BSVM has been highlighting different alumni who share the ways in which they are living into the charism and mission of the Sisters of Bon Secours years after their time with BSVM. This month, we hear from Faith Yusko who tracks her path after BSVM and follows the thread of how God continues to shape her through her jobs and assignments. We are grateful for the many ways that God continues to work in and through our alumni to build community and practice justice wherever they are!

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Living the Mission
By Faith Yusko (BSVM 2016-2017)
A graduate of the University of Scranton

Since my time with Bon Secours Volunteer Ministry, my journey has been a whirlwind of experiences that have woven themselves into the fabric of who I am today. It’s strange to reflect and realize that the joy I felt in the Child Development classroom at Community Works in Baltimore, and the love I’ve experienced being challenged with my fellow volunteers on Mount Street, continue to steer me daily, now 8 years later.

The memories from that year persist, filling me with the spirit of compassion, healing, and liberation that define the essence of BSVM and the Sisters of Bon Secours. These memories have led me to a career of teaching where I continue to grow and be challenged by a loving community.

The pillars of BSVM – Grow Spiritually, Learn through Service with Others, Develop Community, Live Simply, and Practice God’s Justice – are more than just words on paper. (Yet, I do have them on a coffee-stained sticky note that has traveled with me from job to job, serving as a reminder to keep these pillars alive in my vocation as a teacher.) Living in an intentional community with five other young folks, all on a faith-based service mission, became the foundation for how I strive to engage with the world around me. The compassion shared with me through them is what I try to pass on to my friends, my students, and the strangers I encounter. I’ve found that I constantly crave community in my life.

After BSVM, I embarked on other service programs that took me from the busy halls of the United Nations to the vast expanse of the Sonoran Desert – each chapter unfolding as an extension of the principles instilled by BSVM. The Sisters of St. Joseph, whom I worked with in NYC, called me to see each being as my “dear neighbor” and how the lines between us dissolve as those who are marginalized and outcast are welcomed in with dignity and heard wholeheartedly. The growth was real, both spiritually and through hands-on service, and the development of community in each new environment was a living testament to the impact of these BSVM pillars.

The journey continued with the Alliance for Catholic Education Teaching Fellowship, where I found myself as an elementary school teacher in an underserved Catholic school in Tucson, AZ while simultaneously studying at the University of Notre Dame. The echoes of BSVM were loud and clear – growth, service, community, simplicity, and God’s justice playing out in the lives of the young minds I had the privilege to teach. The impact of COVID certainly strained those who were already marginalized and challenged how I had previously pictured “community,” but the need to connect with one another and with our faith remained, just in new and innovative ways.

Now, as I stand in the present moment, I’ve found my anchor as a Religious Studies teacher at Marymount School of NY. The continuity that I see in the pillars of BSVM and the Charism of the RSHM Sisters who support Marymount is striking – the commitment to spiritual growth, the ongoing engagement with communities, and the relentless pursuit of justice. I see it echoed especially in their commitment of ut vitam habeant, “that all may have life.” My classroom isn’t just a place of learning; it’s a canvas where the values of BSVM and all of the Sisters I’ve worked alongside come alive through discussions on social justice and scripture. The young women I teach challenge the systematic injustices in our society, both inside our classroom and through their service in our NYC community. Even as their teacher, I am called to learn and serve with them, to challenge the barriers that prevent our brothers and sisters from living their lives to the fullest. I have always been called to community, but my work deepens my drive for not just togetherness, but flourishing. When each of us is free to grow into whom God calls us to be, the kinship and tenderness that supported our growth flows through us for others.

Reflecting on this journey, I see how each experience, from soothing crying toddlers alongside foster grandmas in Baltimore, to reading “Holes” by Louis Sachar in costume and praying over Zoom to fourth graders, now to the classrooms of Marymount, have been unique stepping stones shaping my personal and professional growth. The lessons learned in the heart of BSVM continue to resonate through every chapter, making my story one that is intricately woven with threads of compassion, service, community, simplicity, and justice – threads that started in the rich tapestry of BSVM and now guide my path. I’m still a work in progress, but these threads connect me to all forms of community, near and far.