#LasallianLife
Vin Horan - "Courtyard Caretakers"
February 16, 2024
This past Friday was dedicated as a professional development day for our faculty and staff members. On each of these days throughout the year, we commit a significant portion of the day to Lasallian formation. These are opportunities to learn and grow in our understanding and commitment to the educational mission of Saint John Baptist de La Salle. It is our way to remain committed to our Founder and ensure that the Lasallian mission shines vibrantly throughout our community.
As part of this past Friday’s program, 12th grade religion teacher Vin Horan shared the following reflection that he wrote in 2019.
Note: The following reading has been slightly modified for brevity.
Courtyard Caretakers
by Mr. Vincent Horan
As I sit at my desk contemplating “the Holy Presence of God”, I’m looking out my window at a group of little ducklings marching around the enclosed courtyard outside my classroom window. Parent-ducks return to the courtyard every spring to raise their families because the courtyard is welcoming and safe. Everything they need is there – food, shelter, room to run, and, though the ducklings may not understand it, love.
What the growing ducklings don’t know is that long before they arrived, the courtyard was groomed and prepared, very intentionally, so that the young ducks would find just such a safe, nurturing, and caring environment, one designed to help them grow into all that God intended them to be. Vegetation is planted and pruned; pathways are raked and cleared; shrubs are manicured for shade and shelter; water holes for swimming and food bins are set in place. Their environment doesn’t happen by accident.
In the time they are there, the water is kept fresh and the food supply is constantly replenished. As the ducklings grow and leave behind their “messes”, helping hands inconspicuously clean up behind them. Their every move is watched by countless eyes, looking to make sure that nothing gets in the way of their growth while they are here. Once the duckling have grown big enough and strong enough, they are released into the world to make their own way, having been lovingly nurtured on their way to independence and self-sufficiency. And then another group arrives the following spring to be similarly loved and nurtured.
The ducks and courtyard, though real, are also metaphors for the safe, nurturing and love-filled environment the incredible faculty, staff, and administration provide for our CBA students. When thinking about the Holy Presence of God at CBA, I think of my co-workers, because I do not just see God’s Holy Presence, I feel it and live embraced by it every day, in and through the amazing CBA family.
Every year when the Semi-Formal dance comes around, I ask to chaperone the classroom coat rooms, far away from all the glitz and action in the gym, and every year I am asked why I prefer the quiet to the pulsating fun. My honest answer is that the darkened hallways and classrooms I roam are some of my favorite places on earth, and, most certainly, some of the holiest places I’ve experienced.
In my quiet solitude, memories of moments shared and love observed there flood my mind. It is there that my co-workers prepare the environment that lets our ducklings grow. It is there that hearts are not only touched, they are massaged, protected, nourished, opened, and expanded.
Henri Nouwen often referred to his friendships as “gifts from God”, and relationships as living signs of God’s real presence in the world (Love Henri – Letters on the Spiritual Life, Henri Nouwen, Convergent New York 2016, p. 56). Henri’s experience certainly rings true with me. In and through my observation of, and relationships with my CBA family, I see and experience God’s very real presence each and every day. It is their love and their selfless and mostly behind the scenes hard work that makes this school community so welcoming, safe and nurturing, which encourages our youngsters to fly.
Space and time prevent me from sharing all of the memories and people who have revealed God’s loving presence to me; everyone here has caused me to pause in silent awe more than once. Instead, I will just focus on my little piece of this courtyard – the hallway outside my classroom on the second floor – and some of the what I have seen there.
Walking by room 205 I see and hear Dave Roache praying deeply with his students before explaining the intricacies of government and economics as he shows them how to live as a faith-filled adult in ways most won’t understand until they are older. And I see a man for whom no task, no committee work, no sacrifice is not worth doing if it will help our students grow.
Then, by room 207 I recall Todd Benware’s Shakespeare class galloping around the room as he coaxes them into letting their guards down so they can experience the exhilarating freedom felt when you trust without fear of judgment. And I see the circled chairs where his Creative Writing family shares their joys and tribulations, feeling and knowing that they are heard, valued, and loved.
[In Room 209] I hear laughter and frustration from Colin Conroy’s math students and bowling team members as they complain about one and joke about the other. Thinking of Colin brings to mind the many former ducklings – Pat Wiese, Peter Paris, Mike Cusano, Dave Marshall, Robert Michael Calimlim, and Buddy Wleklinski - who have returned to the courtyard to share themselves with younger generations.
Note: We have since welcomed the presence of Brittany Brigandi, Caroline Webster, and Julie Cuomo.
As I wander near the Counseling Center, I am reminded of the superwomen I work with, Kathleen Hanson, Susan Major, Christine Gravelle, Karin Toole, and Vivian Saba, who should be wearing capes as they fiercely and nobly “keep love, find humor, maintain freedom, discover joy, and expand [their hearts] all while in the process of slaying dragons.” (R. Rohr)
The halls and classrooms of CBA are my “corner of 4th & Walnut”, the place where Thomas Merton had an epiphany/life changing revelation regarding the people around him. He suddenly and certainly saw all of the people walking the streets as full of radiance and light. Merton wrote, “There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun…with a secret beauty in their hearts.’ (Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, Thomas Merton Doubleday & Co. Garden City, New York 1966, p. 140-141). I marvel at the brilliance my co-workers radiate as they work tirelessly throughout the year, touching hearts, changing lives, and making the courtyard ready for our ducklings.
At times as I wander the halls I am tempted to take off my shoes just as Moses did; instead, I just say a quiet prayer of thanks as I recognize that the ground on which I walk is, indeed, holy ground.
Our President at the time, Brother Joseph Jozwiak, introduced the reflection by asking the readers, “What is the source of the writer’s passion for education and working with children? How do these stories touch my own life? What am I able to take away from these shared experiences and apply to my own lived experiences?” From Syracuse to Los Angeles to Paris to anywhere in the world - may each of you walk on holy ground today by experiencing the presence of God in your midst.
Mr. Matthew Keough
President, Christian Brothers Academy
Note: Due to the winter recess, the next #LasallianLife will appear on Friday, March 1.
