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“I pray I am a fool so as not to be exposed as a coward,” wrote James Gillcrist in an extraordinary open letter to the Rockhurst High School community.
A theology and philosophy teacher, veteran, anti-racist advocate and lifelong advocate for the oppressed, Gillcrist was terminated last week in what he calls a clear retaliation for speaking truth to power. More than a local scandal—his firing indicates a chilling sign of the times we are in, and of the crackdown on dissent sweeping the nation.
Gillcrist’s words carry weight forged in the crucible of war. Reflecting on his time in Iraq, he confessed, “Of all that I experienced as a Light Infantry Officer in the Sunni Triangle, the decision to lie, to take the easy way out… haunts me the most.”
As an officer, he once fought for weeks to include unvarnished truths in his reports—truths that his superiors repeatedly demanded be altered to present an illusion of what he and his fellow soldiers were actually doing. Exhausted and demoralized after weeks of resisting these alterations, he eventually gave up the fight and submitted reports he knew to be false. He finally stopped being reprimanded by his superiors.
This searing moral clarity shaped Gillcrist’s career as an educator, where he sought to prevent his students from making the same mistakes. “I was hired at Rockhurst to teach virtue and help form young men that are committed to social justice,” he wrote. But in 2024, the fight for truth took a devastating personal turn when Gillcrist challenged the rhetoric and policies of Donald Trump.
This was not hyperbole, he later clarified in his letter, but a direct application of Jesuit values, rooted in justice and the defense of the vulnerable.
Rockhurst administrators labeled these statements “problematic.” But Gillcrist refused to apologize. “When you vote for a candidate promising mass deportation, you become an accomplice in the violation of human rights,” he asserted. For this and other acts of defiance, including social media posts critical of capitalism and police violence, his contract was terminated—via email.
Even in the classroom, his refusal to sanitize difficult truths set him apart. He openly challenged students who perpetuated misogyny, racism, and homophobia, and he was disciplined for discussing the scientific complexities of gender, as well as the systemic inequalities perpetuated by capitalism.
“I was written up when a parent complained of a social media post that was anti-capitalist and pro-socialist,” Gillcrist recalled. Yet, he remained steadfast: “I will not apologize for exposing the politics of hate.”
Gillcrist’s letter is not simply the manifesto of a fired professor—it is a prophetic document that demands we examine our own roles in a society sliding toward fascism. Will we speak out, as he has, or will we remain complicit?
For James Gillcrist, the answer is clear. And now, the question is ours to answer.
[DMG's note: Here is the full open letter, the longest thing I have ever copied and pasted in A&N. There are ten footnotes and multiple addenda. Happy reading!]
“I pray I am a fool so as not to be exposed as a coward,” wrote James Gillcrist in an extraordinary open letter to the Rockhurst High School community.
A theology and philosophy teacher, veteran, anti-racist advocate and lifelong advocate for the oppressed, Gillcrist was terminated last week in what he calls a clear retaliation for speaking truth to power. More than a local scandal—his firing indicates a chilling sign of the times we are in, and of the crackdown on dissent sweeping the nation.
Gillcrist’s words carry weight forged in the crucible of war. Reflecting on his time in Iraq, he confessed, “Of all that I experienced as a Light Infantry Officer in the Sunni Triangle, the decision to lie, to take the easy way out… haunts me the most.”
As an officer, he once fought for weeks to include unvarnished truths in his reports—truths that his superiors repeatedly demanded be altered to present an illusion of what he and his fellow soldiers were actually doing. Exhausted and demoralized after weeks of resisting these alterations, he eventually gave up the fight and submitted reports he knew to be false. He finally stopped being reprimanded by his superiors.
This searing moral clarity shaped Gillcrist’s career as an educator, where he sought to prevent his students from making the same mistakes. “I was hired at Rockhurst to teach virtue and help form young men that are committed to social justice,” he wrote. But in 2024, the fight for truth took a devastating personal turn when Gillcrist challenged the rhetoric and policies of Donald Trump.
The Battle for Truth in the Classroom
Gillcrist’s outspokenness came to a head after he recently condemned the president-elect’s fascist threats of mass deportations and crackdowns on dissenters.This was not hyperbole, he later clarified in his letter, but a direct application of Jesuit values, rooted in justice and the defense of the vulnerable.
Rockhurst administrators labeled these statements “problematic.” But Gillcrist refused to apologize. “When you vote for a candidate promising mass deportation, you become an accomplice in the violation of human rights,” he asserted. For this and other acts of defiance, including social media posts critical of capitalism and police violence, his contract was terminated—via email.
