Confidence, Courage to do Something Great!

These are my remarks to the graduating 8th graders of Prince of Peace School, May 19, 2023.

Good evening, and congratulations to all of you.

I know that tonight feels like the end of something—a completion, and for sure, it’s partly that. You are no longer elementary school students. 

But it’s more than that. Another name for graduation is “Commencement.” To “commence” something means to “begin,” to “start something new.” Tonight marks a new beginning for you. It’s a commissioning ceremony that “sends you forth” to do great things.

Because really, that’s what we want for you. Our mission statement says it clearly, that we hope you will become “faithful to Jesus Christ, prepared for high school, and confident you can do great things through Christ who strengthens you.”

For just a few moments, allow me to speak as if I were your high school principal next year, because I was one for many years. Here’s what we need. We need students willing lead other students to do great things. We believe you’re capable of that.

Frankly, our culture doesn’t. It underestimates you as students, so it waters down what it expects of you in the classroom and inflates your grades. It tells you that you are not capable of virtue or chastity in your relationships, so it preaches “safe sex.” It tells you, bless your heart, that you can’t handle the truth that some people are better athletes than you are, so it guarantees trophies for everyone!

The cultural message is that you’re a fragile little snowflake that needs to be delicately handled. You are puny. Mediocre. You are not capable of greatness.

THAT IS NOT WHAT WE BELIEVE! It’s not our belief here at POP. And I am certain it’s not what JPII believes. What BL believes. What Jesuit or Ursuline believe.

We think, instead, that you can be like a sophomore girl in my old school who went on a mission trip with her parents and her church to a village in Africa. She didn’t really want to go, but her parents made her. But when she got there, she was immersed in complete poverty, and it changed her. She noticed that some families were doing better than others—and the difference, surprisingly, was whether or not the family owned a goat. Goats are a great blessing to the poor. Villagers get milk and cheese from goats. They require very little maintenance— no special diet, just grass and shrubs. They have two gestation periods/year, so they can reproduce quickly, and families with healthy goats can breed them. Children whose families owned  goats are considerably healthier.

So two years later, when her Church decided to re-visit the village, this now senior girl was eager to return. But she had an idea. “Mr. Weber, would it be OK if I did a fund-raiser in the school for goats? They cost about 100/each, and they make an amazing difference to the villagers.” “Of course,” I said. She then raised $8500, and was able to give goats to 85 families when she revisited. This one 18 year old girl changed 85 family’s lives!

We think you can be like a freshman boy I knew. When he was in middle school, he began helping out at Catholic Social Services with his parents. He learned that for many poor children who lived in our county, nutrition was a real problem—the only decent meal they’d get every day was the federally sponsored school lunch. “But what happens on weekends?” he began to ask.  Exactly the problem! So he started a “backpack program” at a grade school with a high concentration of poor families. On Thursdays, he’d stuff backpacks with meals for kids to take home on Fridays, which he would pay for through donations he solicited and contributions of food from local grocery stores. He’s a senior now, and continued this through high school, bringing in more high school students so that he could expand and serve more students. He is a difference-maker!

But these kids are no different than you!

Next year, find something you’re passionate about that helps other people. I spoke to one of you, who said she likes working with handicapped children. Awesome—how can you get your classmates involved in that? Is there a club that already does that? If not, can you form a club? Can this club visit handicapped children on a regular basis? Throw them a big Christmas party each year? What else?

Some have told me you like tutoring younger children. Amazing! Find some way to encourage your classmates to come with you when you do that. Perhaps there’s a grade school you can visit on a once/week basis. Ask your principal if you can form a club, give it a cool name, get something going. 

And I’m sure there are many outstanding clubs like this already that you can join. Seek out those clubs. You will find amazing other students there and become close friends, making a difference together !

Some of you are athletes. How can you use that gift to witness to your faith and encourage your peers to live Christian lives?

There is a young lady who graduated last night at the school I left to come here. Last spring, as a junior, she won the state championship in the 100 meter, 200 meter and 400 meter races. I logged onto the school’s website to see how she did this year, and sure enough, she was state champion again in all three—a 6 time state champion, the most decorated athlete in the school’s young history! But this year, when she was getting photographed for the school’s social media site, she used it as a chance to give “All Glory to God.” Powerful!

So yes, tonight is a celebration. But it’s also a commissioning ceremony.


