ursuline-education.com. ray… · web viewslide, with emphasis] dr. martin luther king once said,...

Seeking to Extend the Kingdom to the Ends of the Earth with a Great

and Longing HeartUES Global Education Conference

June 16-20, 2014

College of New Rochelle

New Rochelle, NY

USA [slide 1]

Let me add my welcome to you as you close your time together. I hope it has been a great week for you all. Moses at the Burning Bush [slide 2]…4When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." 5Then He said, "Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." 6He said also, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.…

"Cultivate the vision entrusted to you." --Angela Merici

http://biblehub.com/exodus/3-6.htm



http://biblehub.com/exodus/3.htm

In way of introduction, I have three goals and objectives for our time together this morning. [slide 3]

In framing this presentation, I want to reference a Vatican document, The Religious Dimensions of Education in a Catholic School. [slide 4] [read slide, with emphasis]

Dr. Martin Luther King once said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that really matter." Your time this week has signified that you are not ending, but just beginning, because your passion for Ursuline education is alive, dynamic and passion-filled. Please do not lose that, because you are a gift to our global Church. Because you are Seeking to Extend the Kingdom to the Ends of the Earth with a Great and Longing Heart, just as Angela and her Company of women who followed did in their day and time. [slide 5: I AM A Leader] [slide 6:Five Functions of Leadership]

[slide 7: Picture]


Twenty years ago, perhaps, if invited to address such a distinguished gathering as this, I would have had no idea what to say to you. I might have even turned down the invitation. Even ten years ago I might have tried to impress you with my knowledge by a discussion of the latest educational development couched in the appropriate educational jargon. But now, when I might perhaps with some validity lay claim to a certain expertise in education, I have gradually come to realize that in education no one can truly be considered an expert. For on the one hand, education is too complicated for anyone to have a complete grasp of all its ramifications, while on the other, education is too simple an operation for anyone to claim more expertise than another, because it is really only adults helping young people to grow up--which they are going to do in any case, and any responsible adult is equipped to do this (Darcy, 1976, p.80).

Unfortunately, in the pursuit of the complexities of education, the basic simplicities tend to be overlooked, and perhaps none more so than that aspect of education


which I am going to address with you this morning: The school as a Christian community in the spirit of Ursuline education.

Allow me to address some of the issue associated with a school that is a Christian community in the spirit of St. Angela Merici.

Allow me to again frame our direction and time together: [speak directly to the slides]

[slide 8: Major Functions that Influence and Individual's Behavior]

[slide 9: Major Elements of Organizational Culture]

[slide 10: The Culture of a Catholic School]

[slide 11: Role of Administrator]

[slide 12: Keeping the Mission]

[slide 13: Values]

[slide 14: place holder--Picture]

The Church's mission of evangelization is spiritual. It's vision of the world, of men and women and of history embraces and enriches every aspect of human culture, even while it judges it by reference to


Christ, in whom all human values are perfectly integrated (Doyle, p 16). Catholic schools play a very important part in this mission. Our Catholic schools are immensely valuable to Church, State and to the family--as well as to the individual students who are their immediate charge--they are particularly necessary now that society sets so much store by schooling, which tends to favor monolithic 'neutral' school systems, and has become media-dominated and largely bereft of spiritual values.

Our Catholic schools believe so strongly in their unique apostolate and in its irreplaceable contribution to the growth of our Church and to civil society, that we must thank earlier generations of Catholics who made great sacrifices to establish Catholic schools , in particular the Ursuline Sisters. Because it is on their strong shoulders that you are able to minister in our Church through Catholic education today.

We must not forget that these schools enable parents to exercise their natural right to choose the


kind of school they want for their own children. They are not divisive, and they neither proselytize nor indoctrinate. They deserve inclusion in any national system, at least to the extent of receiving adequate government support: they should not become the privilege of the well-to-do! I know here in the United States governing boards struggle with the affordability question. And some of the countries represented here enjoy to some level government support to carry out your important mission within our Church.

Further, Catholic schools ensure the exemplary presence of the Church in the world of the intellect--a presence in which teaching congregations faithful to the inspiration of their founders have an honorable place. Why are we here this week? Is it not to recognize St. Angela and her sister's influence in Catholic education!!!!!! To advocate that the Church give up this presence would be a dangerous illusion, quite opposed to its mission, to the directives of Vatican II, and to what people have every right to expect of the


Church. Is your time here this week, also about how to carry on the legacy of Ursuline Education in your schools throughout the world????

