RELIGIOUS LIFE
BROTHER JOSEPH Kirk, F.S.C. spends time in and out of the classroom talking with students, many of whom speak English as a second language, to help them gain social confidence and improve their pronunciation.
Instruments of God for the sake of the poor Text by Jennifer Tomshack; photos by Brother James Joost, F.S.C.
The Daughters of Charity and De La Salle Christian Brothers bring hope and opportunity to a new generation through their commitment to education for all. Jennifer Tomshack is editorial director of TrueQuest Communications, publisher of VISION Vocation Guide.
P
OPE FRANCIS recently called upon “each individual Christian and every community . . . to be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor, and for enabling them to be fully a part of society,” (Evangelii Gaudium). To find a model of how to do that well look to the work of the Daughters of Charity and De La Salle Christian Brothers at De Marillac Academy in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. The core teaching team and administrators at De Marillac Academy consider themselves to be an “educational family” dedicated to making Catholic education accessible to all in hopes of breaking the cycle of poverty. The academy, founded in 2001 and named after Saint Louise de Marillac, provides high-quality, valuesbased, tuition-free education to very low-income, underserved young people of all faiths and cultural backgrounds who live in an area marred by drugs, prostitution, homelessness, and violence. Some of the innovative programs De Marillac provides, which lead to nearly all of their students finishing high school and as much as 89 percent going to
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