Now for sure, you’re going from the very top of the totem pole as 8th graders to the very bottom as freshmen, so you’ll have to fit in just a little bit. No self respecting senior is going to let a freshman strut around like he or she owns the place. But don’t let “fitting in” be the thesis statement of your life. Have the courage to shine during your high school careers.

Here’s what author Marianne Williamson says:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?'

Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Amen! When we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to shine! Our liberation liberates others. 

One final remark:

We will miss you. There are teachers, staff and administrators here who have known you a long time, who remember you when you were children, and who loved and nurtured you into the young men and women you are becoming. Dream big! Do great things! Change the world! But don’t forget us. We’re not perfect, and where we’ve made mistakes, please forgive us. We love you and are proud that we are now your alma mater. You have been, and always will be, a Prince of Peace Star!

God bless you.

Sailing Forward. Looking Back.

Let us be open to new paradigms and possibilities! But let us do so with prudence and deliberation. The problem with navigating our vessels through the powerful currents of contemporary opinion is they are pushed and pulled at the same rate as everyone else's vessels, making it impossible for us to detect the true distance and speed of our travels.  We need reference points alongside the shoreline, outside of the current, to measure how far and how fast we’re moving. 

This, it seems to me, is the value of the tradition of our Church. We are quick to marginalize the Church’s claims as “historically conditioned" and "anachronistic", but like the “pot calling the kettle black”, our instant, casual dismissiveness of the Church's claims reveals how beholden we are to the conditioning of the present day.

Our reflexive reaction to “Tradition” shouldn’t be that of contempt. In his book Orthodoxy, G.K Chesterton reminds us that tradition represents the established wisdom of our ancestors against the vicissitudes of what’s faddish, a “democracy of the dead,” (which) “refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about.” 

We do well to respect such wisdom, even if science or other disciplines compel us to stretch beyond our previously held views.

Cloud of Witnesses

One of the great blessings of my life is the many good people I've come to know, mostly due to my career in Catholic education.  Since 2005, I’ve had the honor of paying tribute to many of them upon their death. 

We had three unexpected snow days this week here in Dallas which has given me some time to reminisce, going through old posts, re-reading the eulogies I wrote at the time—nineteen people, as it turns out.  I re-share them here with the date of my original posting, as a way of re-celebrating their lives,  in gratitude for their example and friendship. 

Fr. Michael Labadie (July, 2005) - Fr. Labadie was a former student at Catholic High who was later ordained and then assigned as a teacher when I was principal.

Coach Tim Turner (April 2006)—Coach Tim and I coached with and against each other for years. He coached two of my sons, and later became our middle school football coach at Catholic High. 

Justin Braswell (June, 2006)—Justin was a junior at Montgomery Catholic who died prematurely due to complications of muscular dystrophy.

Carol Cassidy (September, 2008)—Carol was a revered volunteer at Pope John Paul II High School in Hendersonville, TN

Grandma Marie Sprague (November, 2009)—My mom's mom, she was a dynamic, irresistible force for good in the life of our family. 

Jane Everest (August, 2012)—My high school English teacher at McGill-Toolen. I was asked by her family to give the eulogy at her funeral. 

Virginia Mayhan (February 2013)—My mother-in-law, she was a saintly, strong woman who put her family first throughout her life. 

Alice Ortega (January, 2014)—Catholic High’s dynamic English teacher of nearly forty years, a tour-de-force in the life of her many students.

Dad (March 2015)—Written nearly one year after his death, a wonderful father and person of great faith and joy. My brother and sisters regard him as the finest man we've known. 

Sr. Martha Belke (April,  2015)—A Loretto sister, long time Chemistry and IPS teacher at Catholic High. She was my mentor in my first year of teaching and a powerful example to me throughout my young career.

Rev. Holcombe Pryor (September, 2015)—Long time, deeply respected band director at McGill-Toolen and father to one of my close friends during my time as a student there.

Grandpa Albert Sprague (December 2015)—My grandfather and a Naval hero, I wrote this almost forty years after his death. 

Rusty Cowles (December, 2016)—Rusty was a ten year old boy, killed tragically in a 4-wheel drive accident. I write primarily about the witness of his parents' faith, the beauty of the funeral mass,  and the outpouring of love from the Catholic community of Baldwin County

Bishop David Choby (June 2017)—Bishop of Nashville during my 7 year stint as head of school at Pope John Paul II. He became a close friend during that time.

