The Art Project

            I am back in my office after having spent a delightful hour in the Duffy Lewis Gymnasium enjoying a magnificent Student Christmas Assembly put on by the Visual and Performing Arts Department. There was something for everyone…the 48 voice Choir sang, the elite Jazz Ensemble performed, as did the Advanced Band, the newly formed String Ensemble wowed the students with their technique, the Dance program was showcased, including two students who compete in Irish Step Dancing.  There were soloists and a video (produced by the students in the Film and Digital Media Program) entitled The Art Project that featured interviews of student members of the Visual and Performing Arts Department talking about the impact Art (in all of its manifestations) had on their individual development.

            As I returned to my office, I was struck by two different impressions; the first focused on the obvious - the amazing depth and breadth of student artistic talent which is drawn to La Salle’s VPA program - and, the less obvious but no less important, phenomenal reaction of their student colleagues who cheered and, at one point, initiated a standing ovation, in appreciation of the accomplishments of the student artists performing on the gym floor.  As I watched the performance, I realized how much the community of La Salle takes for granted the unique elements - one of which is our four-year Arts Program - that distinguish us from other private high schools in the greater Pasadena area. As an Academic Advisor to freshmen, I regularly work with students who need to schedule certain courses during the School’s Summer Academic Institute in order to ensure that they will be able to pursue their passion in the Arts each semester for the next four years. I’ve been in the school business for over 30 years and I don’t know of another school (certainly none that I’ve worked in) where teenagers willingly take a summer school class in order to clear a space in their schedule so that they could concentrate on one particular academic discipline (this also happens in the Mathematics Department for students who want to take the two-semester Advanced Placement Calculus program in their Senior year).  And yet, we have over 100 students doing exactly that.

            As I reflected on these taken-for-granted elements of the La Salle Difference, it occurred to me that I’m probably not the only Lancer who assumes that the day-to-day experience of the teenagers entrusted to our care is normative for all high school students. Sadly, in fact, for most California teenagers, this is not the case. There is irony in our “take-it-for-granted” attitude to this unique approach to Arts Education at La Salle. While more than one research study highlights the value of exposure to the Arts for all educational disciplines; the Arts are among the first programs to fall prey to the budget axe in the public sector. Budget cuts and the Great Recession have reduced these opportunities for most high school students in the Golden State. Like Counseling, Arts Education is often the first to feel the impact of the deficit-cutting axe when there are too few dollars to support all of the worthwhile educational programs that ought to be available to every student in California.

In his forward to the 2011 report of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities: Re-Investing in Arts Education: Winning America’s Future Through Creative Schools, US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan made this observation:

The opportunity to learn about the arts and to perform as artists is an essential part of a well-rounded curriculum and complete education. The study of drama, dance, music, and the visual arts helps students explore realities, relationships, and ideas that cannot be conveyed simply in words or numbers. The ability to perform and create in the fine arts engenders innovative problem-solving skills that students can apply to other academic disciplines and provides experiences working as a team.

            This is not a screed against the tortured financial politics of the Golden State. What I want to share in this reflection is the deep gratitude I have for the generous donors - alumni, current parents, grandparents and parents of alumni - who recognize that the La Salle Difference is not only worthy of their philanthropic support but dependent upon their generosity - if we are to successfully implement our Mission to “nurture, inspire, challenge and motivate” the students entrusted to our care. Secretary Duncan uses the term “the magic of the Arts” to describe the impact these disciplines can - and must - have on elementary and secondary students. I am especially grateful for the essential role the “magic of the arts” plays here at La Salle.

           

           

To Abstain or Not to Abstain...

The Catholic Bishops in the United States assemble each autumn to discuss issues of common concern, address social challenges and debate proposed changes in Catholic life and worship. As I write this, the Bishops are finishing up this year’s assembly in Baltimore. Their annual gathering begins with an address by the Conference President, Cardinal Timothy Dolan. One of the points he made to his brother Bishops was the suggestion that they reconsider the forty-year old policy regarding abstaining from meat on Fridays in Lent. Bear with me - this only sounds like a Catholic version of “inside baseball.” Catholics of a certain age (i.e. my age and older) remember Catholic life before Vatican II. It was rich in the use of signs and symbols which were distinctly Catholic (although, I must admit, our Anglican/Episcopalian brethren shared many of the same customs). Any Catholic who experienced the “Baltimore Catechism” will recognize the distinction between “internal” and “external” signs of faith. Abstaining from meat on Fridays in Lent, for example, is an “external” sign of faith.

What Cardinal Dolan encouraged the Nation’s Bishops to consider was a return to the pre-Vatican II custom of abstaining from meat on every Friday, not just the ones occurring during the 40 days of Lent. His argument was simple and pastoral: “We need to recapture the significance of Friday as a day of penance in union with Jesus on the cross.” This exhortation of the value of penance may sound odd to Californians who have grown up in the Golden State accepting as an article of secular faith that the “good life” is within easy reach; but it is very much in harmony with the challenges facing all people of faith on the West Coast. A variety of media outlets, for example, have described the “rise of the nones,” those who check “none” on surveys of religious affiliation. If the “nones” were a church, they would be the fastest growing sect in America. The LA Times, for example, recently reported that: “About 75% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 now consider themselves "spiritual but not religious." In other words, organized religion does not matter to them. This raises the obvious question: Should it matter? And, secondarily, what does this disturbing trend have to do with abstaining from meat on Fridays? The answer to the first question is to be found in the number one priority of Pope Benedict’s pontificate: the “New Evangelization.” One media definition of the concept works for me:

“The new evangelization aims to reach out to alienated Catholics who in many cases have become effectively secularized.”