A History of Resistance
Gillcrist’s history of confrontation with power is long and storied. During the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in Kansas City, he was violently arrested by riot police. His crime? Exercising his First Amendment rights. “I said ‘fuck’ a lot,” he admitted unapologetically in his letter, refusing to downplay his anger in the face of systemic brutality.Even in the classroom, his refusal to sanitize difficult truths set him apart. He openly challenged students who perpetuated misogyny, racism, and homophobia, and he was disciplined for discussing the scientific complexities of gender, as well as the systemic inequalities perpetuated by capitalism.
“I was written up when a parent complained of a social media post that was anti-capitalist and pro-socialist,” Gillcrist recalled. Yet, he remained steadfast: “I will not apologize for exposing the politics of hate.”
“First They Came…”
In one of the most striking moments of his open letter, Gillcrist updated Pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous poem “First They Came” for our modern era. Addressing his students, he read:Gillcrist’s message was clear: fascism creeps forward with the complicity of silence.
His letter challenges us to confront these questions not as hypotheticals but as urgent moral imperatives.
A Chilling Warning
The firing of James Gillcrist is more than an administrative decision—it is a microcosm of the creeping authoritarianism engulfing institutions across America. His letter accuses Rockhurst of betraying its Jesuit mission, citing the removal of books critical of U.S. policies and its failure to denounce hate speech on campus.His parting words to the community are both a warning and a rallying cry: “If and when [Trump] asks for ‘enemies from within,’ please mention me. I would rather be rounded up at the beginning of the persecution than silently survive.”
Gillcrist’s letter is not simply the manifesto of a fired professor—it is a prophetic document that demands we examine our own roles in a society sliding toward fascism. Will we speak out, as he has, or will we remain complicit?
For James Gillcrist, the answer is clear. And now, the question is ours to answer.
[DMG's note: Here is the full open letter, the longest thing I have ever copied and pasted in A&N. There are ten footnotes and multiple addenda. Happy reading!]
An Open Letter to the Rockhurst Community,
Sisters, Brothers, Friends, and Lovers in and of peace, justice, truth, and love, I write first to express my gratitude for all I have received and experienced over the past seven years as both a classroom teacher and a coach at Rockhurst High School.
To my former students and players, I am grateful for the opportunity and privilege to have been a small part of your pilgrimage in this life. I lack, and will forever lack, the capacity to articulate the joy you have given me. You demonstrated courage in trusting that my genuine desire for you was that you open yourself to believing that God loves you unconditionally: in spite of your sins, failures, etc.; never once due to your merit, achievements, successes, etc.
Demonstrated in your willingness to dare to love yourself unconditionally, you have accepted and internalized that faith, and, in so doing, have loved others more fully; tasted the happiness that comes only through genuine care and concern for the good and happiness of others.
To the parents who entrusted me with teaching your sons about virtue, happiness, and love, I am in your debt for the opportunity and privilege. I took your trust seriously. I always endeavored to align my teaching and my words to the teaching and guidance of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Compendium of the Social Teaching of the Church,(1) and the words and teachings of saints, priests, bishops, and popes (Rahner, Delp, Romero, Arrupe, Francis, etc) in the tradition of Ignatian values and spirituality (commitment to social justice, seeing God in all things and all persons, an understanding that sees “love of God” without a commitment to social justice as a farce). Where I failed, and I failed and fail daily, I do so out of cowardice, ignorance, and/or imprudence; never malice, negligence, self-interest nor lack of love and effort.
To the faculty and staff, my former colleagues, to include the FLIK staff, custodial staff, and maintenance crew, many of whom have become loving and trusted friends, I thank you for the daily inspiration you provided not only to me but to all in your presence. You are water in the desert; light on dark days; warmth in the cold. Your comradery [sic] and support has been the unwavering foundation from which we went to work building and forming the next generation of men for others: men who know and understand that their life is not for themselves but genuinely for the service of others.
