Principal's Message

2022–23 HOLY CROSS CORE VALUE

OPTION FOR THE POOR

Each academic year, Hoban focuses on one Holy Cross core value. Option for the Poor is the chosen theme for the 2022-23 school year. For some, it is a Holy Cross core value that difficult to fully grasp. Unlike Hope, Integrity or Zeal, it is sometimes ambiguous or even worse, some would say culturally or politically loaded. This year, our Hoban community will explore the many forms of poverty that we must address each day in our own lives and in society. From spiritual poverty, emotional poverty and socioeconomic poverty to communal poverty or cultural poverty, the types of poverty that we face are daunting. Therefore, addressing Option for the Poor connects the heart of our mission at Hoban.

One of my favorite short stories to teach in the 9th grade classroom [many moons ago] was Hugo Martinez-Serros story “Distillation.” In the story, a destitute Mexican father living in Chicago pulls his five sons in a wagon to a trash dump each Saturday. The dump is miles away from his home and the journey each Saturday traverses over many steep inclines and obstacles.

“Ahead of us rats scattered, fleeing the noise and bulk that moved toward them. Stray dogs, poking their noses into piles, did not retreat at our approach. Sunlight and shadows mottled my vision as the wagon rolled past trees, poles, fences, garages, sheds. My father moved in and out of the light, in and out of the shadows.”

Once there, the family scavenges for leftovers…depicting a sad and gruesome reality for many in society who struggle for essentials. In a way, the story is a sobering documentary on actual poverty and suffering. Words on a page helped the students relate vicariously to an extent, but raw experiences like Hoban’s Project HOPE or JAM often provided the real-world experiences that Serros narrated. “My father had learned that the dump yielded more and better on Saturdays. Truckloads of spoiled produce were dumped that day, truckloads from warehouses, markets, stores, truckloads of stale or damaged food. We would spend the entire day here, gathering, searching, sifting, digging, following the trucks’ shifting centers of activity.”

The climax of the story occurs when a thunderstorm accompanied by damaging and large-sized hail breaks onto the scene out of nowhere and the father must protect his sons. The shack they take protection under blows away and the father scurries to find a tarp–all while taking abuse from the dangerous spheres of ice pelting his skin.

“The growing force of the hailstorm crashed down on him. Thrashing desperately under the tarp, we found his legs and clung to them. I crawled between them. We could not stop bawling.”

At the conclusion of the story, the young boy sees his father preparing to bathe after the long journey home. His back is exposed, and the son sees the welts and bruises his father absorbed. In the end, a new appreciation of his Dad’s sacrifices is realized–a new clarity of servant leadership is gleaned…a new “distillation” understood of what a father is to a family.

As a teacher, this story always reminded me of Hoban’s Holy Cross core value Option for the Poor, taken from biblical themes throughout the many passages. Perhaps the most impactful is Matthew 25: 31-46.

BLESSED ARE

THE POOR IN SPIRIT | THOSE WHO MOURN | THE MEEK | THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS | THE MERCIFUL | THE PURE IN HEART | THE PEACEMAKERS | THOSE WHO ARE PERSECUTED BECAUSE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS | YOU WHEN PEOPLE INSULT YOU, PERSECUTE YOU AND FALSELY SAY ALL KINDS OF EVIL AGAINST YOU BECAUSE OF ME

REJOICE AND BE GLAD, BECAUSE GREAT IS YOUR REWARD IN HEAVEN, FOR IN THE SAME WAY THEY PERSECUTED THE PROPHETS WHO WERE BEFORE YOU.

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you made me welcome, lacking clothes and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me. Then the upright will say to him in reply, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome, lacking clothes and clothe you? When did we find you sick or in prison and go to see you?' And the King will answer, 'In truth I tell you, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me."

Ultimately, it is our job at Hoban to serve as the father in this story. We must carry the wagon filled with children. We must protect the most vulnerable when storms arise. We must take the shrapnel and bear the bruises for the voiceless in society. We must live this Option for the Poor by deed and action to show our students what it means to take this core value into the world.

I have great faith in our Holy Cross family and I know that many of our educators, students, alumni and parents embody the servant leadership of the father in this story. I know we can embrace the call to live out the core value of Option for the Poor.

When I taught this story, I always wrapped up with a connective piece that I thought the kids could journal about. The song was “On the Turning Away” by Pink Floyd. I loved the song because it was given to me by my mentor Clem Caraboolad. Nonetheless, the last stanza speaks to the Option for the Poor core value. It urges us to never ignore the needs of the poor: No more turning away; From the weak and the weary No more turning away; From the coldness inside Just a world that we all must share; It's not enough just to stand and stare Is it only a dream that there'll be; No more turning away?

Suffering and poverty come in many forms. It is a great challenge to address these in ourselves, our families and our communities. I know the Hoban family is up to the task of embracing this core value and doing our part in living out the Holy Cross constitutions.

When I falter or need realignment, I always go back to the Holy Cross constitutions. I hope these lines resonate with you like they do me. Peace to all of you!

The face of every human being who suffers is for us the face of Jesus who mounted the cross to take the sting out of death. It is essential to our mission that we strive to abide so attentively together that people will observe: “See how they love one another.” We will then be a sign in an alienated world: men who have, for love of their Lord, become closest neighbors, trustworthy friends, brothers.