To the Mater Christi School family,

We write to you as countless thousands of citizens across our country are taking to the streets to protest, to express sadness, pain and outrage, to demand justice, and to honor the lives of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and many, many other Black brothers and sisters of ours who have died tragic and untimely deaths in a nation that continues to grapple with the evil effects of racism. 

Racism is one of the five “Critical Concerns” of the Sisters of Mercy.  The Sisters of Mercy, Mercy Associates, friends and partners of Mercy, and Mercy-sponsored institutions throughout the world are committed to dismantling institutional racism and working to build an anti-racist multicultural community where all men, women and children are reverenced as beloved children of God.

The Mater Christi School family, together with the entire Mercy family, acknowledges the racism that infects our nation.  We grieve, with heavy, tired hearts, the deaths of those who have died, we mourn alongside those who have lost loved ones, and we stand in solidarity with our Black friends, neighbors, classmates, coworkers, the entire Black community, and all our sisters and brothers who strive for true justice and a lasting peace.  

As a Catholic, Mercy school we are committed to developmentally appropriate, open dialogue about race, racism, multiculturalism and nonviolence in our classrooms.  We are also committed to the practice of prayer, believing that prayer can shape our minds and hearts and strengthen us to be agents of Mercy in the world.

Trusting that God cares deeply about our needs and hopes, we invite you, our school family, to join us in praying for those who have died from racially motivated violence, for the comfort of their families, for the Black community, for those who are protesting and working to ensure that our nation upholds its highest ideals, for a committed embrace of nonviolent resistance, for law enforcement and first responders who serve and protect us, for a reform of law enforcement wherever necessary, for the elimination of racism and white supremacy, and for the healing of our nation’s deep racial divide.

As we prepare for next year’s school-wide theme of Global Vision and Responsibility, we feel privileged to be a part of a school community that values all people in our diverse and beautiful world, and we look forward to continued reflection, learning, and growth in the year ahead.  Fr. Gregory Boyle, SJ, a Jesuit priest from Los Angeles who oversees the largest and most successful gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world, once said, “The measure of our compassion lies not in the service of those on the margins…but in our willingness to see ourselves in kinship with them.”  May we know a deep kinship with all those on the margins and with one another.

In Mercy,

Tim Loescher

Jason Moore