Magnificat High School hosted last week's Diocese of Cleveland High School Principal meeting. This meeting happened to fall within the school's Spirit Week, in which the school's Se-Mores (seniors and sophomores) competed against the Jun-Fre (juniors and freshmen) in various games and activities. These purposeful pairings provide authentic leadership opportunities for upper-class students, allowing the school to live out the school's mission - to educate young women holistically to learn, lead, and serve in the spirit of Mary's Magnificat - and its core value of collaboration.
I left Magnificat's campus inspired that day, having witnessed one small way in which the school aligns its foundational statements to its actions.
In today's Gospel from Luke, Jesus reminds us, "No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light" (
Luke 8:16). Similarly, Jesus challenged us in yesterday's Gospel in this way, "No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon" (Luke 16:13).
In other words, we cannot and must not dim the lights of our schools by saying one thing and doing another. We cannot serve God through the missions of our schools while also engaging in behaviors that go against that for which we stand.
Since the beginning of the school year – and in many ways since I started with the diocese three years ago – we have focused on our mission statements, core beliefs, and the values/pillars/charisms that inspire our schools.
For those of you that were with us over the summer, you will remember the exercise of using our missions as the spines of our organizations. Doing this forces us to see the work of our schools as stemming from and measured by these foundational statements of our institutions.
However, there are aspects of our schools that try to serve two masters and in doing so diminish the brightness of our lights. By engaging in practices, even small ones, that contradict our mission, beliefs, and values we weaken the intensity of the light we should be shining for the world to see.
From discipline policies that emphasize punishment and shame to grading practices that inflate or harm students' scores with non-academic factors to cheers that demean certain groups of students to the music played at school dances to the loosening of campus security outside of the hours of the school day to lower standards for the language of athletic coaches there are many ways that we diminish our light by not adhering to the words we use to profess who we are and what we value as Catholic schools.
As we strive to provide clarity, build coherence, and strive for consistency, let us leverage this foundational language so that everything we do allows us to live up to the high ideals of our missions, beliefs, and values/pillars/charisms.
As we find areas that misalign, like those named above and other others, let us be courageous in our efforts to remove them from our schools, make changes that fit with our professed identities, and/or add programs, policies, procedures, and personnel that enable us to advance our missions.
As we do this, may we put the lights of our school communities on a lampstand so that they - and our students - shine brighter, and so that we may more boldly and authentically declare that Jesus Christ is the reason for our schools.
Let's leave no doubt Whom we serve: our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.
Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine.
