Alliance for Catholic Education
As the president of a Jesuit school, we speak often of our Grad at Grad values – the values each of our graduates are to emulate upon graduation. One of these Grad at Grad values is being Committed to Justice. What a glorious goal…especially for students at a Cristo Rey school. As Ignatian educators, we see our schools not only as places of academic formation but also as communities that shape students’ moral conscience and commitment to the common good. For students who are, in our current political environment, the focus of so much injustice, we are teaching them to be committed to being just anyway.
The mission of the Cristo Rey movement is to serve students on the margins. These are students whose zip code has often confined them to failing schools, and whose identity can make them targets in our current political landscape. We are called to change that. We are called to be advocates for change.
Fr. John Foley, SJ, the founder of the Cristo Rey Network has said, “May we have faith in a dream so ambitious as to border on the delusional with a healthy disregard for conventional thinking. May our hope be so outrageously bold that we are afraid people will laugh at us if they knew what we hoped for!” He goes on to say, “At Cristo Rey, no one has ever taught that we should be content with doing something small. Our world doesn’t need a touch-up; it needs total renewal!” Wow…those are the words of someone committed to justice!
As educational leaders, we have a responsibility to create environments where every person is respected and where inequities are named and addressed. By being advocates for justice and teaching our students to do the same, we are bringing Fr. Foley’s bold vision to life. Our advocacy should influence policies, curriculum, and school culture. If it does, we will help our students better understand systemic injustice and their role in responding with compassion and courage to that injustice. If we do this well, we can form our students to be thoughtful, ethical leaders who will lead this world to the total renewal it needs.
Viva Cristo Rey!
Camille Naughton
President, Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School
RLP 18, Executive Coach RLP 23