“There’s not going to be one definition that I can put in a little box to describe how I relate to the Divine. “My relationship to the Divine is the most important thing to me.”īeing in a three-year program focused on meaning-making and spiritual, soulful practices helped the disconnect finally click for her. I didn’t have a name for it because I’m not really religious, but I’m spiritual,” she says. “Until HDS, I was super insecure about my spiritual identity. "Through my work with Professor Moore, I was able to visit Palestine with the 'Narratives of Belonging and Displacement' course, which really activated this urgency around not just studying movements for social justice at a fancy school, but actually asking: What am I committing to?”īeyond the classroom, Del Castillo cites HDS as strengthening her relationship and connection with the Divine by helping her recognize the divinity within herself, teaching her practices such as sitting in stillness, engaging in reflective work, and connecting to internal wisdom. “I look up to those two people so much," Del Castillo says. Likewise, Melissa Bartholomew, Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at HDS, shaped Del Castillo through conversations about language around diversity, inclusion, and belonging, and what it means to be a practitioner of justice. Del Castillo says that Moore helped her think deeply about what peace is and how to authentically approach conflict and resolution. Once arriving at HDS, Del Castillo’s academic and thesis advisor was Professor Diane Moore, Faculty Director for the Religion and Public Life program at HDS. She visited the School, met students and faculty, “and really got a glimpse into the magic of the people at HDS who are engaging in this work with spirit and kinship at the center, and who are asking really deep questions that I was interested in.” Her first experience with Harvard Divinity School was through the Diversity and Explorations program, a three-day introduction to the programs and missions at HDS for students considering a career grounded in diversity and social change. I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in justice-building and repairing the harms that impact so many historically underserved communities, because I belong to those communities, and those communities are the people that I love.” “I really feel like the Divine led me to HDS. “And that birthed my own spirit of activism and desire to organize around issues of social justice.”ĭel Castillo’s experiences in Mississippi lit a spiritual fire within her that eventually led her to Harvard. “People oftentimes think of Mississippi for the pain that was caused there, and I like to think about the beautiful movements for racial justice that were really birthed there,” she says. “I grew up with the unhoused community, because that’s where my mom was doing her ministry.”įrom her early childhood in the “overlooked and underserved” state of Mississippi, Del Castillo has been bearing witness to social inequities-inspired by the communities in which she dwelled and the southern racial justice activists that preceded her, such as Fannie Lou Hamer. “I grew up with the undocumented community,” Del Castillo says. Her spiritually rich upbringing, she says, set her trajectory toward continued change and activism. This will be a place that will further my aspirations to do healing justice work.'”Īs the daughter of a United Methodist preacher and Peruvian-Bolivian immigrant, Anna Del Castillo, MDiv ’21, grew up in a cultural fusion in Mississippi. “I remember after a busy day of DivEx programming, I sat on the steps of Swartz Hall, feeling the sun on skin and just hearing this whisper from the Divine saying, ‘You belong here here is a place that you will grow and get to know me better.’ And so I was just like, ‘Okay. Anna Del Castillo, MDiv ’21, climate researcher at HDS's Religion and Public Life/ Courtesy photo
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