model for justice

I wasn’t particularly close to Kara. We worked at CSM together and we would share in hilarity – in fact I will always remember her fondly. Her smile was contagious, her spirit always welcoming. But, I think I’ve gotten to know Kara better these past few years through working with her brother Chris at McQuaid. Chris and I work closely at 1800 South Clinton. He’s the Christian Service Director and I teach Social Justice to every single Junior. Funny how fate has a way of putting two “Spooners” together. Anyway, I’ve designed a new curriculum for our Juniors and we’ve been currently discussing the Church’s history of social justice both in scripture and her history. I then try to give them examples of our Church working for social justice today. Eventually certain names are mentioned: Mother Theresa, Pope John Paul II, the martyrs of El Salvador… I ask the students to think of those in their lives today (Catholic or not) who work for social justice. I thought of Kara. She’s in there with some pretty “heavy” company. She may have come from less humble means than Mother Theresa (the Syracuse area pales in comparison to war-torn Macedonia – the one near Turkey, not Fairport) but they both shared a sense of humility and sacrifice. She might have had a little more energy than the pope (proper decorum dictates that our Holy Father cannot participate in shaving cream wars and midnight raids to the CSM kitchen), but she shares with him the same spirit to love. Peace and prayers, Wheels