Ferverino
St. James Academy Senior Class
Zoom Meeting during COVID-19
29 April 2020
AMDG +JMJ +m
Are you a conservative or a liberal? How you see yourself probably influenced what college you have chosen .
KU where I minister is known as the most liberal school in Kansas! Some say in political terms it's a blue dot in a red state - not a bad description for a school whose colors are crimson and blue.
But I'm not asking this question through the political Democrat/Republican framework, but from a spiritual one. I'm asking if at heart you're tame or wild?
I love the prodigal son as a parable for how to prepare for college. The younger son is a spiritual liberal - I'm tired of all this stuff crammed down my throat and I can't wait to get away and do my own thing. The older son is a spiritual conservative. I'm going to stick with what I know and stay in my bubble.
You probably relate more to one or the other as you prepare for college. And as you may have guessed, most people judge the conservatives as good Catholics and the liberals as bad Catholics. But it's not that simple. In fact both the older and younger sons both did a terrible job with the transition to college. Both end up as good as dead at a time when they were made to become more alive - the elder son on the inside, and the younger son on the outside.
What I propose to you is to be both conservative and liberal! Why are you going to college? The younger son wants to party. The older son just needs a job. Neither are high enough goals! You go to college to become fully alive as a person! And to do that you have to be both conservative and liberal.
Again, just to be conservative is to be afraid. Just to be liberal is to be reckless. You have to be both to get the most out of college!
You have to be conservative, receiving this awesome worldview that you have been raised in with gratitude. Realizing that your life is a gift with a great responsibility. And that your ability has an origin and a destiny. And that your freedom works best when it's related to goodness, truth, beauty and unity.
You have to be liberal, using the worldview you have received not as a bubble that provides safety but as a launching pad for you to explode into a new universe of learning, relationships and experiences, and to become more than you thought possible.
Even the most conservative Catholic colleges have a robust liberal arts program, so that by being both conservative and liberal students have the best chance to come alive! In fact, the Church started universities so that God would be glorified by students learning and growing and become more like Him and fully alive!
To be too conservative is to never get outside your comfort zone while in college because you're afraid. To be too liberal is to say my life is just my own and I can do with it whatever I want - it's to throw away the relationships and meaning that have been given to you as a launching pad for you to become the next saint!
The Church started her first universities to be the most liberal and conservative places - why? So that they would be places where students would come alive. The Church is here to guide you as you grow and learn in this great adventure. The elder son and the younger son didn't have the right approaches. But the Father loved them through their growth, like a good Father.
So also we're here to be a good family to you in this most exciting time of your life.
I hope you consider the Church to be your family, and we can't wait to have you at KU!
St. James Academy Senior Class
Zoom Meeting during COVID-19
29 April 2020
AMDG +JMJ +m
Are you a conservative or a liberal? How you see yourself probably influenced what college you have chosen .
KU where I minister is known as the most liberal school in Kansas! Some say in political terms it's a blue dot in a red state - not a bad description for a school whose colors are crimson and blue.
But I'm not asking this question through the political Democrat/Republican framework, but from a spiritual one. I'm asking if at heart you're tame or wild?
I love the prodigal son as a parable for how to prepare for college. The younger son is a spiritual liberal - I'm tired of all this stuff crammed down my throat and I can't wait to get away and do my own thing. The older son is a spiritual conservative. I'm going to stick with what I know and stay in my bubble.
You probably relate more to one or the other as you prepare for college. And as you may have guessed, most people judge the conservatives as good Catholics and the liberals as bad Catholics. But it's not that simple. In fact both the older and younger sons both did a terrible job with the transition to college. Both end up as good as dead at a time when they were made to become more alive - the elder son on the inside, and the younger son on the outside.
What I propose to you is to be both conservative and liberal! Why are you going to college? The younger son wants to party. The older son just needs a job. Neither are high enough goals! You go to college to become fully alive as a person! And to do that you have to be both conservative and liberal.
Again, just to be conservative is to be afraid. Just to be liberal is to be reckless. You have to be both to get the most out of college!
You have to be conservative, receiving this awesome worldview that you have been raised in with gratitude. Realizing that your life is a gift with a great responsibility. And that your ability has an origin and a destiny. And that your freedom works best when it's related to goodness, truth, beauty and unity.
You have to be liberal, using the worldview you have received not as a bubble that provides safety but as a launching pad for you to explode into a new universe of learning, relationships and experiences, and to become more than you thought possible.
Even the most conservative Catholic colleges have a robust liberal arts program, so that by being both conservative and liberal students have the best chance to come alive! In fact, the Church started universities so that God would be glorified by students learning and growing and become more like Him and fully alive!
To be too conservative is to never get outside your comfort zone while in college because you're afraid. To be too liberal is to say my life is just my own and I can do with it whatever I want - it's to throw away the relationships and meaning that have been given to you as a launching pad for you to become the next saint!
The Church started her first universities to be the most liberal and conservative places - why? So that they would be places where students would come alive. The Church is here to guide you as you grow and learn in this great adventure. The elder son and the younger son didn't have the right approaches. But the Father loved them through their growth, like a good Father.
So also we're here to be a good family to you in this most exciting time of your life.
I hope you consider the Church to be your family, and we can't wait to have you at KU!
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