(This is a continuation of a three part series on how we can use language to "make-over" our school. It is from part of my talk at the NCEA Convention )
3. Our language should reflect the call and challenge of the gospel! Our culture panders to kids! It tells them they’re not capable of scholarship, so it inflates grades. It doesn’t believe they’re capable of chastity or virtue, so it preaches “safe sex.” It suggests they cannot handle being told they’re not as athletic or as talented as someone else, so everyone gets a trophy. And the result? Kids are utterly bored. And even worse? They begin to believe these things about themselves.
Truth is, kids want to be challenged. There was a sidewalk just outside my office at St. Michael. It was the middle of July, in Fairhope AL just off the Mobile Bay, and the temperature was 90 degrees, with 90 percent humidity—the usual! Our cross country team was out practicing, running laps, running by my window as I watched the. Kids ran by, two by two, dripping in sweat, red faced. And they were all….smiling. They knew they were doing something difficult that few people could do. And they were proud they were doing it.
It seems to me this is the human condition. Despite our propensity for laziness, deep down, we want to do heroic things with our life. We want to conquer challenges. Our Catholic schools should call kids to do the same.
Have you been paying attention to our military recruiting videos? They tap into this desire in young people to live nobly. My favorite video is the Navy's "Call to Serve" (see above). The appeal is powerful: Come be part of the unique group of men and women who are willing to live meaningful, important lives serving others. “The U.S. Navy—a Global Force for Good!”
Or how about the Peace Corps? “The toughest job you’ll ever love.” Or the Army? “Be all that you can be!” Become part of the “few, the proud (Marine Corps).
Our last three popes understood this instinct in youth and spoke brilliantly to them:
John Paul II: “(Young people) It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity… (World Youth Day, Rome, 2000
Pope Benedict: “The world promises you comfort. But you were not made for comfort, you were made for greatness!” (Source unknown)
Pope Francis: Jesus gives us the courage to swim against the tide. Pay attention, my young friends: to go against the current; With him we can do great things… Commit yourselves to great ideals… Stake your lives on noble ideals.” (Homily, Sacrament of Confirmation, 2013).
Or how about Jesus himself? “Whoever wants to be my disciple must take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)
What do the recruiting videos, the popes and Jesus understand about the human condition that we often forget? That we all have a deep desire to do noble things—hard things, even. Let’s not water down the gospel challenge by pandering! Let our school issue the gospel’s clarion call for our students to do great things with their lives!
4) Our language should be welcoming of families from other faiths without watering down our own. When I was a young principal, because 35% of our students were not Catholic, I often tied myself up in knots when I tried to talk about our common mission, using clunky phrases such as “Catholic and Christian” in an attempt to be ecumenically sensitive (as if being Catholic were not Christian?). But this is entirely unnecessary. When our non-Catholic families enroll their children in “Pope John Paul II Catholic High School” or "St. Mary Immaculate" they know what they’re signing up for! And what I believe they want, in addition to a strong academic program, is a school that immerses their child in a lively, authentic community of faith.
We shouldn’t water things down. It’s often the quirky, even “weird” stuff that makes our faith so attractive. If we strip it down to a”lowest common denominator,” our faith becomes much less interesting, much less compelling to our students. I grew up in Mobile, AL, the birthplace of Mardi Gras (sorry New Orleans!). In my first year as head of JPII in Nashville, Mardi Gras came and went without notice or fanfare. Unacceptable! So the next year, I went to Walmart and bought almost all the candy in the store, filled five pillow sacks, gave one to each member of our administrative team, and we went to every classroom at 2 p.m., showering students with candy and shouting “Happy Mardi Gras!” The students, of course, loved it. The teachers were a little less enthusiastic at first, but they were good sports and came around!
I believe we should embrace the full tradition of our faith, from Marian devotion, Eucharistic adoration and celebration of the saints, all the way to our progressive social justice teachings, and invite our non-Catholic students to join in!
Here’s how I phrase all this today:
“We welcome the participation of students and families of all Christian faiths, united in service to the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
(Part III to follow)
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