Staff Writer Sabrina Philip sat down with Amy Jobin to ask about her role as the Spiritual Life Department Chair.
The Catalyst (TC): How did you end up at both Notre Dame de Namur and NDB?
Amy Jobin (AJ): So I ended up at Notre Dame de Namur by responding to a job advertisement, but I came to find that a woman I knew, who was one of my mentors, used to be a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur. She told me more about the school after I saw the advertisement. Just talking to her and hearing about the Notre Dame hallmarks, the sisters and the school, I just felt compelled to apply for a job there. So I worked at NDNU for six years as a Director of Spirituality. After, I left for a couple of years to work at another school. Then, I came back here and I am in my fourth year at NDB.
TC: What does a day-to-day look like for you on and off campus?
AJ: Every day is different. It’s one of the things that I really enjoy about this job. Usually, it involves meeting with students. Sometimes, it involves teaching students. It involves interacting with the teachers and staff here, who are great. There are many parts of the work that…I really appreciate. [Some] of those things [are] community service and social justice and just really encouraging our students to take time to learn about these things while they’re at NDB.
TC: What are some of your favorite things about your job? The contributions that get to make to the community?
AJ: One thing I’ve been just proud of is our prayer services and liturgies these last few years. The students have been such a big part of that and the the teachers and staff as well. So, I’m just, I think, proud of and grateful to everyone for helping make those so good for our whole community. I’m also really proud of the Hallmarks in Action board. [They] think positively and they also work to keep the mission of Notre Dame alive in our school. They greatly contribute to our school by hosting programs and events, by inviting their fellow students to reflect and help with Foundress Week.
TC: What is your favorite memory at NDB so far?
AJ: I think our graduation masses are always really memorable. It’s just so special to see a whole group of students graduating … and start their lives after NDB, and to be able to celebrate the moments with them in a ceremony together. It was special at NDNU and it’s very special here at NDB as well.
TC: What are ways that you have applied the NDB hallmarks outside of school?
AJ: I try and live with volunteerism in my own life. Some of the things that I do, really to act for peace and educate for justice, include volunteering with Catherine Center. I teach a class there once a month to the women who are in transition and re-entering the community. Another one of my favorite places to serve in the Bay Area is Table of Plenty and that is the dinner that’s in Half Moon Bay on Thursday nights. I think I’ve been volunteering there for over eight years.
TC: How do you hope to help students strengthen their faith?
AJ: I hope that, while students are here, … they get to explore their faith and spirituality, and that they come to some understanding of that for themselves. I think, if there’s one other piece, I hope that they get to know St. Julie, just through the stories we tell and maybe through reading a little bit of her writings.
TC: What led you to a career working in Spiritual Life and focusing on faith?
AJ: I would say I’ve always had a deep love for my faith, my spirituality and inviting people to explore their own spirituality and their understanding of God. I was actually a speech therapist before I studied theology, and before I went to seminary, I practiced speech therapy for probably 10 or 12 years. During that time, I decided to go and volunteer in Haiti for two years … [I] lived with a group of volunteers and Catholic Sisters there, and I think that really increased my interest and prompted me to go to seminary.
TC: What do you hope to introduce in the future to the NDB community?
AJ: I’m hoping that we can run an InterSession trip that goes to a place where the sisters serve and that a group of students will actually get to experience serving with some of our sisters who are working with underserved communities. Long-term, I hope we can just keep on growing strong in our awareness of what’s happening out in our world, being people who are committed to the Notre Dame mission and who respond to the needs of our world.
