Alignment

One lesson I have learned from my decade in the field of education is how important it is that I feel an alignment of my personal and professional lives. There are only so many hours in a day, so I want to make darn sure that I am making the most of each of them. Having work that I care about helps a great deal with that. As an educator, I feel I must put my whole self into my work in order to ensure that the students are having a transformative experience (because why work in education if you're not being transformative?!). I knew that working at a secular school was not for me because part of being fully present at work for me is having a spiritual dimension to what we do. I was a bit nervous to come to a Catholic school as a Quaker, but I was won over by Catholic Social Teaching. No one is a better model for Catholic social values than Pope Francis. He puts human dignity before all else and consistently acts in solidarity with the marginalized, even if that goes against popular Catholic opinion. So I was especially thrilled to see that he talked about the Quakers and our aligned values while he was in Philadelphia: http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/pennsylvania/mc-pope-independence-hall-speech-20150926-story.html. I love it when religion can bring us together instead of tear us apart!