Thus, effective cooperation in the mission of Catholic schools requires all involved, even remotely, to appreciate just what makes a school "Catholic'--at once similar to other good schools and different from them.

Unfortunately, not all that bear the name--Catholic School--are living up to it--not always through their own fault. [I am sure that does not apply to any school represented here this week!!!!!]. Positive and optimistic self-criticism is always necessary; for even Vatican II has sometimes been misunderstood.

Allow me to draw from the work of Barry Dwyer, an Australian Religious Educator, who once described a Catholic School as follows: [slide 15]

The authentic Catholic school shares the Church's task of Spreading the Good News that a loving God,


is always present in our lives, will bring us, if we allow Him, to an eternal happiness beyond all imagination.

To do this effectively, the school forms An Educating Community where the life-giving values of Jesus are taught, lived and [witnessed], where people encounter and acknowledge their God, where students, parents, teachers, pastors, and others are in partnership, and where children discover their place in the story of their people.

This community fosters the Total Development of each individual, cultivating the mind, the

spirit, the body, the character, the imagination..., as it frees young people from selfishness, aimlessness, fear and self-absorption, and leads them towards Service of themselves, their neighbors, their society, and their culture.

Such an education must be Relevant helping students to make sense, in the light of their faith, of their daily lives and the culture in which they live.


When this occurs, the school generates Hope--the great distinguishing feature of the most desirable Catholic school (p. 71).

In an Ursuline school these salient points, I am sure are evident, Spreading the Good News, forming an educating community, where the student's total development is the focus, where service and hope lead to a relevant quality education. Why then do parents choose our school to educate their children.

[slide 16-20: Choose our Schools]

[slide 21: place holder--picture

The immediate school community--students, parents, teachers and administrators--has a particularly strong obligation to understand and respect these principles and to work actively to apply them. All are responsible for planning and execution, with proper regard for each one's competence and authority.

Our Bishops are responsible for all pastoral programs in their diocese, for funding schools if others "Cultivate the vision entrusted to you." --Angela Merici

cannot meet the needs of the community, and for orthodoxy of faith and morals. As Pope Puis XI (1929) wrote in Christian Education of Youth that parents are the primary educator of their children. Thus, Parents have the chief responsibility for seeing that the school to which they have entrusted their children remains true to its mandate and its distinctive character. They cannot hand over their children's Christian upbringing to the school and not involve themselves in its operation by taking advantage of every opportunity it provides for them to do so. [Why do all of you have a mission statement that speaks to involving all in your educational enterprise, you all call Ursuline education].

Further, the faith and learning community expects of teachers professional competence and authority, fidelity to their freely assumed obligations and the witness of personal example. [Why do most of you make hiring for mission a priority]?


The Catholic school is an alive apostolate, a community of faith, permeated with the Gospel spirit of freedom and love. It gives pride of place to systematic religious instruction that is continuously invigorated by Scripture and Tradition, sacraments and the liturgy.

The Catholic school tries--not always successfully--to provide an all inclusive, integrated formation that enables young people who cooperate with it gradually to become mature, convinced and articulate Catholic men and women of strong character who are able and ready to face the demand made on them by their baptism that they live lives of Christian virtue in the spirit of the beatitudes, take their place in social and political life, and in this way help build up the kingdom of God and to make the world a better place for men and women to live (Alpha: A

Journal of Religious Education, March, p 16-18) .


Let me now shift my focus of the Catholic school to the role that leadership plays in this sustaining model.

I would like to share a story I came across in a journal called Presentation

Studies. The story is from the late Indian spiritual director, Anthony De Mello, SJ.

The story goes something like this:

“The Master was asked, ‘What is spirituality?’

He said, ‘Spirituality is that which succeeds in bringing one to inner transformation.’

‘But if I apply the traditional methods, handed down by the Masters, is that not spirituality?’

‘It is not if it does not perform its function for you. A blanket is no longer a blanket if it does not keep you warm.’

‘So spirituality changes?’

‘People change and needs change. So what was spirituality once is spirituality no more. What generally goes under the name of spirituality is merely a record of the past methods.’” (De Mello)

How true is that last statement, ‘what passes for spirituality is merely a

record of past methods.’ I think true spirituality, is something deeper; it involves


bringing a person face-to-face to their inner mystery which leads them to

transformation.

