Drawing Others into Service
Br. Donald Blauvelt, C.S.C.
When I arrived at my first teaching assignment in Long Beach, California, I had been taught very little about Holy Cross education and what made it unique. I quickly learned from the religious and others with whom I worked there.
It took many more years, however, for me to be able to put that knowledge into meaningful words: a Holy Cross school is a particular expression of Catholic social teaching, which is meant to bring hope to people and transform the world.
Throughout my life as a Holy Cross religious, I have experienced schools and educators bringing hope in various ways: taking in and educating Cuban refugees in Florida; offering the experience of service learning in Queens; making a commitment to families of migrant farm workers in Texas; building a program for the educationally disadvantaged in Maryland; inviting minorities into the school and building a total support program for them in California; modeling what was possible after Katrina in New Orleans.
This outreach to those who need us most characterizes all our ministries – educational, social, pastoral, and parochial. Our mission in the United States is to transform the lives of those with whom we work. In the same way that a Holy Cross school without a service dimension makes little sense, all of our ministries are meant to draw others to service.
By transforming lives we believe we will change society and make the world a better place for all than it is today. That is the hope we strive to bring.
Br. Donald Blauvelt, C.S.C., is a member of the Moreau Province (Austin, Texas).
Read the reflection of Rev. Thomas J. O'Hara, C.S.C., on Holy Cross in the United States
Read the reflection of Br. Lawrence Stewart, C.S.C., on Holy Cross in the United States