization with regional programs in 15 areas across the country and more than 250 volunteers. IVC, a volunteer organization for people aged 50-plus, is one of the Ignatian-inspired service programs that, besides Loyola CSP, include LMU's Center for Service and Action, and the university's Alumni service program begun by Sister Dolan, RSHM, started and continues to oversee at LMU and the Jesuit Volunteer Corps for college graduates.

For more information about the Ignatian Volunteer Corps, contact Anne Hansen at (805) 987-9807 or by email at ahansen@ivcusa.org.