To the administration and the board, I thank you for placing me in the classroom and on the field. I thank you for challenging me to deepen my faith and deepen my understanding of Ignatian values. It was through my time and acquaintances at Rockhurst that I discovered the passion and zeal for love and social justice so eloquently and forcefully manifest in the words and writings of John LaFarge, SJ,(2) Karl Rahner, SJ, Alfred Delp, SJ,(3) Servant of God Dom Kamara, Jim Carney, SJ,(4) Jon Sobrino,(5) SJ, Predro Arrupe, SJ, Pope
Francis, SJ, and the patron of Latin America, Saint Oscar Romero.(6)
It was at your invitation and expense that I was blessed to attend the Jesuit Schools’ Network Colloquium on Jesuit Education 2022. It was there that my Catholic activism was re-inspired and refreshed. It was there I heard from multiple speakers concerning the inhumane treatment of asylum-seeking immigrants who are concentrated in camps of minimal and subhuman conditions. It was there I became acquainted with Companions in Community Organizing in Jesuits West. From them, I received and pasted on my publicly used and school-issued laptop the following call to action from Dolores Huerta: “Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.” The exposure to such passionate faith in the Ignatian tradition, the passion to set it all on fire, inspired, and continues to inspire, me to take bold stands and speak out against injustice and hatred in its many guises. Without such exposure, I know I would be a less loving and less courageous man than I am today. For this, my debt to you is steep.
As a young man, I often wondered at the general failure of the German people to speak out against and resist the hateful words and actions of the Nazi Party; to speak out everywhere and at all times against such a politics of hate. I assumed that persons of good will would readily speak out against and expose such hatred; that such evil persisted due to indifference. Then, I deployed to Iraq. One of my weekly tasks was to prepare my Battalion Commander’s (BC’s) remarks for each week’s Battle Update Brief (BUB) to Brigade. This task involved speaking with and consolidating reports and
evaluations from four Rifle Company Commanders (spread across an Area of Operations the size of Maine), the Battalion Intel Officer, and the Battalion Operations Officer. They saw clearly what I saw: what we were doing was unsustainable, futile, and, within the confines of our mission, there was no clear path forward.
This process, up to the completion of a first draft of remarks, took between two and four hours, depending on the events of the previous week (how many mortar attacks, rocket attacks, complex ambushes, AAIED attacks, patrols, troops in contact (TICs), casualties, detainees, interrogations, etc). By 5pm, every Friday, the BC had a polished draft of the remarks.
Yet, for the following six weeks, it was not until, at the earliest, three in the morning before the remarks were finalized. The BC wanted to omit, or report in a more favorable, or less truthful, light, any data or information suggesting that we were not or could not satisfactorily complete the mission. Every Friday night through the early hours of Saturday morning, I fought for the truth, revision after revision, until I was finally commanded to assert a falsehood or omit an important, substantive, and significant truth. At first, in my exhaustion, I attempted to assuage my conscience and console myself: at least I tried; though, I knew I did not try hard enough.
Finally, I gave up. I quit. I knew what the BC wanted the remarks to say. So, without his prompting, I went ahead massaging and distorting the reports. By 5pm, he had his finished copy. To my surprise, not a single revision was suggested; no changes were necessary. I hurried off to lift with my buddies. I then ate chow with by buddies. And, I went to sleep. For the remainder of the deployment, the BC received the report he wanted. The task, as it no longer relied on a real analysis of the situation, eventually took less than an hour. I had even more time to relax; and, persons living in or working in Iraq, Iraqi men, women, and children, as well as American soldiers and personnel, died as a result. Of that, I have no doubt.
Fifteen years later, of all that I was tasked to do and of all that I experienced and observed as a Light Infantry Officer in the Sunni Triangle, the decision to lie, to take the easy way out, to relax instead of fight for the truth haunts me the most.
What would I have done in 1930s Germany? At best, I would have been silent, complicit; most likely, I would have been an accomplice.(7)
I hate that about myself and I hate to think that about myself; I hate that others might have to think that about themselves. I was hired at Rockhurst to teach virtue and help form young men that are committed to social justice, inspired with courage to do what I do not believe I have the courage to do.
I pray the president-elect does not attempt to fulfill his promise to use the military to round up and detain millions of persons living in the United States: immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees, protestors, leftists, socialists, dissenters, political opponents, journalists, etc. I believe, charitably, that the young men enrolled at Rockhurst also pray these promises remain unfulfilled. Yet, I firmly and clearly believe they ought to know, they must know, they have a moral
obligation to stand up, speak out, and risk their well-being, reputation, criminal record, and, God forbid, if need be, their life to defend those being targeted, should the president-elect attempt to fulfill such promises. They must know that a more stringent and urgent obligation applies to those who supported, and thus empowered, this president-elect: i.e., in voting and supporting, one is not a mere spectator, but a participant and accomplice, with all the moral consequences entailed.