The heart of leadership is in the hearts of leaders. You have to lead from

something deep in your heart. Spirit and heart are the core of human life.

Without them, you lose your way. You live without zest. You go through the

motions, but there’s no passion. The internal force that sustains meaning and

hope is the Spirit. There is a line in the Talmud that says, "We see things not as

they are, but as we are."

When I think of a spiritual leader I think of a person with tremendous energy, who knows what life is about and is living it well, who is comfortable with chosen values and lives them with integrity, who knows the value of other people and cherishes their lives and input, and who is both rooted in the historical values of a chosen tradition and yet is convinced that any tradition must change to be equally relevant in the future as it was in the past (Doohan, p.vii).


Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM in one of his on-line daily meditations shared some insights of Hugh of St. Victor and Richard of St. Victor. [slide 22: Three Set of Eye] In his reflection, Rohr highlights the relationship that we develop in articulating our individual understanding of our spirituality.

Following up on this, Leonard Doohan, religious studies professor emeritus at Gonzaga University in Spokane offered components of spiritual leadership and his understanding of the ten core values associated with a Spiritual leader. [slide 23,24,25,26] [speak to these slides]

Likewise, Kouzes and Posner, members of the Santa Clara University faculty, offer six disciplines to support the credibility and integrity of a spiritual leader.

[slide 27: Circles]

[slide 28: Spiritual Leaders]

By now I hope you are beginning to see a pattern, and a similarity to St. Angela and her influence on Ursuline education and your roles as the contemporary leaders


within these schools. Allow me another story to illustrate my point.

[slide 29-30: Leading People Like Jesus Did]

“The Rabbi’s Gift”The story concerns a monastery that had fallen upon

hard times. Once a great order, as a result of waves of anti-monastic persecution in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the rise of secularism in the nineteenth, all its branch house were lost and it had become decimated to the extent that there were only five monks left in the decaying mother house: the abbot, and four others, all over seventy in age. Clearly it was a dying order.

In the deep woods surrounding the monastery there was a little hut that a rabbi from a nearby town occasionally used for a hermitage. Through their many years of prayer and contemplation the old monks had become a bit psychic, so they could always sense when the rabbi was in the hermitage. “The rabbi is in the woods, the rabbi is in the woods again,” they would whisper to each other. As he agonized over the imminent death of his order, it occurred to the abbot at one such time to visit the hermitage and ask the rabbi if by some


possible chance he could offer any advice that might save the monastery.

The rabbi welcomed the abbot at his hut. But when the abbot explained the purpose of his visit, the rabbi could only commiserate with him. “I know how it is,” he exclaimed. “The spirit has gone out of the people. It is the same in my town. Almost no comes to the synagogue anymore.” So the old abbot and the old rabbi wept together. Then they read parts of the Torah and quietly spoke of deep things. The time came when the abbot had to leave. They embraced each other. “It has been a wonderful thing that we should meet after all these years,” the abbot said, “but I have still failed in my purpose for coming here. Is there nothing you can tell me, no piece of advice you can give me that would help me save my dying order?”

“No, I am sorry,” the rabbi responded. I have no advice to give. The only thing I can tell you is that the Messiah is one of you.”

When the abbot returned to the monastery his fellow monks gathered around him to ask, “Well, what did the rabbi say?”

“He couldn’t help,” the abbot answered. “We just wept and read the Torah together. The only thing he did "Cultivate the vision entrusted to you." --Angela Merici

say, just as I was leaving—it was something cryptic—was that the Messiah is one of us. I don’t know what he meant.”

In the days and weeks and months that followed, the old monks pondered this and wondered whether there was any possible significance to the rabbi’s words. The Messiah is one of us? Could he possibly have meant one of us monks here at the monastery? If that’s the case, which one? Do you suppose he meant the abbot? Yes, if he meant anyone, he probably meant Father Abbot. He has been out leader for more than a generation. On the other hand, he might have meant Brother Thomas. Certainly Brother Thomas is a holy man. Everyone knows that Thomas is a man of light. Certainly he could not have meant Brother Elred! Elred gets crotchety at times. But come to think of it, even though he is thorn in people’s sides, when you look back on it, Elred is virtually always right. Often very right. Maybe the rabbi did mean Brother Elred. But surely not Brother Phillip. Phillip is so passive, a real nobody. But then, almost mysteriously, he has gift for somehow always being there when you need him. He just magically appears by your side. Maybe Philip is the Messiah. Of course the rabbi didn’t mean me. He couldn’t possibly have meant me. I’m just an ordinary person. Yet supposing he did? Suppose I am


the Messiah? O God, not me. I couldn’t be that much for You, could I?