It goes without saying that the survey data on declining American participation in organized religion highlights the importance of the Pope’s initiative to re-engage alienated Catholics. So, what does this have to do with eating (or not eating) meat on Fridays? Cardinal Dolan’s initiative to re-visit the limitation of Friday abstinence to the forty days of Lent is couched in substantive sociological research regarding the markers of success for organized religion. Cardinal Dolan puts it this way: “any faith community to remain coherent and vibrant has to have certain external signs;” which identify the religious organization as distinct and different from other religious organizations. Cardinal Dolan goes on to note that scholars of religion report that exterior marks of membership help make a religion cohesive and attractive.

“Cradle” Catholics understand this sociological imperative. Many of us grew up in a world where the Rosary was prayed daily, children were given the names of saints, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament was preceded by a religious procession and the smell of incense was a familiar one. These external marks, along with a year-round abstinence from meat on Fridays “marked” Catholics as belonging to a distinct group of people. As our world has become more ecumenical and, obviously, more diverse; it is becoming increasingly more difficult to know where the boundary between organized religion and secularism is to be drawn. External signs of faith not only define that boundary but also reinforce the value of membership. Andrew Greeley in his book, The Catholic Revolution: New Wine, Old Wineskins, and the Second Vatican Council, underscores the role abstinence from meat played in defining our Catholic identity:

“Fish on Friday had been a symbol that most visibly distinguished American Catholics from other Americans.”

These markers reinforce our conviction that to be Catholic (or a member of an organized religion) is to believe that one has been graced by God with a faith that offers comfort in this life and happiness in the next.

It may seem odd, therefore, to call for greater discipline by abstaining from meat once a week in order to reinforce the comfort in this life that our faith offers; indeed, I take issue with the penitential practices of Lent here ("Odd" Ash Wednesday). Nevertheless, if our faith is to mean anything, we must be reminded of the power of its promise to secure happiness with God in the next life. Perhaps a little less meat will not only improve the health of our body, but our soul as well.

Oh the places you'll go...

Each year, right around the time that the Royal Court of the Tournament of Roses is announced, I am reminded of the 80/20 rule (80% of the work is done by 20% of the workers). This certainly seems true of the seven impressive young women who survived the month-long winnowing out process which began with 900 supplicants to the throne. Our own Tracy Cresta ’13 is a case in point. Chosen to be one of the seven who will ride down Colorado Boulevard in royal splendor on January 1^st. At La Salle, Tracy is also a captain of the cross country and track and field teams and is a member of the National Honor Society, the California Scholarship Federation, Student Ambassadors and the Physical Activity Club. She will need to balance studying for tests, turning projects in on time, filling out college applications and maintaining a high degree of involvement in her chosen sports and activities while appearing at more than 150 events that is expected of a member of the Royal Court.  And, Tracy wasn’t the only Lancer ready to shoulder the burden of Tournament responsibilities. Jen Robi ‘13 and Alexandra Cross ‘13 made it to the final 25, from which the seven members of the Court were selected.

I find it fascinating that talented and involved young women like Tracy, Jen and Alex are willing to squeeze one more thing into their incredibly busy schedules. Even more remarkable is the fact that they confidently put themselves into an arena in which over 900 other teenagers were vying for the same seven slots on the Queen’s Float. While it may be true that many of the 900 contestants may not have been as serious about winning one of the seven slots which were awarded to Tracy and her companions, still, in an era in which adolescence is viewed by many as a self-centered world of drama, intrigue and wildly inaccurate gossip; these young women chose to lift themselves above the "sturm und drang" of adolescent social pressures to reach for a goal that, if achieved, meant more work, more self-discipline and less time to do the things that teenagers do.

What they may not realize, in the midst of the excitement and publicity which surrounds their selection to the Court, is that they are absorbing magnificent life lessons that will serve them well on their journey to adulthood. These are lessons that high school teachers have been trying to share with their adolescent charges for as long as schools have existed: discipline in one’s personal and professional life; cooperation with individuals one probably never met before and who may (or may not) become life-long friends, being pleasant to complete strangers (over and over again), channeling one’s energies in support of situations completely out of one’s control and, especially, smiling even when you don’t feel like it.

Tournament of Roses President Sally Bixby chose as her theme:

Oh the Places you’ll go

The great educational lesson for these young women is to be found in President Bixby’s observation that this year’s theme will have resonance in the lives of all the girls on the Royal Court.  In her words: "There is nothing you cannot do; nowhere you cannot be." I can’t think of a more important message to give young women who are about to enter the uncertain world of adulthood in which higher education and professional success are being challenged by economic turmoil. The Tournament’s world of possibility opened to these young women at the time of their 15 second interview in which they successfully distinguished themselves from the other 900 candidates.  But it didn’t stop there. This queen and her six princesses had to pass through four more rounds of interviews in which 250 candidates were reduced to 75, then 25 and finally, seven.  The stamina, commitment and drive needed to successfully negotiate this challenging process say a great deal about the Royal Court.  More importantly, it reflects their strength of character and sense of confidence so necessary later in life when they will be confronted with promoting themselves in job interviews, sustaining long hours as they build their career and balancing family and work, when the time comes.

            I asked Tracy Cresta what she has learned so far from her experience with the Tournament. Amazingly, she replied: “I’ve learned how to be more confident.”  This, from a young woman who has a full schedule of athletics and service activities at School on top of a grueling schedule with the Tournament. Oh, and by the way, she plans to attend either San Diego State University or Loyola Marymount University and hopes to become a lawyer and later, a judge.