Caroline Berry (November 2018)—Caroline enrolled at St. Michael as a freshman and then found out around Christmas she had cancer. She fought it bravely for two years. I believe she is the first Cardinal student  to become a saint. 

Gerald Vrazel  (June 2019)—Gerald was a major influence on me when I was a teen-ager. He was one of the finest Christian men I’ve known in my life. 

Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb (July 2020)—Archbishop of Mobile during my entire time as teacher, principal and president of Catholic High. I admired him deeply. 

Mike McLaren (December, 2020)—Dean of Students at Pope John Paul II and one of the true co-founders of the school. One of the major figures that contributed to the school’s  sterling reputation. 

Dr. Tom Doyle (September 2021)— My mentor and friend, the most brilliant, passionate and generous Catholic educator I’ve ever known.

Rest in Peace, Pope Benedict (1927-2022)

Pope Benedict passed away at the age of 95, on the last day of 2022. His funeral will be this Thursday, January 5. He was pope from April of 2005 to February 2013, the successor to (now saint) Pope John Paul II and predecessor of Pope Francis. Though not as personally “charismatic” as JPII, nor perceived to have the “pastoral warmth” of Francis, he was a man of great faith and intellect, having published over 65 books on matters of theology and spirituality, many as a professor of theology before being elected pope. He was one of the pivotal players of Vatican II in the 1960’s, both during the Council and in the decades-long discussions that followed.  As pope he wrote three important encyclicals, four apostolic exhortations and gave thousands of homilies and talks, many of which are available on line. 

 

It would be ludicrous to try and summarize the immenseness of his thinking in an article, and I am not expert enough to have the hubris to even try. At the same time, it would be a shame not to at least get a “taste” of his thinking this week, as we prepare for his funeral on Thursday. The best way to do that, I think, is to read some of what he said himself! 

 

Here, then, are a few curated quotes that speak powerfully to me. He gave his whole heart and his prodigious mind to the Lord, and I believe his thinking will anchor Church thinking for many generations to come. 

 

Regarding theology:

 

"We have to ask questions. Those who do not ask do not get a reply. But I would add that for theology, in addition to the courage to ask, we also need the humility to listen to the answers that the Christian faith gives us; the humility to perceive in these answers their reasonableness and thus to make them newly accessible to our time and to ourselves."
—Speech, March 21, 2007

On relativism:

"Having a clear faith based on the Creed of the church is often labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be 'tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine,' seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times. We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires."
—Homily, April 18, 2005

On freedom:

"The person who abandons himself totally in God's hands does not become God's puppet, a boring 'yes man'; he does not lose his freedom. Only the person who entrusts himself totally to God finds true freedom, the great, creative immensity of the freedom of good."
—Homily, Dec. 8, 2005

On religious freedom:

"It is inconceivable, then, that believers should have to suppress a part of themselves — their faith — in order to be active citizens. It should never be necessary to deny God in order to enjoy one's rights. ... The full guarantee of religious liberty cannot be limited to the free exercise of worship but has to give due consideration to the public dimension of religion, and hence to the possibility of believers playing their part in building the social order."
—Speech at the United Nations, April 18, 2008

On the Sacrament of Confession:

"It is very helpful to confess with a certain regularity. It is true: our sins are always the same, but we clean our homes, our rooms, at least once a week, even if the dirt is always the same, in order to live in cleanliness, in order to start again. Otherwise, the dirt might not be seen, but it builds up. Something similar can be said about the soul."
—Response to children's questions, Oct. 15, 2005

On abortion: 

"The fundamental human right, the presupposition of every other right, is the right to life itself. This is true of life from the moment of conception until its natural end. Abortion, consequently, cannot be a human right -– it is the very opposite."
—Speech in Austria, Sept. 7, 2007

On setting goals: 

“The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.” (unknown)

On becoming weary:

“There are times when the burden of need and our own limitations might tempt us to become discouraged. But precisely then we are helped by the knowledge that, in the end, we are only instruments in the Lord's hands; and this knowledge frees us from the presumption of thinking that we alone are personally responsible for building a better world. In all humility we will do what we can, and in all humility we will entrust the rest to the Lord. It is God who governs the world, not we. We offer him our service only to the extent that we can, and for as long as he grants us the strength. To do all we can with what strength we have, however, is the task which keeps the good servant of Jesus Christ always at work: “The love of Christ urges us on” (2 Cor 5:14).” --God is Love: Deus Caritas Est