Because the forest in which it was situated was beautiful, it so happened that people still occasionally came to visit the monastery to picnic on its tiny lawn, to wander along some of it paths, even now and then to go into the dilapidated chapel to meditate. As they did so, without even being conscious of it, they sensed this aura of extraordinary respect that now began to surround the five old monks and seemed to radiate out from them and permeated the atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely attractive, even compelling, about it. Hardly knowing why, they began to come back to the monastery more frequently to picnic, to play, to pray. They began to bring their friends to show them this special place. And their friends brought their friends.

Then it happened that some of the younger men who came to visit the monastery started to talk more and more with the old monks. After a while one asked if he could join them. Then another. So within a few years the monastery had once again become a thriving order and, thanks to the rabbi’s gift, a vibrant center of light and spirituality in the realm (M. Scott Peck, The Different Drum, Community Making and Peace).


As leaders, we may never know where the Messiah is in your schools, so treat everyone with respect and dignity, for this is a component of one's spirituality.

Albert Einstein was once quoted as saying, " The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." As leaders you must never stop asking questions and seeking the answers, no matter how difficult it is to find the answers. In this age of rapid growth in the field of technology, we need to be cautious as to the answers we find, using the test--What would Jesus do? is often a good benchmark.

A spiritual leader is someone who is motivated by an experience that has touched him or her profoundly and has influenced the way he or she now lives. This kind of person shows no embarrassment in talking about the experience, and makes decisions based on the values of this experience. In your daily lives, you need not only talk about your experiences but must give witness to these experiences (vii). Your classroom teachers must likewise do the same. Which means you must hire for mission, and "Cultivate the vision entrusted to you." --Angela Merici

hire the right people that fit your schools mission and can buy into the vision that St. Angela had, of being of service to your neighbor.

St. John Chrysostom is often quoted as saying, "What is a greater work than to direct the minds and form the character of the young? I hold, with certainty, that no painter, no statuary, nor any other artist does such excellent work as the one who molds the minds of the young." Your leadership is just as important in helping to shape, direct, form or expose the minds of young people to the subject matters that will allow them to become the future leaders in our civil society as well, or maybe more importantly, in our Church. This faith-motivated commitment is desperately needed today (p. vii).

When we talk about "spiritual leadership," we refer to leadership motivated and inspired by the spiritual values of a person's faith. Spiritual leadership is a form of leadership that is motivated by everything that one holds dear in the depths of his or her own heart as the result of a personal experience that has changed one's life and way


of living it in the future (p.vii). This experience, as Catholics, often begin at our baptism and guides us our whole life, and is reconfirmed at our confirmation and our daily commitment to personal prayer, breaking open the scriptures and our participation in the Eucharist. This call is felt deep within one's heart.

Spiritual leadership is a form of leadership that results from integrity, living every aspect of leadership based on the core motivating values (viii). Angela Merci is this role model for your leadership. Spiritual leadership is not something you add on to an already existing leadership style; rather it permeates everything that one does, whether at home, in a social life, or in your ministry. The best leaders that we know are ones that are grounded in motivating values and "faith," and they live differently as a result of it. They believe in themselves (viii)!

St. Angela lived this way and she called her sisters to do likewise, and today you are these new disciples, these followers of hers, you are the leaders in ministries that are preparing young leaders, who will model their lives after


you. Just as you modeled your life on the sisters whose shoulders you stand on!

You need to believe in yourselves but also in values beyond yourselves. This is where a faith life rooted in scripture and good theology is needed. You cannot pick and choose values or virtues; either they motivate you from within in all you do, or they do not. Sprinkling your leadership with assorted virtues from a variety of sources is simply a leadership technique to make one's management style more palatable (viii).