“Oh the places you’ll go.”

You're Not Special...

I have become, of late, a reluctant devotee of YouTube. Increasingly I have found myself drawn to the Web-based video link as a result of friends and acquaintances who breathlessly urge me to view the “latest YouTube entry that has gone viral.” It took me more time than it should have to realize that the term “gone viral” was a metaphor for a rapidly expanding number of on-line viewers. The problem (for me) with YouTube is its use of an algorithm which predicts what similar types of videos might interest the viewer and then lines them up on the right side of the computer screen like obedient Londoners cueing up for the Piccadilly Circus bus. And, like a British bus cue steadily advancing to the moment of boarding, I find myself clicking on each successive link in the vain hope that I will get closer to the penultimate experience of knowing everything there is to know about the original video which brought me to the web site in the first place.


Which is why I was somewhat reluctant to access YouTube (once again, at the recommendation of a friend) to view a video entitled:”You’re Not Special,” a speech given by Wellesley High School teacher, David McCullough, Jr. to the Class of 2012. I imagined the thousands (if not millions) of graduation speeches videotaped and uploaded to YouTube, whose algorithm would park them to the right side of my computer screen. I feared that I would be unable to resist the temptation to click through these options and find myself hopelessly lost in cyberspace.

Fortunately, I was so captivated by McCullough’s talk that I successfully resisted the urge to make a long march through the cyber-world of commencement speeches. To understand why, you need to know that Wellesley High School was ranked 70th in the US News and World Report rating of public secondary schools, that 100% of its graduates go on to higher education; that it is situated within a community of 27,000 souls with no less than four colleges located within its city limits; and the median family income is north of $150,000.

So you can appreciate how intrigued I was by the concept of the “You’re not special” speech to a high school community which can be forgiven if they take for granted their privileged position within the Boston Metropolitan area. This is how McCullough frames Wellesley students’ lack of special-ness:

Across the country no fewer than 3.2 million seniors are graduating from more than 37,000 high schools. That’s 37,000 valedictorians…37,000 class presidents…92,000 harmonizing altos…340,000 swaggering jocks…

So think about this: even if you’re one in a million, on a planet of 6.8 billion that means there are nearly 7,000 people just like you.

Having set the stage for the commonality of high school graduates, he then delivers the punch line:

You see, if everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless.

When thinking about others, or others’ children, we nod in agreement about the unassailable truth of his claim that, “if everyone is special, then no one is”…unless, of course, when considering ourselves and our children.
On a related note, I consider a non-issue in the current presidential election campaign, “American Exceptionalism,” to be a terrific example of this dynamic, writ large. If we are exceptional - “special” in McCullough’s nomenclature, then, America must be exceptional (special). I can’t think of a better way to derail voters’ consideration of the pressing issues confronting the country at this point in time then to take McCullough’s sardonic commentary about teenagers and apply it to a nation of 300 million people on a planet of 6.8 billion. Yet we persist in accepting this myth about ourselves, our children, and our nation. Here’s how McCullough describes this myth:

…we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement. We have come to see them as the point - and we’re happy to compromise standards or ignore reality, if we suspect that’s the quickest way, or only way, to have something to put on the mantelpiece, something to pose with, crow about, something with which to leverage ourselves into a better spot on the social totem pole. No longer is it how you play the game, no longer is it even whether you win or lose, or learn or grow, or enjoy yourself doing it…Now it’s “So what does this get me?” As a consequence, we cheapen worthy endeavors, and, building a Guatemalan medical clinic becomes more about the application to Bowdoin than the well-being of Guatemalans.

I’d like to claim that La Salle is immune to this dynamic of what I’ll call “teenage exceptionalism,” but the fact of the matter is we’re not. We’re human, riddled with all of the same temptations which afflict all of humanity. Parents’ hopes, dreams and fears are just as real here at La Salle as they are at Wellesley High School; and we all succumb to the desire to protect ourselves and our children from the all too frightening realities of the world which surrounds us.

I would be remiss, however, if I didn’t inject a note of hope and optimism which, I believe, characterizes the world of La Salle. Yes, like the parents, teachers and students of Wellesley High School, we aspire to be “special” here at La Salle. And, yes, as McCullough lays bare, we grasp - as any human would - onto whatever “brass ring” will give us, and our children, a “leg up” in this “dog-eat-dog” world. But I’d like to think that, at La Salle, parents, teachers and students recognize that we come together for all of the same humanity-inflected reasons that McCullough satirizes in his “You’re not special” speech; and because we believe that to be special means to be grateful; and to be grateful means to give back. This is the essence of the School’s motto:

Learn   Serve   Lead

And our motto compels us to recognize - and embrace - the fundamental point of McCullough’s “You’re not special speech”:

The sweetest joys of life come only with the recognition that you’re not special;

because everyone is.

In May we celebrated the accomplishments of La Salle’s recently graduated Class of 2012. They didn’t experience McCullough’s “You’re not special” commencement address. I’d like to think it’s because they didn’t need to.



The need to think when it's really hot...

It’s hot. I mean really hot…and not just in LA…everywhere in the continental US…even in Anchorage where it has reached historic highs for August. Every Sunday, for the past month, I’ve turned to the weather map in the Pasadena Star-News and all I saw was red (and a little bit of orange) from coast to coast. Here on the West Coast, for example, we had virtually no “June Gloom” to speak of and August temperatures in July and September temperatures in August. Now, relax, climate change enthusiasts (pro and con), this is not about global warming (though it could be about continental warming). This is about the things we take for granted - until some external condition forces us to re-examine our casual assumptions about how the world works.


