Dear De La Salle Community,
I remember when I was growing up, my dad would say before we had guests over: “There are three things that we should not discuss at the dinner table – politics, sex, or religion.” You see, he believed, and it is true, that people all have differing opinions on these topics which often lead to arguments. Well, joining the Christian Brothers in 1978 and my career path in Catholic education left Religion on the table.
And you may be wondering what this has to do with school. Well, the presidential election is only a few days away. And there are highly charged feelings on both sides of the election. As a school, we do not take a stand on the election--it is not our place. As a school, we stand firmly behind and with our Lasallian Core Principles--in particular, Respect for all Persons and Inclusive Community. We need to respect the differences of opinions that we have regarding the results of the election. Richard Brodhead, President of Duke University, gave some good advice after the 2016 election. I will paraphrase a bit here: Whatever positions we hold in this election, we all have a stake in the future health of the national community, so we all need to find ways to lessen the negativism and division to re-engage for the common good.
Let us respect our differences and each other. Let us do more than just tolerate differences of opinions. Let us continue to create conditions for respectful dialogue with our school community, which is key to our Mission. We invite all stakeholders in our community to hold true to the Catholic Lasallian Mission.
In the Spirit of Saint John Baptist de La Salle,
Mark DeMarco '78
President