Dear Bishop O'Connell Students,
My prayer in this week's Knights Intercessors prayer chain reads as follows: "Our thoughts, prayers, concern, and love go out to the Asian-American members of the Bishop O'Connell community. We are with and alongside you in unity."
How can any of us, whether Asian-American or not, understand this ineffable moment in which our brothers and sisters in the Asian-American community are facing unprecedented, in modern times, levels of discrimination, bias, bigotry, and, yes, in some cases violent assault and hate crimes? What would the Prince of Peace, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, do, or guide us to do, in this time of sorrow, anxiety, uncertainty, and fear?
I write to you today, members of the O'Connell student body, to say that while I certainly don't have the answers, I do have a statement of intentionality to share with you that comes from me both as Head of School and as a fellow child of God, reflective of where I believe we must stand as a community rooted in Church teachings, the Catholic identity, and the life of Christ. If we--you, I, and all of us--are to walk alongside and be there for and with our Asian-American friends, classmates, colleagues, neighbors, and fellow human beings, we need to do so together. Unity begets unity.
As a loving and caring community, one in which the dignity and sanctity of the individual, each of us created in God's image, is recognized, supported, and affirmed, we must link arms in unequivocal cohesion and alignment to condemn racism of any kind, condemning as well the pain, unrest, heartache, and terror being inflicted on our Asian-American brothers and sisters, an infliction of anxiety and hurt that is starkly anathema to the teachings of the Catholic Church and of Bishop O'Connell Mission Statement, which reads (in part), "Our Mission is to provide students an education rooted in the life of Christ." Rooting ourselves and all that we are and all that we aspire to be in the life of Christ compels us to rise up fearlessly, unilaterally, and with righteous fervor to the ineffable treatment being inflicted on Asian-Americans nationwide.
It is at dispiriting and harrowing moments like these that I find myself reaching out to Church leaders in aspiring to come upon both a divining rod and a salve, hungering for a message of hope, faith, and love. Allow me to share with you one such message from Pope Benedict, who reminds us that "If we love others with charity, then, first of all, we are just toward them."
As I see it, it is our obligation in embracing and fully manifesting the Catholic identity that sits at the core of who and what Bishop O'Connell is, we must march forward, individually and collectively, in endeavoring to make a positive and meaningful difference in the world-- meaning in this instance that we are called on to actively and tirelessly repel racism, confronting it at every turn with the love, grace, humility, goodness, and light that Christ, through his perfect example, modeled for us, focusing our efforts additionally and more broadly and aspirationally on all that is common to our heritage, experience, and unity as human beings while celebrating as well and actively learning about the beauty and wonder that is to be found in each individual's personal journey, culture, history, traditions, etc.
The ancient Greeks reminded us that "the unexamined life is not worth living," and it is in coupling that provocative and timeless maxim with the second half of O'Connell's Mission Statement--"fostering the pursuit of excellence in the whole person"-- where we will resonate at our best in living our lives both with a purpose and for others, and in following discerningly and obediently the pathway that the Lord intends for us to take, making the world a better place and those around us better people.
Make a difference for the good and decent in all that you pursue, my dear students, and be not afraid as you set course on your life's journey, which I am confident will be marked by joy, creativity, and hope. For as you know, the Lord is with you every step of the way.
God's Peace,
Mr. Crittenberger
BISHOP O'CONNELL HIGH SCHOOL 6600 Little Falls Road, Arlington, VA 22213 • (703) 237-1400 |