During the three-year drought that recently ended in the LA Basin, homeowners in Pasadena, for example, recognized this dynamic every time they opened their PWP bill and found they were paying higher and higher rates to irrigate their lawn. We all painfully learned (myself, included) to irrigate our lawns once a week during the Fall and Winter and twice a week in Spring and Summer. Now that the drought is officially over; I am (and other homeowners are) tempted to return to our formerly profligate irrigation habits. I try to stick to the drought-based routines, but I miss my brilliantly green lawn and the Hostas in my back garden are parched and practically begging me to douse them with an extra round of irrigation (especially since termites destroyed the hackberry tree that protected them from the afternoon sun). For the better part of the last ten years I took for granted that, between the Colorado River and the State Water Project, I could happily douse my gardens with as much water as I liked. Then the drought hit and I had to learn new behaviors - which are now being put to the test by the unseasonable heat we have been experiencing for the lion’s share of the summer now ending.

All of which has caused me to reflect about how the arrival of a new school year and a new Principal (external conditions) will cause the members of the La Salle family (myself, included) to re-examine our casual assumptions about the way our School community works. As I write this, the Class of 2016 finished a day of orientation here on campus and their parents have arrived for their orientation this evening. I’ve asked a few parents how the morning session went for their son or daughter and the response has been remarkably consistent: “He/she loved the day and is excited about starting school tomorrow.” As far as I am concerned, that is about as good as it gets for a 13 year-old on the first day of school. For adults, however, the start of school produces hopes and fears (and not just among parents, by the way)…will the year be a good one…will (my) students/ (my)teachers like me? Will the new principal be like (or not) Pat Bonacci, AFSC? Will Dr. Gray ask me for more money? (That’s just to see if you read this far…if you did, let me know!)

In short, the arrival of a new principal and a new school year must result in the re-examination of casual assumptions about how La Salle works. And - quite frankly - that’s a good thing. The Class of 2016 brings its own opportunities and challenges to La Salle and Brother Christopher comes with more questions than answers as he attempts to make sense of the school culture we all take for granted. The one thing about schools that a climate change metaphor can’t explain is this simple proposition: when students, their parents, teachers and their administrators are brought together over a sustained period of time, anything can happen - and most of it will be good - especially if we let go of our casual assumptions about how our world ought to work.



Happy New Year!

On the ethic of care and service

Recently, I was asked to serve on a Dissertation Defense Committee at the Rossier School of Education at USC. A “Dissertation Defense Committee” is the final step before a graduate student is awarded a doctorate in her chosen field of study. Different universities have different requirements for the membership of a Dissertation Defense Committee. At USC’s Rossier School of Education, the Committee is composed of faculty directly involved with the graduate student’s research and a representative of the field of inquiry which is the focus of the dissertation. I was honored to be asked to serve on this particular committee because the focus of research was the “effective leadership practices of Catholic high school principals.” While it’s been a long time since I have had the opportunity to serve as a principal of a Catholic high school, I have been privileged to spend the last 12 years working along side one of the most caring and dedicated Catholic high school principals I have ever known. So, the opportunity to step back into the halls of the “academy” and to revisit the time-honored (and sweat-producing) journey from graduate student to doctoral candidate not only caused me to reflect on my own experience of this challenging reminder of my passage through this gateway (it involved a red-eye flight from California and spilled coffee on my pants moments before the Dissertation Defense Committee began its deliberations); but it also reminded me of the importance of studying schools, teachers, students and their parents with respect to how education brings “value-added” to the 12-year journey we call pre-collegiate education.

At schools like La Salle, it is all too easy to assign “value-added” (particularly given the outstanding college-prep options which exist here in the San Gabriel Valley) to the penultimate outcome of a student’s four-year journey to the college of his choice. I claim that this trajectory is “easy” (though most parents would argue that it is anything but) because that journey is only 50% of the goal which justifies La Salle’s existence. The other 50% is precisely linked to the focus of the dissertation that I was asked to evaluate - specifically how the leadership of Catholic High School principals impacts student achievement. A substantial portion of Chapter 2 of the dissertation (there are 5 chapters in the entire study) was devoted to the question: “how do the leadership strategies of successful Catholic high school principals impact teacher behavior and student learning?” Earlier I referenced the “penultimate” outcome of Catholic, college-prep high schools. College destination for schools like La Salle is the “penultimate” outcome because I have said in this space and elsewhere that the Mission of La Salle is to produce good students (college-prep) and good people (values-orientation).

Reading this dissertation reminded me of how critical the second aspect of a La Salle education is to the reason for our existence. Given the robust options for college-prep schools here in the San Gabriel Valley, it is understandable when families choose other highly-valued schools over La Salle. However, when that decision is made through the lens of moral, ethical and religious values, we expect parents to consider La Salle because of its substantial emphasis on the education of the whole person: academically, athletically, artistically and - most importantly - spiritually.

This reflection has been triggered by a wonderful component of the dissertation I have been asked to evaluate. The study makes the claim (with which I agree) that successful Catholic high school principals embrace the concept of “servant leadership” in their day-to-day behavior. In other words, the authority of Catholic high school principals is rooted in the “ethic of care and the ethic of service” which typifies their day-to-day practice.

As we transition from the leadership of one outstanding - and well known - “servant leader” (Pat Bonacci, AFSC) to another, less well-known, but well-regarded “servant leader” (Brother Chris Brady, FSC), I take comfort in this theory-based comment in the dissertation I have been asked to review:

“Having situational awareness entails being able to predict what might occur and being aware of issues that may not have arisen but could possibly create strife.”

