In last Monday's Gospel, Jesus calls Nathaniel to follow him as one of the apostles:
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him." (John 1:47)
What does it mean to have no duplicity? To be duplicitous means to be dishonest, deceptive or two-faced. So, the opposite of this would point toward someone honest or sincere.
Why does Jesus describe Nathaniel in such a way? The short form centers on a reference to Jacob, who deceived his father Isaac so that Jacob, instead of his brother Esau, would receive Isaac's blessing (Gn. 27:35-36).
Nathaniel acts in an honest and direct way, standing in sharp contrast to Jacob's duplicity.
Catholic schools would do well to imitate Nathaniel and remove the duplicity in our schools and ministries, uniting our actions and words to the missions, beliefs, and values/pillars/charisms of our schools.
For example, let us unite our efforts to keeping students safe and secure in all areas and times of our operations - before and after school, at games, assemblies, and events, with paid staff and volunteers. In those areas where we are currently duplicitous with our efforts for safety and security - in other words, areas in which we could improve - let us take steps to get better.
Similarly, how can we remove the duplicity in our classrooms where a student's grade can be a reflection of supplies, extra credit and other non-academic (as in areas other than concepts they understand and skills they can perform) factors? Let us do the same for teachers, offering them low-inference feedback that is rooted in objective, measurable, verifiable time stamps, counts, words spoken, and actions taken. Dig deeper into the details of gradebooks, classroom management, and other ways in which our teachers form our students so that they will more closely align their efforts to our missions, beliefs, and values/pillars/charisms.
Finally, Fr. Ted Hesburgh, long-time former president of the University of Notre Dame, famously said this to inspire excellence across the school: Mediocrity is not how we honor the Blessed Mother. Anything less than excellence in all facets of our schools is not how we honor the title "Catholic". It is not how we will evangelize the next generation of builders of the Kingdom of God. While we can't improve everything all at once, we can take steps to remove the ways in which we are duplicitous - where we say one thing in our missions, beliefs, and values/pillars/charisms but act in ways that misalign with those messages.
Take one step, however small, to unite what we do to who we say we are. Then, once you've taken that step, take another, and another, and another...
Keep moving.
