This past Sunday to Tuesday, I directed a three-day Kairos for my students, the 15th one I've been a part of. It's a well-crafted distillation of the Spiritual Exercises, pedagogically adapted for teenagers to engage in an intensive multi-day/overnight retreat. The exposure teens gain to the power of trust, vulnerability, and companionship gives them potent experience of God's love moving in their community. It's a must for any teen, whether through their Catholic high school, their parish or local community, or perhaps even in college.
That said, my leisure reading was a bit constrained this week.
Recently, California's governor issued an executive order placing a moratorium on the death penalty. This effectively pulled hundreds of prisoners off death row in California, which had the largest death row population of any United State. This article goes inside California's biggest prison, where these prisoners do their time. One of the many great details provided by this chaplain is the first-hand experience of prison personnel dismantling the execution apparatuses -- what a powerful action, especially when juxtaposed with the grim "work" of execution prison-workers have too often done in the past.
My wife, Katherine, and I have taken to watching this show, not because we love house-hunter shows and can't get enough of them (we definitely can get enough) but because the idea that these flips took place at disclosed addresses we know well from our years living in the city. As we watched though, what bothered us more than the personality of the host was the fashion by which she worked -- all high-end, all high-margin, all well into the million-dollar range. Of course, she's capitalistically out for profit, but she often talks about history, story, and artifiact objects with a romance that doesn't match her profit-driven work. This article features excellent reporting that discusses the impact of expensive flips that drive up home prices, conversions that turn multi-flats into single-family homes, and more. It's fantastic journalism.
This is a total homer move by me, an alum of St. Viator High School. My fave religious community has been working hard over the last few years to move from ideas and a feasibility study to the concrete, brick-and-mortar building of a new Cristo Rey Network school. I would argue, and have, that Cristo Rey secondary education is the most effective concrete thing that the Church is doing to serve and accompany socioeconomically marginalized populations. It's awesome to see my beloved priests and brothers shepherding this important work into reality and growing the network of this exceptional ministry.
No comments:
Post a Comment