We are all well-aware of Pat Bonacci’s outstanding ability to pay attention to “issues that may not have arisen but could possibly create strife. “ Having had the privilege of working with Brother Christopher for the better part of the last six weeks, I am reasonably confident that he will bring his particular skills to the world of La Salle which were described in the dissertation I have been asked to review.

On August 22nd, formally welcome the families of the Class of 2016. I am confident that they will be as comfortable with the leadership of Brother Christopher as the last fifteen years of graduates have been with Pat Bonacci. AFSC.

Happy New Year!

What Thomas Merton can tell us about Saints

I’ve been reading a wonderful book called My Life with the Saints by James Martin, SJ. It is a memoir of his life as a Jesuit as interpreted through a variety of heroic people (Catholics call them “Saints”) whose life stories enhanced his own understanding of his relationship to God and to the people he encounters on a daily basis.

His chapter on Thomas Merton, a Trappist Monk, who died in 1968, was a particularly compelling read for me. Almost 20 years ago I had read Merton’s journal, The Sign of Jonas. It described his life in the monastery over the course of five years as he prepared to be ordained a priest. Like any journal or diary, The Sign of Jonas entailed wading though more than a few entries detailing the mind-numbing quotidian of life in a monastery in which silence throughout the day is the norm rather than the exception. But, because Merton was recording his journey to the priesthood, there were more than a few nuggets of insight made by a brilliant young man who was convinced of his priestly calling, but who also wrestled with the demons of self-doubt and insecurity.

Here is how James Martin, SJ describes the impact Thomas Merton had on him:

Thomas Merton:

“struggled with some of the same things I did - pride, ambition, selfishness. And he was struggling with the same questions I was wondering about: What are we made for? Who is God? What is the purpose of our lives?”

At some point - however brief or extended - we all wrestle with these questions. Even the modern saint - Mother Teresa of Calcutta - stared at the abyss of self-doubt for significant periods. So, it seems, Merton’s struggles can be viewed as a natural part of the process leading to religious or spiritual maturity. Martin confirms this point by noting that:

”To me, Merton’s contradictions…revealed his deep humanity.”

Does that mean the unfolding challenges of the human condition can be compared to the lives of the Saints? Here’s what Merton had to say about that:

“For me, being a Saint means being myself”

For many of us, our piety precludes comparing ourselves to Saints; and yet, the human condition leads to an ongoing effort to be and to do good (sometimes successful, sometimes not)…and that’s as good a definition of sainthood as I can articulate. It is with this definition of sainthood in mind that we celebrate 27 years of devoted service by our beloved Principal Pat Bonacci, AFSC. And it is also with this definition in mind that we prepare to welcome Brother Christopher Brady, FSC as La Salle’s next principal. We have learned from Pat how to stay focused on the end-game: the central purpose of La Salle’s Mission to produce good students and good people. We have seen him model the virtues of dedication, commitment, patience and trust in others. We know what he stands for and the care and attention he brings to each individual encounter. We’ve seen him angry (rarely) and capable of self-doubt. In short, we’ve learned to respect, admire and have deep affection for a delightfully human principal.

In a like manner, we will learn - over time - the human and holy characteristics that make Brother Christopher a saint. We will discover his strengths and forgive his weaknesses. We will look to him - as we did to Pat - for guidance on how to become more saint-like. And he will look to us for guidance on how to encourage the students entrusted to our care to become more saint-like.

When I finished The Sign of Jonas, I remember being filled with hope that the human condition - while always a work in progress - is capable of producing saints on a regular basis. James Martin had this delightful way to describe the sanctity of Thomas Merton:

“Seeing that someone so human could be so holy gives me great hope.”

I agree.

At La Salle, we encounter more than a few examples of “saints-in-the-making…students, alums and teachers…all negotiating the same quotidian of daily living that challenged Thomas Merton to be his best self.

Public dialogue without the sound bites

On April 18th of this year a Vatican agency, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) issued a statement calling for a “Doctrinal Assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR).” LCWR is a Vatican-recognized umbrella organization representing the issues and concerns of the 57,000 Sisters (women religious) living and working in the United States. This Vatican initiative is intended to assess the degree to which LCWR is fulfilling its role as an authentic representative of US nuns and sisters as they relate to the American Bishops and the authorities in Rome.

I won’t bore you with the details of this situation - other than to note that for Roman Catholics knowledgeable about the relationship between the Church here in the US and the Vatican, this is an extraordinarily controversial initiative that is quickly drawing sides between “traditional” Catholics who support the authority of the Vatican to engage in activities like the Doctrinal Assessment and “progressive” Catholics who argue for greater flexibility in how the Church functions at the local level.

I want to focus on this challenging situation because of the parallels that can be drawn between the current controversies raging around Health-care Reform (a.k.a. “Obamacare”). No sooner was the ink dry on the President’s signature of the Congressional legislation than right-of-center political groups immediately began calling for its repeal and targeting politicians who had supported the initiative. Here’s an example from recent Florida news Blog:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced Wednesday it is pumping big bucks into Florida with its first multimillion-dollar ad blitz of the 2012 cycle, aimed at (Senator Bill) Nelson and a pair of Democrats running for the U.S. House: former Rep. Alan Grayson and longtime state and local politician Lois Frankel.

