A New Adventure and a New Vision

I have not added an installment to my blog in a very long time and today seemed to be a very good time to begin once again. A few of my colleagues and I are setting out on a new adventure tomorrow and I think that we will learn (or re-learn) some important lessons about what is important in life. Missy Lawrence, our Campus Minister, Ryan Kloetzer, one of our Lower School faculty members, and I are travelling to Haiti as part of a delegation with Catholic Relief Services. Our job is to see first hand the work that Catholic Relief Services, an international arm of the Catholic Church in America in terms of Social Justice, has done as a first responder after the terrible earthquake a few years ago. We are also going to experience the on-going work that is being done to develop the infrastructure and improve the quality of life in the long term. Once we learn about these things, we are going to write some curriculum materials for students in the United States so that they are sensitized to the needs of others, understand that as a Church we do respond, and finally find ways that they can be part of the solution to some of the huge problems faced by people in the world--poverty, homelessness, lack of education. I do not think it is a coincidence that our work begins tomorrow, July 16--the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel! That omen seems to bode good things that may come from this experience not only for those of us who travel but also for the students we will impact. I was formed by the idealism of sixties--when young people really believed that they could make the world better and options like the Peach Corps were real. I still believe that young people have a yearning to make a positive difference and only need the tools and "conections" to do so. I hope that by sharing our experience, we can energize some people to join in the efforts to see the world with new eyes and have a vision that includes doing something positive to meet the needs of others. I am also convinced that though the needs in Haiti are great, there is a resiliency among the people that can inpsire us to be more appreciative of the many blessings we have. So, join us on our journey and keep us in your prayers. We will try, on a daily basis, to share impressions, information, and ideas so that our journey can be yours as well. So, as we say at the end of each prayer at our school--Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Pray for us!