Christian Life

"You can catch more flies with a spoonful of honey than with a barrel of vinegar."

St. Francis de Sales

Christian Life, based on the powerful Salesian virtues given to us by St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal, forms the core of community life on the Visitation campus. The Campus Ministry and the Christian Service Programs are designed to complement the curriculum and to foster a Christian lifestyle marked by service to others and nourished by liturgical and personal prayer.

Campus Ministry
The office of Campus Ministry is responsible for all school liturgies and retreat programs. Saints Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal are our models and patrons and their lives and writings serve as our primary inspiration as we strive to grow in holiness.

Campus Ministry Objectives:

• To provide opportunities for spiritual growth through the Sacraments and annual student retreats.
• To encourage students' dedication to personal prayer.
• To Strengthen our young women to live lives of dignity.
• To encourage Christian leadership in an ever changing world, emphasizing the Salesian Virtues of hopefulness, humility, and gentleness.

Christian Service
As a Catholic School founded in the Salesian tradition, Georgetown Visitation is committed to the ideal that service rooted in justice is an important part of our faith and a student's education. Consequently, over her four years at Visitation, each student must log 80 hours of service and, as a senior, write a brief reflection paper as part of her graduation requirements. Visitation's Christian Service requirement does not exist merely as "service for service's sake." It stems from our belief that graduates should eagerly share their talents for the betterment of society and recognize their responsibility for making the world a better place.

Loving, Cheerful, Optimistic
                         Salesian Virtues

While students often seek out individual service projects, there are also school-sponsored activities such as mentoring in Saturday School, serving food to the hungry, tutoring, and volunteering at Malta House. Together for Others, Gleaning the Fields and service days at Deep Run Lodge are projects that annually generate huge outpourings of talent and time as mothers and daughters or fathers and daughters work together to help others.

"There is nothing so strong as gentleness and nothing so gentle as real strength."

St. Francis de Sales

Many students choose to participate in service projects during the summer or spring break, and the school sponsors both national and international immersion trips. In recent years, students have traveled to such widely diverse places as St. Francis Inn in Philadelphia, Peru, and an Indian reservation in South Dakota. Several students also participate in Vistory, a week-long program of Salesian sisterhood and service with students from other Visitation schools.