With the close of last school year, I completed my 30th campaign in education. Each of those years has been filled with joy and sorrow, challenges and successes, ups and downs and a ton of stories worth sharing. My (True) Life in Education Thus Far will detail 30 or so of those stories. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed living (most) of them!
A CALL TO SERVICE
FEBRUARY 22, 2023
I had a wonderful 4 years working for the Jesuit Schools Network. I served the organization alongside wonderful colleagues who were dedicated to the mission of Jesuit education and to supporting the schools which we served. I logged thousands of air miles all over the country (and, as you will read below, internationally). I got to meet hundreds of people. I was blessed by the work and gifted by the experience. And I remain very, very close to some of my co-workers to this day. I love these people and the gifts they shared with me. I will always have “two minutes?” to speak with them.
In my fourth year with the JSN, I was asked to go to Rio for an international conference of leaders of Jesuit education from all over the world. “Asked” is the wrong word. “Honored” is more appropriate. I was honored by the invitation to go to Rio.
But I am an idiot and resisted. I am a bit timid when it comes to international travel, having not done much of it. I looked at the calendar for the month of October, the month during which the gathering would take place, and saw that I would be home in Denver for fewer than six days that month adding the conference to my schedule. I was reluctant to commit.
My boss at JSN removed the reluctance. We were blessed to go and we would all be going.
Roger that.
What I could not possibly conceive when I boarded the plane in Denver to layover in Houston to get to Rio was that the trip would change my life.
This is not a hyperbolic statement. This trip changed my life.
I am a religious person and ever have been. I am a devoted Catholic. I pray. But I had never had what I would define as a “religious experience” where I really, truly felt God speaking to me until my trip to Rio.
At a Mass, Arturo Sosa, SJ, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus was celebrating. I was seated in the front row and was within feet of Father Superior as he offered his homily. He spoke about how leaders in Catholic schools need to be in touch with who they are and how they must be authentic in their leadership.
When he said the word authentic, there was something of an echo in my mind, as though he and I were standing in a cave and he was speaking the word only to me and it was reverberating off the walls, back and forth, ringing gently in my ears.
Authentic.
I heard the word repeated in my mind.
Authentic.
I knew I was doing good work at the Jesuit Schools Network, and I was enjoying it.
I also knew that I felt I had not done the authentic work I was called to do: I had not been a principal (not a bloody “acting” principal, but a principal) of a Catholic high school. That was authentic. That was my calling.
When I arrived home, I spoke with my wife about the message I had received and she was absolutely supportive. She made my next choice possible. Without a job and without having applied for a position, I told my boss at the JSN that I would be leaving the organization at the end of the school year. He was gracious, supportive and told me ‘it’s time for you to run your own show.”
Following my conversation with my boss, my wife and I spoke again. She asked me “what’s your perfect position? What are you looking for? If you could wave your magic wand, what would your perfect job look like?”
That was easy. I would be hired by a co-ed, Catholic high school in Denver. I knew there was no such position open so we began to look at schools that would require a move.
Two weeks later, a co-ed, Catholic high school principalship opened.
Funny how religious experiences work.
