Alliance for Catholic Education
Greetings from a snowbound Notre Dame!
Hope you all are doing well and keeping warm. I just returned from a visit to RLP 13's Curtis Kleisinger - that's right, I deliberately went to Saskatchewan in January. But wait! I'm not totally crazy. It was awesome.
Four years ago, Curtis founded the Mother Teresa Middle School in Regina, a NativityMiguel model middle school serving aboriginal kids living in poverty. Today the school serves more than 50 children who come from some of the most turbulent, difficult, complicated home lives I've ever heard of. These are the most marginalized kids in society, and Curtis and his team are doing whatever it takes to prepare these kids for citizenship and sainthood.
Curtis asked me to come spend a few days at the school and work with his team to deepen their school culture, but I felt totally outclassed. I have never met a more utterly committed team of teachers and leaders - every single person in the building is 100% committed to doing whatever it takes for their kids. Every.single.person. 100%. The school has one of the strongest school cultures I've experienced as well - with clear root beliefs posted prominently in the hall, core values visible in every room, and the teachers' ritual commitments displayed by the front door for all students, parents, and visitors to read. I have never heard a group of teachers so clearly or so consistently communicate a growth mindset to their students, and I really enjoyed the opportunity to explore with the teachers how that growth mindset is rooted in the Gospels.
One interesting observation Curtis made that I'd like to share: most of the teachers and leaders on his team are former or current elite athletes. It seems like almost everybody at Mother Teresa played hockey, basketball, or soccer at the national level, and one guy is a national champion wrestler and bodybuilder. Curtis observed that athletes seem to excel at his school for a few reasons - they know how to fail in public; they know how to coach and be coached; they know what it means to be a role player on a team. They know how to manage their time better than most recent college graduates, and they have a strong work ethic. And they really want to win a championship, and the kids at Mother Teresa represent another kind of championship worth winning.
I think there's something to that. I suspect it's not just athletes that share the experiences that lead to these mindsets and I want to think about what other experiences might uniquely prepare people for the challenges of a school like Mother Teresa. I'd welcome any thoughts you might have!
I'm off to Tucson for a very short trip this week for an ND ACE Academies board meeting (and to warm up from Saskatchewan!) - hope you all have a great week!
Christian
Spiritual Reflection
by Annie Brusky
Mark 1:29-39
On leaving the synagogue
Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
Simon's mother-in-law lay sick with a fever.
They immediately told him about her.
He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up.
Then the fever left her and she waited on them.
When it was evening, after sunset,
they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons.
The whole town was gathered at the door.
He cured many who were sick with various diseases,
and he drove out many demons,
not permitting them to speak because they knew him.
Rising very early before dawn, he left
and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.
Simon and those who were with him pursued him
and on finding him said, "Everyone is looking for you."
He told them, "Let us go on to the nearby villages
that I may preach there also.
For this purpose have I come."
So he went into their synagogues,
preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee.
Pat Hennessy really nailed it at our all-school Mass – at Marist High School, we are surrounded by saints, and miracles happen every day. Our faculty and staff do so much. When I get here at 7 AM, teachers are already tutoring students in math and Spanish and writing. When I leave school at any hour, play practice is still going, basketball practice is still going, Kairos leaders are just leaving. When our teachers go home, they have tests to grade and activities to plan. When our coaches go home, they have film to analyze and games to coach. It can seem like we're moving at 100 miles per hour with no time to breathe because we are so intent on serving our students.
And Jesus gets it. Here he is, as Mark's Gospel describes, probably trying to get home for the night since it was evening, after sunset – and we all know how discouraging it is to get to school in the morning while it's still dark and to leave once the sun has already set. He wants to get home and yet he's barraged with people bringing the ill and the possessed to him. Kind of like when you're just about to lock your door to go home or you're just trying to finish grading a stack of essays and a student comes to get some extra help or to tell you about a problem they're having. And so, just as you unlock your door or put down the red pen because you know you are needed, Jesus stays and serves… and serves and serves.
But, what happens next in the Gospel is even more interesting. After a week full of service to our students, it can be easy to kick back, to sleep in, to figure that we've already served the Lord plenty that week. But what does Jesus do? He sets his alarm clock, rises before dawn, goes off to a deserted place and prays. He knows that in order to keep this up – to heal and serve and preach and drive out demons – he has to find a way to sustain this sort of merciful outpouring; he has to find a way to nurture his own spiritual needs. This is such a reminder for me: if even Jesus – the Son of God -- needed to take time to go off in prayer, then surely it is impossible for me to do it all on my own. I need to make time for God and for my own spiritual development. We all do. In order to truly form our students into saints, we, ourselves, must have a living, breathing relationship with Christ. It can be easy to "do" and not to "be," to feed others but forget to feed ourselves spiritually. We need to slow down at times, as Jesus does in Mark's Gospel, to refill our tank and allow Christ to renew our spirits.
So, today, there are no classes to teach. Today is one day just for you and God.
We live in a go-go culture of doing, but look at what we can learn from Jesus. First, we see Him go off to a deserted place and pray. He rids Himself of the distractions of life, goes off alone, and puts Himself in the presence of his Father. It's a sort of renewing, reenergizing experience so that he can do it all again the next day. Then we see him lead the disciples into the neighboring towns, for he knows he must experience new things and both bring and find God in new places.
That is our goal for you today, to search for Jesus like all the people in the town are searching for Him and to reenergize your own spirits as Jesus took time to do so. Whether you are feeling the clay in your hands, experiencing God's wonder in the church architecture, serving the downtrodden in our community, or staying here at Marist to meditate or discuss Scripture, we hope it's an opportunity to find Christ in your own way. After all, even saints like those here at Marist need to find time to slow down and to pray.