On Wednesday and Thursday, November 6 and 7, 2024, I made this clear to the students in my ethics classes. When contacted by the administration about these “problematic” statements, I made it clear that I neither regret what I said nor how I said it. I made it clear that I will make no apology for exposing the politics of hate and for exposing an uncomfortable truth: your vote and support have consequences; when you vote for a candidate promising retribution, you become an accomplice in his/her acts of vengeance; when you vote for a candidate promising mass deportation, you become an accomplice in the violation of the human rights of the asylum seeker and the refugee; when you vote for a candidate promising to use lethal force against protestors, you become an accomplice in such a massacre.(
It was this lesson (or, the unapologetic response and refusal to stay silent in the future) that precipitated the termination of my contract at Rockhurst High School. This was the proximate cause of my termination: the last incident in a long list of incidents of which the administration chose to remind me, via email (as they also fired me via email), on the evening of Thursday, November 7. When I was arrested during the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020, I was written up for saying “fuck” while multiple police officers in riot gear violently detained me (I say “fuck” a lot). When Rush Limbaugh passed away, I was written up for a social media post in which I declared, “I pray his soul is in heaven, but the world is a better place without him”. I was written up when a parent complained of a social media post that was anti-capitalist and pro-socialist.(9) I said “fuck” in class; I said “fuck” on the field. I loudly and concisely interrupted a student-leader, in a position to teach and guide younger students, when he tried to assert that, according to the Bible, women are inferior to men. I addressed, in class, the scientific fact that some humans are born with XX chromosomes yet display “male” genitalia (de la Chappelle syndrome), while others are born with XY chromosomes yet display “female” genitalia (Swyer syndrome), demonstrating the complexity and sophistication of understanding biological sex and gender, a complexity and sophistication that has been tragically overlooked and neglected by the Catholic Church.
What I said with regard to the president-elect’s promises was, I believe, merely the precipitating and proximate cause of my termination. The alternative to this belief is that my contract was terminated because in response to the principal’s email on November 7, I did not demonstrate the proper decorum and deference to the authority of that office in my refusal to apologize, my refusal to remain silent, and my refusal to compromise my values for fear of losing my job; i.e., it was clearly manifest in my response that I was not going to “kiss the ring”. Charitably, I do not believe the administration is that petty; as such, I believe my response could not be the cause of my termination.
In class, on Thursday, November 7, I read Pastor Neimoller’s poem, “First They Came”, taking some liberties with the original text:
First they came for the communists
And I did not speak out
Because I am not a communist
Then they came for the socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I am not a socialist
Then they came for the trade-unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I am not a trade-unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I am not a Jew
Then they came for the immigrants
And I did not speak out
Because I am not an immigrant
Then they came for the drag queens
And I did not speak out
Because I am not a drag queen
Then they came for the transgender
And I did not speak out
Because I am not transgender
Then they came for the homosexuals
And I did not speak out
Because I am not a homosexual
Then they came for the journalist
And I did not speak out
Because I am not a journalist
Then they came for the protestor
And I did not speak out
Because I am not a protestor
Then they came for the dissenter
And I did not speak out
Because I am not a dissenter
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
Were I in Germany in the 1930s, how long would I have waited before speaking out? Were I convinced of the evil on the horizon, would I pause? Worry for my job? My livelihood? My? My? My? I should hope not.
I hope and I pray that I am a fool, and the greatest of fools. I hope the president-elect introduces an era of global and domestic peace, where justice reigns, where poverty and vulnerability (the two greatest contributors to abortion in the United States), exploitation and oppression, and hatred and violence cease both within and beyond the borders of the United States. I hope and pray the president-elect repents and converts, and convinces the electorate to be Christ-like and to build a Christ-like nation: a nation that, like Christ, opens its arms to all, saying: “Come to me, all you who are weary, and I will give you rest”; a nation that lights a beacon, declaring, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Short of that, I hope and pray to be seen and spoken of as a fool, and a great fool: that one person, who believes as I do, has the opportunity to persuade the president-elect to abandon his promises of mass deportation and retribution; that these events never occur; that I be seen as a crank, a crazy, fit not for the classroom but the asylum.
Yet, not matter how much I hope and I pray, I have heard the promises from the president-elect, and I am foolishly taking the president-elect at his word. I am more convinced that he will pursue, rather than abandon, such evil designs. I care not to convince you, here, that my reading of the situation is correct. You need only know that this is how I do read it.