The complaint: each had voted in favor of Health-care Reform. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am a firm supporter of elections representing the will of the voters; and if a majority of voters are opposed to Health-care Reform, than their will should he heard and implemented. My issue with the Chamber of Commerce is that it is targeting three politicians over a single-issue. While the media may convince us that the only issue is Health-care Reform, we know that every federal, state and local politician must address myriad issues of concern to their constituents. Targeting politicians for a single vote suggests that political orthodoxy - not the complexity of issues and, certainly not the need to compromise in order to balance competing interests - forms the basis of the electoral system. Any High School Junior studying James Madison’s The Federalist Papers will be able cite his famous warning against the development of a “party spirit” in opposition to this approach.

How does this relate to the controversy swirling around the Vatican’s handling of LCWR? Well for starters, the organization refused to make a public comment regarding the April announcement and only this week (three months later) announced that its leadership team will travel to Rome to “discuss their concerns” with respect to the Vatican initiative. Then they will return to the US and conduct regional meetings to confer with their membership. In August, the annual meeting of the LCWR membership will convene to discuss a response to Rome.

I recognize that it is quixotic to expect the rough and tumble nature of American politics to pursue a similar, measured approach; but the LCWR’s cautious response to this controversy raises important concerns about how toxic debate in the public square has become here in the US. Consider this public statement by Franciscan Friars living in the United States:

The rancor and incivility of public conversation in the United States at this time make the possibility of productive dialogue more difficult to achieve. We pray that the future conversation between LCWR and CDF might provide an example to the larger world of respectful, civil dialog. Such dialog will require a degree of mutuality, trust and honesty that is absent from much of our world.

As a Catholic educator, I worry about the negative impact polarized politics is having on the students entrusted to our care. I worry about their ability to take advantage of the intellectual tools we have encouraged them to use when weighing opposing positions on the important issues of our time. I worry that they will be swayed by strident talking heads whose arguments are framed in “ad hominem” ways in order to encourage snap judgments on very complicated issues that rarely admit of easy solutions, much less ones that lend themselves to compromise.

As has been the case for the over 200 years in which religious nuns and sisters have toiled in schools throughout the United States, we are being given an excellent example of how to engage in public dialogue without resorting to “sound bites” and slick slogans to persuade those who don’t agree. Reflecting their female counter-parts’ carefully constructed “big picture” response to the challenge posed by CDF, the Conference of Major Superiors of Men reinforced the importance of listening carefully to both sides of an issue:

As the church and society face tumultuous times, the board (CMSM) believes it is imperative that these matters be addressed by the entire church community in an atmosphere of openness, honesty, and integrity.

I have no idea how things will end with the controversy swirling around Health-care Reform; nor do I have a glimmer of insight as to what will happen to LCWR as it engages in dialogue with the Vatican. I do know that we can learn a lot from their approach that would go a long way towards dialing down the stridency that is poisoning political conversation here in the US.

On the Value of Volunteers

Between meetings at the Christian Brothers’ Provincial Headquarters in Napa and Alumni gatherings in Northern California, Portland and Seattle, I spend a fair amount of time flying Southwest Airlines. So, it shouldn’t have been a surprise (it was) to read in their in-flight magazine that April is National Volunteer Month. I knew, for example, that February is National Black History Month and March is National Women’s History Month. I even knew that National Hispanic Heritage Month was - oddly -situated between two months (September and October) in order to commemorate eight Latin and Central American countries who declared independence in the last two weeks of September. But - and this is the point - for someone who has spent over thirty years in Catholic education - and, therefore, heavily reliant upon the enthusiasm of volunteers - I did not know that April is National Volunteer Month. Nor did I know that it began as National Volunteer Week with a declaration by President Nixon in 1974.

As a member of the Baby Boom Generation, I can safely assert that we did not grow up in a world that promoted altruistic volunteerism. Political and Church-based volunteerism was the norm for anyone whose adolescent years traversed the Sixties and Seventies. Even as a young teacher in the Seventies and Eighties, I did not observe a societal emphasis on community service - other than that required by most Catholic high schools in order for students to be eligible for graduation. The last twenty years, however, have witnessed a spectacular growth in altruistic volunteerism. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 64 million people volunteered at least once between September 2010 and September 2011; and that doesn’t include teenagers who must volunteer as part of a school-based community service requirement. Since 1989, the number of adults who volunteer has increased by 60 percent.

It’s anybody’s guess as to what explains this phenomenon. I’d like to think that the increasingly toxic political conversations taking place at the macro level in the public square has, in some measure, motivated individuals to try to make a difference at the micro level of their local community. Certainly, we see that here at La Salle. The School couldn’t function if it weren’t for the thousands of hours put in by parents to ensure that a bewildering array of events on and off campus is successfully launched. By the time you read this, the Crystal Ball will have come and gone; its success completely dependent upon the legion of volunteers, headed by Tess Crabtree, P ’12, ‘14 who spent the last 12 months making sure that every “T” was crossed and “I” dotted. PALS (Parents at La Salle) ensure that parents of incoming students have an experienced parent who is available to address their concerns and provide guidance and access to school administrators who can answer their questions. Unique among Catholic high schools, La Salle not only has a formal Parent Association, but four parent booster groups (Academics, Arts, Athletics, Student Life) as well. Student Life elections also took place recently. A record number of students stood for election, including Sophomore, Jamie Kwong, who sought the Commissioner of Service position. It occurs to me that something special is happening in a school where Sophomores are inspired to run for an office that promotes community service as a normative part of the student experience. Perhaps the most relevant example of how embedded service is in the culture of La Salle is that every student is expected to do service; but isn’t expected to count a minimum number of hours in pursuit of that expectation. This dynamic is effectively captured by two slogans that regularly pop up in the day-to-day lived experience of La Salle:

Enter to Learn - Leave to Serve

Learn - Serve - Lead

I am fond of asserting in this space, and elsewhere, that our Mission can be summarized rather succinctly in this way:

La Salle produces good students and good people

Now that I am aware of the fact that April is National Volunteer Month, I plan on becoming more forthcoming in my gratitude to parents, administrators, teachers and students who embrace service as an essential component of their lived experience of what I like to call The La Salle Difference.



