NEW ROCHELLE, NY — In his role as Director of Campus Ministry at Iona Preparatory School, Anthony Casella instructs and guides students in their Catholic commitment to service. Offering more than 75 weekly service opportunities throughout the year and taking more than 100 Gaels on service immersion trips in the U.S. and abroad has solidified Iona Prep’s call to serve and made its Campus Ministry program one of the finest in the region.
But Casella isn’t done. Now it’s his turn to travel.
For two weeks this month, the Yorktown Heights resident will be a student – an honors student – as he participates in a prestigious, faith-based training program in Switzerland pertaining to human rights and advocacy, the latter of which will be the next level of ministry at Iona Prep.Casella was among 12 Catholic educators chosen to attend the conference, which kicked off May 1 in Geneva. The training program is presented by Edmund Rice International (ERI), a non-governmental organization committed to promoting and protecting the rights of children and young adults, particularly with regard to education. The program is open to members of Christian Brother schools who can share the benefits from the training to initiate or strengthen advocacy and justice programs in their schools and in collaboration with other schools. Casella was the lone American selected from among an expansive pool of applicants worldwide.
There are more than 200 Christian Brothers schools around the globe, including more than 30 in the United States.
“We hired Anthony because we wanted a proven innovator who would make our Campus Ministry program the epicenter of the school,” Iona Preparatory President Brother Thomas Leto said. “He and his team have done that, and this conference will help take our program to the next level by connecting the service we do each week and every year with global advocacy efforts.”
The ERI program coincides with a session of the Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. Casella and other participants will:
· Offer input on the various mechanisms of the Human Rights Council and the Universal Periodic Review, as well as the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
· Attend sessions of the Human Rights Council and view its workings first hand.
· Meet representatives of the UN, diplomatic missions and like-minded non-governmental organizations.
· Learn about the work of ERI and ways to facilitate effective advocacy by affiliated organizations.
· Prepare or update an advocacy plan to be presented to local leadership for discussion and approval.
“This is a unique opportunity for me to connect with other Christian Brother schools worldwide and lay the groundwork for how, together, we can unite to transform our individual advocacy efforts into collective human rights activism,” Casella said.
Casella is a 1997 graduate of Iona Prep. He went on to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Iona College, a master’s in education at Fordham University, and is currently pursuing Specialist in Education degree at Seton Hall University. Casella worked part-time at Iona Prep in the Advancement Office from 1998 to 2001 and later worked in administration on both the secondary and higher education levels. He returned to Iona Prep in 2011 as Director of Campus Ministry.