I read the situation in a way that makes the 1930s Germany question pertinent and real. You, the reader, are a loving person of good will. I know that if you believed as I do, you, too, would feel compelled by moral obligation to prepare others to take the stand they will be called to take, particularly if you were charged, specifically, with the task of helping form young men into men for others with the virtues required to stand up against such evil. If the president-elect decides to follow through on these promises of deportation and retribution, to follow the path of hatred, every person of good will must face the very real prospect of martyrdom. We must fight against the urge to ignore this prospect or massage it away because it is disturbing to contemplate. We must face it, openly and boldly, hoping that in facing it, we may be inspired with the courage of the martyrs. This is a most inconvenient and uncomfortable truth; a truth that points my eyes inward, searching for that courage I do not yet possess. I pray I am a fool so as not to be exposed as a coward.
It is unfortunate that due to the tyrannic cult of personality and loyalty to the president-elect, such conversations in the classroom are VERBOTEN. It is unfortunate that over the past four years, the administration at Rockhurst has, seemingly, shied away from its mission, shied away from teaching, promoting, and proclaiming social justice. It is unfortunate that I suspect the administration has shied away from this mission in an effort to placate loyalists, to include parents, students, and donors, of the president-elect. It is unfortunate that the administration at Rockhurst has, I suspect in response to such extremists, abandoned its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts. It is unfortunate that the administration at Rockhurst, I suspect in response to extremists, has taken measures to remove certain books from the shelves of the Learning Commons. It is unfortunate that the administration at Rockhurst, I suspect in response to extremists, has denied providing a platform for a recent (Jewish) alumnus who, having spent months living with Palestinians and reporting from the West Bank, wanted to help humanize and contextualize the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, providing a richer understanding for our students. Further, if the following occurred, it is not just unfortunate but scandalous. Did a white Rockhurst student call a black Rockhurst student, “boy”? Did the white Rockhurst student continue to do so after he was asked to stop by the black Rockhurst student? Did the black Rockhurst student, after showing a great deal of restraint for a young adolescent, finally punch the white Rockhurst student? Did this incident lead to the black Rockhurst student no longer being enrolled at Rockhurst? Is it true that the white student, the student who embraced hate-speech and white-supremacist rhetoric, remains enrolled at Rockhurst? If so, this a grave moral failure of the institution, at the very highest level.
To the administration,(10) my advice is to build and maintain a wall between yourselves and parent complaints. You have made yourselves too available to parent complaints that should, according to the Catholic notion of subsidiarity, be handled, first, between the parent and the teacher; only if and when the parent is not satisfied with that engagement should the complaint move up the chain of command. Yet, the administration has consistently refused to put in place any complaint management system, ombudsman position, or buffer; you, the administration, have consistently refused to put in place any clear due process system for employees. That is your prerogative, but that prerogative comes with the responsibility to build and maintain that wall. When parents call, email, or turn to you to complain about a teacher, your response must be: “Unless you have first spoken with the teacher, I will hear no more of this”. Without this wall, you will continue to allow a few parents, parents who lack the courage to speak directly with the teacher in question, to have significant influence over what occurs in the classrooms at Rockhurst: i.e., in allowing such access, you permit a few parents to set the direction of the institution.
Seriously reflect upon and consider the example of Georgetown. Those entrusted with maintaining the institution feared for the institution’s continued existence, as they lacked the funds needed to continue operations.
Instead of reflecting and realizing that the institution dies when it compromises its values; instead of trusting that in doing the Lord’s work, God provides if God so wills, they turned away from faith, hope, and love and entered the very real market of human persons in the era of chattel slavery. Georgetown sold slaves to increase revenue to continue operating.
The administration has done a brilliant job raising revenue over the past five years. Yet, consider the example of Georgetown and understand that an increase in revenue (through various sources) does not necessarily entail the benefit of the institution. It may entail its demise. If the administration continues to refuse to publicly and loudly champion social justice, civil rights, the preferential option for the poor, defense of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers; if the administration refuses to publicly denounce hatred and
selfishness in the world; if the administration cannot loudly and publicly call on some of its more notable and politically powerful alumni to repent for championing lies, falsehoods, and violent insurrections in an attempt to overthrow democracy, then the administration, in being everything to everyone (or, nothing to nobody) will likely continue to raise money, and a nominal Rockhurst will remain on the Greenlease Campus. Depending on how many and how weighty the values are that you must compromise in order to keep the money flowing, a Rockhurst in name only will remain, but the institution will die, and Rockhurst will be nothing more than an expensive prep school where lip-service is paid to Ignatian values and standards slack; where racist parents can have their child removed from a classroom because the only faces on the walls of the classroom are black and brown faces (and, where the advice from the administration to the teacher is, “To avoid problems, maybe you should put up posters of some white people”.)