When you really live spiritual leadership, that person does not only become more spiritual; rather they become integrally human (viii). [slide 32: Sign Post]

[Let me share a experience, when asked to present at major conferences, always ask who else is speaking first; in preparing for this I came across Ann Garrido's book--Redeeming Administration, and thought this would be a good framework to proceed. So, I started to read it and in the first example Ann uses for spiritual habits is breath of vision and the person she choose to demonstrate this was St. Angela. Well, I said the holy spirit is speaking to me very


clearly about using this book, but then I discovered she was speaking and speaking first. Well!!!]

But let be address three of Ann's habits as I see them applying to Ursuline education.

[slide 32: 12 Spiritual Habits for Catholic Leaders]

[slide 34: Taking Care of Yourself]

[slide 35: Personal Growth]

[slide 36: Characteristics of Spiritually and Emotionally Intelligent Leaders]

[slide 37: Essentials to be learned for Leadership]

I would like to shift now, and allow some person reflection time. I have questions to assist you in this effort. [slide 38: Questions]

Let me continue: [slide 39]

In Lumen Fidei, Pope Francis' first encyclical which broke all sorts of records for sales and downloading was rather unique due to the fact that Pope Benedict started the encyclical and Francis finished it. In the introduction, it states "Faith is born of an encounter with the living God who calls us and reveals his love, a love which precedes us and upon which we can lean for security and for


building our lives. Transformed by his love, we gain fresh vision, new eyes to see; we realize that it contains a great promise of fulfillment, and that a vision of the future opens up before us." As we grow in our experiences and knowledge of God we grow in our leadership as Catholic educators.

Further, in the encyclical, it is stated that "realizing that we are all seeking the truth gives us the gift of patience with each other. Intolerance results only when individuals or institutions believe that they have the whole truth." As Catholic school educators we know that no one person holds the whole truth. It is in collaboration with the entire faith and learning community that success is achieved and students learn.

When we think about an Ursuline education, patience and collaboration come to our thoughts but so do the following characteristics:

1. [slide 40] An Ursuline school appreciates that all members of the faith and learning community reflect Christ in the flesh.


2. [slide 41] An Ursuline school further proclaims the truth of the Gospels as expressed by the Catholic Church.

3. [slide 42] An Ursuline school fully integrates Christian values into all aspects of the faith and learning community.

4. [slide 43] An Ursuline school provides an environment in which all individuals are respected and can mature into Christian adults while experiencing quality education.

5. [slide 44] An Ursuline school challenges students to explore their faith within the context of the Gospel message while growing in a quality academic atmosphere.

6. [slide 45] An Ursuline school provides its faculty and staff the opportunity to view their service as part of the Church's ministry of education and thus deepening their own faith development.

Fredrick W. Robertson is quoted as saying, "Instruction ends in the school-room, but education ends only with life." An Ursuline education is for life and it is


something that lasts and does good for society and the individual.

[slide 46:Place holder--A Big heart and full of desire]

Let me digress and tell a story:

This story is about imperial Russia. One of the Czars, while walking in his park, came upon a sentry standing before a small patch of weeds. The Czar asked him what he was doing there, but the sentry did not know. He knew only that the captain of the guard had ordered him to the post. The Czar then sent his aide to ask the captain, but the captain had no answer either. He was only able to explain that regulations demanded that there be a sentry at that particular spot.

His curiosity aroused by the mystery, the Czar decided to call for an investigation. But no living man at the court could "Cultivate the vision entrusted to you." --Angela Merici

remember a time when there had not been a sentry at that post, and none could

say what he was guarding.After further investigation, the achieves of

the Imperial Palace were opened and the mystery was solved. The records showed that Catherine the Great had once planted a rosebush in that plot of ground, and a sentry had been assigned to guard it and see that no one trampled it. The rosebush eventually died. But the order for a sentry to guard the plot of land had never been cancelled. And so for a hundred years, the spot where the rosebush had been was carefully watched by men who did not know what they were watching or why.

(Bellows, 1985, p.137-138)

It will always be one of our more difficult tasks to know when the rosebush is dead and when we are standing guard at an empty place. I would suspect that by "Cultivate the vision entrusted to you." --Angela Merici

your very presence at this conference, you are concerned about the rosebush and how you can nurture that rosebush that Angela and her sisters planted some many years ago!

Our efforts to provide quality Catholic educational experiences is vital for a strong Church of today and tomorrow. Now I know that I am speaking to those who already believe this, however, it is our Bishops who need to embrace this concept or they will be speaking to empty pews, if they are not already doing so!!

