We embrace our past as we forge into the future
Dear Cardinal Mooney Family:
It was nice for me to meet several of you this past week as you returned to school to close out the academic year. I’m looking forward to meeting all of you upon your return in August.
I also took time to wander the campus, which struck me as the embodiment of the kind of dynamic community I and Dr. Beiting will be developing here. It pays homage to the great traditions like the Victory Bell, and presents our proud history in pictures on the walls. It has also been renovated for the 21st century without being bound by the past.
My office is on the second floor, so each day I pass the portrait of Cardinal Edward Mooney. Naturally I wanted to learn something of him. To my surprise, the Maj family and Cardinal Mooney High School have something in common. Cathedral Latin High School in Cleveland, where my father graduated from, was “organized and led” by then Fr. Mooney. Most importantly, his biography provides spiritual direction to our school — then and now: “He took as his Cardinal’s motto the expression “Domino Servientes” — Serving the Lord, which expressed his deepest convictions on behalf of justice and educational opportunity (From Eminence, the Silver Jubilee).” Justice and educational opportunity have been the hallmark of a Mooney education, and will be a trusted reminder as I lead Cardinal Mooney.
A reminder of our covenant with our families and alumni to provide quality Catholic education in service of our Church and community.
By any measure, by any meaning, these are interesting times. COVID has altered how we live and conduct our businesses. It hardly seems there is a single entity not affected or not facing unprecedented challenges. Meanwhile, the nature of what is expected of us, or what we’re capable of delivering, also presents challenges. Making sense of the world we live in is difficult, yet I will argue that what this moment demands from all of us is simply the best we have to give. What this moment demands of Cardinal Mooney is to exercise its power as an institution for good and progress … and as a beacon of hope to our children and community.
Sadly I’ve already heard the chatter about Mooney closing. It is not! In fact, I will tell you that there has never been a more important time for this most important institution — justice and educational opportunity. All around us is doubt and uncertainty … doubt in the economy, uncertainty in our ability to overcome COVID, and doubt about our future. People are questioning institutions and each other.
I understand all of that and have this to offer: Mooney’s contributions become more vital not less in this environment. Mooney is valued because it has values. We teach the hard sciences but also the arts and humanities because those are what make us human.
As I greeted students and was greeted by them this past week, I saw in them hope. That hope — their hope — radiates out from this place and touches people who may never sit in our desks. That is “Justice” lived out.
Hope radiates from Cardinal Mooney and the work our faculty and staff do each day — “educational opportunity.”
As I wondered the halls and campus I saw what a Mooney education offers: It offers a treasured glimpse into our human core in literature and history classes; in the art, speech, and music class it opens windows to creativity. But most importantly, it provides new truths for students who come to us likely never having seen discovery with their own eyes — justice and educational opportunity.
This is not the time for students’ education to be interrupted, or to misinterpret the role of Catholic education — a Mooney education.
From Silver Jubilee, Eminence, we read: “… Cardinal Edward Mooney’s sensitivity to the social justice calls of the Gospel endeared him to the suffering working class families who made up his community.” As I look at the horizon ahead of me, I know that Cardinal Mooney High School has the capacity to lead. My hope is that you will join me in making Cardinal Mooney a vibrant Catholic school community.
Sincerely,
Thomas Maj
President
Click here to download our full June 7th, 2020 bulletin (PDF Format)