Go and make disciples of all nations

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

-First Amendment to the Constitution

La Salle students have a unique opportunity to observe constitutional history being made as the meaning of the First Amendment to the Constitution is debated by the Nation’s Catholic Bishops and the Federal Government. At issue is the interpretation of the term “religious institution” as it applies to the Affordable Care Act. The Department of Health & Human Services initially limited the meaning of the term to actual churches (as in Saint Rita Church or Pasadena Nazarene Church) thus excluding institutions sponsored by a religious denomination (as in La Salle High School or the University of Notre Dame). The overwhelming outcry, largely - though not exclusively - by Catholic Bishops led the Government to modify its definition to include sponsored institutions.

At issue was the federal mandate requiring employers to provide access to contraceptive and birth control services as part of their insurance policies. As most know this mandate - as initially articulated - would force Catholic institutions to violate Church teaching on the sanctity of life. The compromise language alleviated but did not eliminate all of the Church’s objections. Specifically, Church institutions would not be required to provide free access to contraceptive services, but their insurance companies would be.

While this debate may seem arcane and uninteresting to teenagers, the underlying issue - who defines what a religious institution under the Constitution - should be. In the study of US History it is significant that first among the Bill of Rights is listed the freedom of worship, speech, the press and assembly. These were the source of the most egregious violations visited upon the colonists by the British crown; so our Nation’s Founders resolved to create their absolute protection early in the unfolding of the new constitutional framework. And, as any but the most casual students of history will know, the interpretation of what it means to worship, speak and assemble has been a two hundred year effort. So, it is significant that HHS sought to narrowly define “religious institution” as a “church” and it is significant that the government was forced to broaden that definition to include church-sponsored institutions. But that isn’t the end of the debate. For almost a hundred years, the Supreme Court has been asked to resolve the thorny question as to what constitutes worship, speech, etc. And, it is entirely likely that it will be asked to do so with respect to the current debate as to what constitutes a “church.”

Hidden in the debate is a question posed by the Government: To be considered a “church” must all of the people you serve be members? The initial ruling issued by HHS said “yes.” The Nation’s Bishops and others said “no.” At first glance, the Bishops’ position may seem contradictory. After all in each election cycle we hear of individual Bishops criticizing Catholic politicians for straying from Church teaching, endangering their membership. However that practice is a judgment call not an institutional priority. The Church - bishops, priests and the faithful - are expected to respond to the Great Commission at the end of the Gospel of Matthew (Therefore go and make disciples of all nations) which implies that, in order for the Church to implement Jesus’ instruction, it must reach out to everyone - not just baptized members.

And it is in our response to the Great Commission that we see the crux of the conflict between the Bishops and the Government: who gets to determine what constitutes a “church?” The most eloquent articulation of the Catholic position in this debate was made by Archbishop James Hickey when he justified services to non-Catholics in the Archdiocese of Washington:

"We serve the homeless not because they are Catholic, but because we are Catholic. If we don't care for the sick, educate the young, care for the homeless, then we cannot call ourselves the church of Jesus Christ."

This position is echoed at La Salle where we consciously reach out to non-Catholics in response to our Board of Trustees who expects that up to 30% of the students we serve must come from other - or no - faith traditions.
While the debate on what constitutes a “church” may seem arcane and uninteresting to our teenagers; its implications for constitutional history and our own Catholic identity ought to be.

On Looking Before Leaping...

Our Principal, Pat Bonacci, AFSC, and faculty volunteers have been meeting with various textbook publishers in order to get a better handle on how the future of tablet technology (read: “e-books”) will impact La Salle and the students entrusted to our care. Pat and I have had weekly conversations regarding the “crystal ball” every educator is peering into with the hope that the next advance in educational technology will appear sooner, rather than later, on our horizon. I’m reminded of Screenwriter, William Goldsmith, who famously had this to say about Hollywood: “Nobody knows anything.” It’s a lot like that with respect to the direction in which educational technology is headed. We really don’t know and only the lucky will guess right; which is why I am fond of telling folks that I am a big fan of being the “second school in” on technology innovation. Let others blaze the new trail and La Salle will happily follow, learning from their mistakes as well as their achievements. Several Catholic and independent schools in the Southland are experimenting with this technology - both with teachers and their students. Pat and his team are anxiously watching their progress in this regard.


That having been said, Pat and I are keeping ourselves as current as possible with the way the technology winds are blowing. Of particular concern for Pat is the recent announcement by Apple that it is entering the “e-textbook” market. This could accelerate our plans to transition to tablet-based technology. This has prompted his meetings with various textbook publishers. And, while we believe that Apple’s entry into the e-book market is a game changer, it is also very clear that traditional textbook publishers are relying on older business models to inform their approach to tablet technology. One example of this is the - fairly uniform - insistence on “renting” the software to end-users. Where this becomes problematic is in the structure of the financial relationship between supplier and user. Textbook publishers appear to be relying on a college-based relationship in which the end user needs to rent the technology for a minimum of 90 days (the typical length of a college semester). By doubling that number, they appear to have addressed the needs of students using a textbook for two successive semesters. Unfortunately, this is not the model for most private schools in California (in which the maximum number of days of instruction typically exceed 180 days by some small amount). In short, without a modification accommodating private secondary schools, users of tablet-based e-books would find their license to access the entitled software disappearing on the 181st day. A rather unwelcome surprise when a student is preparing for final exams on the 183rd day.

