You might expect Brother Roberto Ortega Jimenez, a Texas native, to feel out of place in Chicago. Yet he revels in the cold weather—and in the personal warmth of a school dedicated to helping inner-city kids succeed.

Holy Trinity High School, founded in 1910 to educate Polish immigrants, today serves Latinos, African-Americans, and immigrants from Poland, Ukraine, China, Ethiopia, and Somalia. These 400 students come from throughout the city for a Holy Cross education. Engaging their hearts and minds, dedicated faculty encourage 90% of the students to apply to college, and 95% of the applicants to enroll.

“I fell in love with the school because of the mission,” says Brother Roberto, who teaches Spanish and math and coaches basketball and soccer. “The school carries on the message of Father Basil Moreau, by accepting kids where they are and bringing them forward.”

He is especially enthusiastic about his fellow teachers.

“The faculty are really committed to helping the kids. They are here until 6 or 7 at night, tutoring or doing whatever it takes to help students advance.”
This kind of personal investment influenced his own life. When he was a senior at Saint Edward’s University, Brother Romard Barthel assisted him with his thesis.

“I knew Brothers but didn’t know much about their lives, so I asked Brother Romard, ‘What do you people do here?’ As he explained, I suddenly said, out of nowhere, ‘I want to move in tomorrow.’ I was engaged at the time, and I went home and told my fiancée, ‘I think I’m going to be a Brother.’ She said, ‘Give it a try because I don’t want you to live with what if.’”

What sparked his response to Holy Cross?

“I ask myself that daily,” says Brother Roberto. “It just came from within. I wish I could explain it. Kids ask me how I knew I had a vocation, and all I can say is, ‘When you fall in love with someone, you just fall in love. And you know when it happens.’”

Family members can respond very differently to a young person’s vocation. For Brother Roberto and his father, it helped turn a rocky relationship into one of pride and support. For his brothers and sisters, he says wryly, it was a “mixed bag.”

“It was funny, because when I would go home they wouldn’t drink. They thought they had to be ‘holy.’ Now that I’ve been a Brother for 15 years, they know it is a normal thing.”

Brother Roberto has worked in many different settings. He taught at an elementary school the year before he entered the Congregation. Then, while he earned his master’s degree in theology, he taught for two years at Holy Cross High School in San Antonio, Texas. After another two-year appointment at St. Anthony Elementary School in Beaumont, Texas, Brother Roberto went to Monterrey, Mexico as formation director.

“That was the toughest time I ever had,” he reflects. “I only lasted 10 months. It was hard to convey the idea of being a Brother, and it was tough to make decisions in such a tight-knit community. The ministry itself was good, though, and I enjoyed being with the guys and the program we had.”

He returned to the classroom, spending seven years at Holy Cross School in New Orleans. From 1990 to 1996 he also served on the National Council of Hispanic Ministries, a national federation of organizations that promotes and advances causes of Hispanic Catholics.

Since moving to Chicago, he has discovered another, personal mission.

“I’m beginning a master’s in philanthropic studies at Indiana University,” says Brother Roberto. “When I was on the Council, we looked at different ministries and how we could help make them better known and serve the community at large. This degree will enable me to do fundraising for Holy Trinity High School.”

A man with long-range goals, he is also realistic about the demands of everyday life as a Brother living in community.

“Every religious congregation has ‘nooks and crannies,’ yet there is still something in Holy Cross that has brought me here,” he says.

How would he advise other men to discern whether God is bringing them to this life?

“I told one of the kids here, ‘Get a life,’” says Brother Roberto. “Experience life before you say, ‘This is what I want to do.’ People need to be in a relationship to understand what that is like and know whether God is calling them to do something else. If you have a vocation, it will still be there.”