Collingwood has received the following letter to the editor about the story we published . Send your letters to [email protected].
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As I read the article titled, 'Trustees have been used as scapegoats' says Collingwood trustee of Vanier renaming process, I couldn’t help but feel that so many things were missing the mark.
Here are the three names that were up for consideration:
- Our Lady of The Bay
- St. Aloysius Gonzaga Catholic High School
- St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic High School.
I think that all three names miss the mark. They could be way more introspective, inclusive, and accessible to the humans who will have to walk the halls and wear the uniforms bearing the name.
Further, the article revealed that the process is flawed.
There is in-fighting. Men’s voices are the loudest. There are voices being squashed. There are voices who do not even have a chance to be heard. There are allegations of misconduct.
The suggested names, as well as the policies and procedures around this really important decision, demonstrate how unwilling this institution is to evolve. To reflect and to repair. To do better and be better. To set an example for the youth they purport to care so deeply about. To heal a community. To add light and love to a world so desperately in need of both. To shift from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. To loosen their grip on ideologies that choke and stifle, harm and destroy faith in their institution and what it alleges to stand for.
The re-naming (and future naming) of Catholic Schools is an opportunity to re-brand.
If not for moral and ethical reasons, then I will settle for appealing to the money makers and shareholders in the corporations that have become our schools.
Our world is so far from what it could be or should be.
As humans process the traumas and tragedies unfolding, we all have choices to make.
What do we stand for? How do we live and breathe that message? How do we actively challenge the status quo that is so horribly misaligned and malignant?
It is not too late to stop and reflect. To apologize. To admit that we made a mistake. To slow down and be thoughtful.
A decision like this requires a deliberate and mindful process. This is a complicated and complex issue.
It seems that things are being rushed in the interest of a process which allows the powers-that-be to react swiftly and decisively (for emotional and financial reasons).
I am arguing that this issue be treated with the care that it deserves.
What if we used opportunities like this to examine patterns that could be shifted?
What if we moved away from naming schools after people and places, and instead embraced ideals that strive to develop and improve our humanity?
“I go to the School of Peace. It’s in Collingwood. “
“I go to the School of Love. It’s in Collingwood.”
School of Growth. School of Evolution. School of Humanity. School of Compassion.
And if this is too idealistic and impractical, then at the very least, let us look at shifting away from the status quo.
That status quo is not good enough.
“I go to Courage to Shift High School. It got its name at a time in human history, when a shift was exactly what was needed.”
Sara Benjamin
Collingwood