I share this conundrum as a way to illustrate the validity of Goldsmith’s oracular comment about Hollywood, now applicable to the technology needs of secondary schools throughout the Golden State: “nobody knows anything.” In spite of (or perhaps because of) that dynamic, La Salle has been quietly raising an additional $300,000 to prepare the School for the introduction of tablet technology in the classrooms (this is on top of the original, highly successful $500,000 campaign to outfit all classrooms with SMARTBoards and laptop-friendly desks). We are grateful for an anonymous La Salle family who has offered the School $100,000 once we raise the other $200,000. This will enable the School to upgrade its technology infrastructure so that it can support the heavier demand that tablet-based computers will require (for example, without a universal tablet platform currently in place, the School’s servers are running at 100% of capacity at 8pm at night). There are an unknowable number of questions that must be answered before we purchase the first tablet (“Should the School own or rent the technology?” “Who is responsible for lost/damaged tablets?” and… will the “My tablet crashed” become the substitute for the age-old teen-age excuse, “The dog ate my homework?”). I think you get the idea.

I am pleased to report that we are “only” $50,000 away from accomplishing our goal of raising $200,000 in order to receive the $100,000 match. I can assure you that, while we don’t know what’s next in instructional technology; we do know that, at La Salle, we’ll be ready for whatever twist and turn we encounter. With your help we can keep La Salle current with whatever advances educational technology throws at us without leaping before we look.

"Back to the Future"

I was pleased to introduce the next Principal of La Salle, Brother Christopher Brady, FSC, at our recent Back-to-School Night. His appointment concludes a process that began last spring when internal and external constituents were surveyed regarding their perceptions of the strengths and challenges La Salle brings to the next decade. That feedback was analyzed and used to shape a revised job-description for the next principal. The Search Committee, chaired by former Trustee, Dr. Vera Vignes, included representatives from each of the School’s constituencies (administrators, teachers, alums, Trustees, current and past parents and a representative from one of our “feeder schools”) as well as from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Position announcements were sent to all (arch) dioceses on the West Coast as well as to the Christian Brothers Conference. West Coast colleges and universities with schools of education received the announcement as well. National journals, Education Week and Independent School Management, published the position and it was listed with the national consulting firm, Carney-Sandoe & Associates. Given the extensive search process in which over sixty inquiries were generated, the selection of Brother Chris in a time when very few Catholic high schools are fortunate to have a priest, brother or sister as the principal, feels a bit like La Salle has gone "back to the future."

The Search Committee narrowed the list of 60 to ten and then again to three. The three semi-finalists (including Brother Chris) were brought on campus to meet with focus groups representing administration, faculty/staff, parents and students. The Search Committee moved Brother Chris and one other finalist forward for my consideration. Both were extraordinarily accomplished and had stellar recommendations…albeit with very different administrative characteristics and years of experience. Quite frankly, it would have been easier choosing between two similar candidates than with what the Committee presented. In a sense, however, it was a good thing that the two finalists were as different; as it forced me to look at them through the lens of La Salle’s short and long term needs; and, after spending a substantial portion of a day with each of the finalists, I was pleased to offer the position to Brother Chris. In a sense, Brother Chris is coming “home” as La Salle, Pasadena was his first teaching assignment after college.

I want to express my profound gratitude to the Search Committee, especially Dr. Vera Vignes, its chair, for their professional dedication and commitment to maintaining the integrity of the process. By way of tribute to their effort, both finalists, who were not offered the position, voluntarily told me how impressed they were with the process and the respect for La Salle that was engendered in them as participants in the search.

A critical concern for me was the perpetuation of the caring culture that Pat Bonacci, AFSC has nurtured for more than two decades. When I looked at Brother Chris through this lens, I recognized that his background in student services, his exposure to the challenges of significantly larger schools than La Salle, and his incredible commitment - as a Brother - to Lasallian values; it made sense for me to take advantage of his availability in a world woefully devoid of Brothers in ministry. But that wasn’t the only reason I asked Brother Chris to take the position. It is precisely because of his deep background in ministry to students that our students, teachers and parents will be well cared for under the leadership of the next principal. I am confident that the culture of care and concern that is a result of the leadership of Pat Bonacci, AFSC will continue to characterize life at La Salle. And I want Brother Chris to be in a position, which will enable him to work with our dedicated faculty, to consistently address the implications of the uncertain future facing educational institutions in California and which must be met with highly visible strategies that imbue confidence in those who are considering La Salle for their children. We know that a robust high school environment that emphasizes consistently excellent instruction and the delivery of a challenging college-preparatory curriculum will ensure that La Salle will weather the current economic storm as well as positioning itself as “the school of choice in the San Gabriel Valley.”

Because you will soon see the amazing ability Brother Chris has to nurture those entrusted to his care; he will have the freedom he needs to attend to the essential obligation to reinforce the “purchase decision” of our parents, colleagues, students and alums; without sacrificing the special world I like to call the “La Salle Difference.”

I am confident that his dedication to the Christian Brothers, his commitment to an educational process that can transform hearts and his passion for improving the lives of the students entrusted to his care will enable Brother Chris to make a significant impact on the next chapter in the history of La Salle High School.