In his homily yesterday to mark the celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Bishop Shuster reflected on charity and justice. He shared a modern-day parable to illustrate these virtues as he told of a village who took care of injured people who frequently washed up on the shores of the river. He identified these acts of caring for the injured as those of charity as they addressed the immediate needs of those individuals. He then, however, observed that an act of justice would involve walking upstream to identify and work to end whatever was causing injury to these individuals in the first place.

We observe both charity and justice in the lived example of Dr. King. Both are necessary and both factor into the formative work of our Catholic schools. Our schools prepare our students to act with mercy and compassion when they encounter those on the peripheries, who are in need of care, of food, of clothes, of shelter, of accompaniment. They also prepare our students to think critically, to observe the roots of these injustices, and to consider how these structures that perpetuate inequities might be dismantled.

This work of preparation begins, however, first and foremost by providing our students the opportunity to encounter the risen Christ. This too can be found in the example of Dr. King. A minister first, he understood that the pursuit of justice and charity flowed from Jesus and the invitation he made to his disciples to follow and keep his words. We are called to form disciples, and in so doing, we further the work of Dr. King.

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I look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center for the Archdiocesan Convocation. You should have received information last week regarding parking and the schedule for the day. For reference, this link provides all of the necessary information you should know before you go.

NICHOLAS FORD |  Superintendent