Justice is Love in Action

Give me, O Lord, a love full of action.

— CORNELIA CONNELLY

For many, the word justice is synonymous with law. But to get to the heart of why it’s so important for students to learn this cardinal virtue through “Actions Not Words,” we must go deeper. Our theology teachers all distilled the concept of justice down to the same essential Biblical truth: “We are all made in God’s image and likeness—called to recognize the Divine in one another,” as Department Chair Nora Warren explained. Teacher Ron Castelo spelled out what this means for our Holy Child community: “We must ensure that God’s plan for His creation is actualized, including the dignity and freedom of all human beings.”

In their theology classes, students are learning to embody justice through what our founder, Cornelia Connelly, called “a love full of action”—by serving, supporting and standing up for others. And if this is challenging, all the better, says Head of School Kate Morin. At the beginning of the school year, Mrs. Morin called on students to “do something scary every day.” Because, she said, facing difficulties “builds the muscle of courage. The muscle of empathy. The muscle of love.”