A strong Church for tomorrow means, I believe, recognizing that Catholic schools are the backbone of the Church, serving as the major source of future parish leaders. Now, this comes with responsibility, with hiring for mission, hiring well prepared teachers with up-to-date pedagogy and the ability to understand how to use technology appropriately within the classroom. Further, Catholic schools reinforces the family unit, presenting timeless values and positive living to a new generation. Now, I fully realize and understand for many of you this is not the reality that you find yourselves in but is it not a "Cultivate the vision entrusted to you." --Angela Merici

place that Ursuline education should be, with the example of Angela and her lady governors reaching out to those in need of spiritual care as well as their physical needs. Thus leading to the need to educate young people to stand on their own!!!

So we know that Catholic schools are an educational bargain. They are often efficiently operated and which have set realistic limits on the services they offer and concentrate on carrying out their programs effectively. This is supported by teachers and staff of the Catholic schools who by their very nature are caring people, dedicated disciples who are preparing young people for Christian life. They not only teach, but model and witness the message of success and the message of Christ. Thus parents want the best for their children. It is because the faculty and staff of a Catholic school wish their children success in all of life's challenges that supports the parent's choice of Catholic education.


Pope John Paul II, summarized this in speaking to a group of Catholic school educators in New Orleans in September,1987: [slide 47]

“Community is at the heart of all Catholic Education, not simply as a concept to be taught, but as a reality to be lived…Your students will learn to understand and appreciate the values of community as they experience love, trust and loyalty in your schools and educational programs, as they learn to treat all persons as brothers and sisters created by God and redeemed by Christ.”

Schools must be Christian communities. They must offer a sense of belonging where alienation is not seen or sensed by anyone and where they have a feeling of security. Because isn't that what Jesus offered his disciples!!!

A school becomes a Christian school, not by being conducted under Christian auspices, not by being named


after a saint of the Church, not even by having religion taught in the school, but it becomes a Christian school to the extent that Christian principles permeate every aspect of its life, academic, structural, social, even the very design of the building itself (Darcy,p.83).

Thus our schools should be models of community. By community I mean a grouping of people for the common good. It would differ from a organization, such as a business concern or an athletic team, in several ways:

1. An organization has a goal outside itself, the marketing of some product or the winning of some trophy; while the goal of community is the welfare of the members themselves. So, schools have the students entrusted to their care as their primary concern in forming a community as well as the adults who make up the faculty and staff of the school.

2. In an organization a person is valued according to his or her ability to produce; in a community each is valued just for him or herself. So, within our school


every member of the faith and leaning community is valued and respected for their individual giftedness.

3. In an organization each shares only his or her talent, but his private life is his or her own; whereas in a community each is expected to share of him or herself. So, in our schools everyone needs to know that their actions are very public and they are expected to give witness to Church principles and values 24/7/365 (366).

In a truly Christian community it exists for the welfare of the individual members, and since the development of the human personality deepens his or her capacity to love and to serve, this development expresses itself in a freely given concern for the welfare of the other members of the community and for the community as a whole.

Now, I have spend some time on what I understand Ursuline education to be, the role that leadership plays in establishing quality Ursuline education and the place that community has in fostering the young women and men


who come to you for education. How about some reality testing and some future goals.

Charles M. Blow, in a NY Times OP-ED article, These Children are our Future on June 15, 2013, referenced a statistical profile of the class of 2013 which Child Trend researcher David Murphey conducted. He reports in a hypothetical class of 100 graduates, of those, he estimates that: reference; the power point slide 47 and the OD- ED article

closing with: These statistics are shameful. [slide 49: Lawrence Summers]

Further, let me offer some of my thoughts on Ursuline Education:

Where I see Ursuline education making an impact in our church and society is in preparing your students in be engaged in collective advocacy.

Being prepared to stand up for the rights of those made poor by society and to work towards right relationships


for all of God's chosen people. This advocacy is something that St. Angela would have supported. She and her early followers worked tirelessly for social justice issues, way before the phrase was made popular by Vatican II.

Collective Advocacy is where a group of people with similar experiences meet together to put forward shared views. It offers a shared voice rather than singling out individuals. It can however present a range of views. Collective advocacy builds personal skills and confidence and supports individuals to represent issues of common concern.

Some examples:

1. Orphans

2. Homeless

3. Those ravaged by war and of spiritual decay

4. Relationships of women and men

5. Poverty

6. Unwed women


7. Those suffering from blindness (Mahoney)

This needs to permeate the culture of the school, it needs to be reflected in policies, letters to parents and alumni. It needs to be reflected in your mission statements and those who participate in Ursuline education, faculty, staff, parents and students need to "buy-in" to this approach. When society sees the net value, and I mean our bishops, they will come around and endorse this direction, for they will see people returning to a Church that truly loves each individual for their giftedness. Is that not what Pope Francis has been saying since he was elected?

Allow me to tell another story: [Accept It]

A man was forced to retreat to his roof during a flood. Rescue boat after rescue boat came to his aid, but he refused their help, choosing to wait for God's saving intervention. In the end, the divine intervention he is looking for never comes, and he is


swept away to heaven. The man confronts God, demanding an explanation for God's inaction. God responds: "Did you not see the boats I send?"

Failure to recognize and accept God's grace in our lives has consequences.

"Biographer and tradition have always spoke of Angela Merici as being a messenger of peace and truth through her spoken word. It is true, as they go on to say, that it is precisely this aspect of her life and work that her followers 'have claimed, as it were, as their inheritance to be assimilated, used and handed on.'

"During the many years of her life, this reverend Mother was always a great help to numerous people; they came to her seeking her advice about changing their way of life, or how to support trails, to draw up a will, to get married, or to marry off their daughters and sons. In addition, no opportunity was ever lost of making peace between husband and wife, father and son, brother and brother and similarly between many other persons related


in different way. She gave advice and consolation to each one to the best of her ability, so that her works seemed to have more of the divine about them than the human (Stone, 2009, p.111).

Now this is what Ursuline educators are being called to in this day and age for the young entrusted to our care. So, in the spirit of Angela's prayer--"Act, move, believe, strive, hope, cry out to him with all your heart" (Stone, 2009,

p.121). So, as Mahatma Gandhi once said, "A man [or woman]is the sum of his [or her] actions, of what he [or she] has done, of what he [or she] can do. Nothing else" (Cottrell, 2005, p.49).

Go and be a Ursuline leader and educator!

In closing, I want to leave you with this quote from Frederick Buechner, from his work, Now and Then;

"Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your


way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace."

In Angela's last Counsel to her faithful local leaders, after making an impassionate plea to them to safeguard union and concord in the Company, Angela once more promised them her constant and continual support. In a short, simple sentence, so often quoted, she says: "And I shall always be in your midst helping your prayers" (Stone,

2009, p. 109)

Know as present day leaders in Ursuline education, you have a advocate watching over you, and she will 'always be in your midst helping your prayers.'

Thank you. [Slide 50 Reflection Assessment]


Take a break and return for some table discussion. The questions [are or will be] on the table when you return.

See sheet provided with reflection questions.

References

Andrews, A. (2009). The butterfly effect: How your life matters. Naperville, IL: Simple Truths, LLC.

Bellows, G. R. (1985). Shaping the future of Catholic education leadership and vision. Rome: Christian Brothers Educational Record, p. 137-155.


Cottrell, D. (2005). 12 choices: That lead to your success. Dallas, TX: CornerStone Leadership Institute.

Doohan, L. (2007). Spiritual leadership: The quest for integrity. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press.

Darcy, J. B. (1976). The school as a Christian community. Rome: Christian Brothers Educational Record, p. 80-106.

Garrido, A. M. (2013). Redeeming administration: 12 spiritual habits for Catholic leaders. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press.

Grubbs-West, L. (2005). Lessons in loyalty: How Southwest airlines does it-an insider's view. Dallas, TX: CornerStone Leadership Institute.

Houston, P.D., Blankstein, A. M.,& Cole, R.W. (Ed.). (2008). Spirituality in educational leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Lee, B. J.(2004). The beating of great wings: A worldly spirituality for active, apostolic communities. Mystic, CT: Twenty Three Publications.

Mahoney, I. (NA). Saint Angela Merici: Foundress of the Ursulines.

Owen, H. (1999). The spirit of leadership: Liberating the leader in each of us. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Stone, M. I. (2009). Angela's alphabet: Culled from her life and writings. Westgate-on-Sea, Kent.

Summers, L. H. (2012). What you really need to know. New York Times, January22, 2012.


ursuline-education.com. ray… · web viewslide, with emphasis] dr. martin luther king once said,...

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