To the faculty and staff: having endured a similar scenario, a few years back, in which David Spitz left after a complaint from an extremist parent, I know the pain, anxiety, fear, and frustration some of you are feeling. I remember the conversations: so many of us wondering if we should resign, abandon the anxiety that comes with teaching on a tightrope, unsure of what will prompt the next extremist parent complaint; a complaint you will hear about only secondhand, in the ominous email from the admin asking you to come talk about something “potentially problematic” you said in class; the parents lodging the complaint hiding cowardly behind anonymity.
Resist the thought of resigning. Boldly teach these young men what they need to overcome and fight against the misogyny, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, fascism, and general hatred that has roared back into fashion.11 Challenge them to be men who know that their life is not for them but for others; that their abiding role model is neither Andrew Tate, Joe Rogan, Harrison Butker, nor Donald Trump, but must be the Jesus of Nazareth who had special love and regard for the poor, the “sexual deviant”, the outcast, the marginalized, those whom society and religion had declared taboo. For, it is with them and in service and love for them, the “least of these”, that we encounter Christ in all of Christ’s glory!
To the young men of Rockhurst, know that you are enough, and know that in doing God’s will, God prepares your path, whatever that may be. Know that I am at peace and free. The martyr, Charles de Foucauld once wrote, “At every moment I should live as though that day I should die a martyr’s death”. I wish I had the fortitude to live like that. I have been fortunate in that I have never loved money nor fame nor power; what I have loved has been teaching you, the young men at Rockhurst.
For years, I have repeatedly had thoughts such that I believed, whether I desired to believe or not, I had a moral obligation to share them with you in a lesson plan or a lecture. Often, these clear dictates if my conscience encountered a barrier: “I might lose my job for saying this”. The risk of losing something I loved only heightened the belief that I had a moral duty to figure out how best to work these thoughts into the lesson plan or the lecture. More often than not, I failed: I lacked the courage to do and say what I believed was right and necessary because I wanted to keep my job. There were, however, times where, due to neither my ability nor my effort, such courage was awakened and inspired by grace. I think it was in these moments, my best moments, that so many of you, especially the non-white Rockhurst students, started to trust in my care and concern for you.
Know that I am now free of this tension. I am at peace with what I said and how I taught. Know that I am happy. Know that when God asks you to risk that which you love, God fills that space with God’s love, God’s peace, God’s serenity, and God’s happiness. Know that I love you and I pray for you. Know that I want you to find true happiness.
Rockhurst High School is still the best school in the Kansas City area for forming men for others. Rockhurst High School is still the best school in the Kansas City area for producing young men who care about social justice. I pray nothing I have said here keeps any parent from enrolling their son at Rockhurst High School. However, institutions do not remain true to their mission without constant reflection, examination, and penetrating critique. Rockhurst is slipping away from that which makes Jesuit education unique and uniquely unapologetic. If the wider community of those associated with Rockhurst does not increase its active participation in ensuring that Rockhurst High School remains true to the mission of Jesuit education, as outlined in Pedro Arrupe’s speech, “Education for Social Justice”, the speech from which we derive the mission to produce men for others (and which I am attaching as the first of many addenda), Rockhurst High School will no longer remain true to that mission and vision.
God Speed,
Jimbo
jimbogillcrist@gmail.com
Footnotes:
(1) In the presence of serious forms of exploitation and social injustice, there is “an ever more widespread and acute sense of the need for a radical personal and social renewal capable of ensuring justice, solidarity, honesty and openness (Compendium 577)
(2) “Following the teachings of Christ, we hold that the relationships of mankind are not matters of mere adjustment, for comfort or for material profit or for expediency’s sake, but a vital question of the life and death, perfection or destruction of humanity. The guarantee of these relationships is human rights” (LaFarge, Interracial Justice, 60)
(3) "The new spirit of Creation flows without interruption through the new Church – but how much force it requires to achieve its purpose. The officers of the Church have the inner guidance of the Spirit – but what about the executive departments? And the bureaucratic officials? And the mechanical “believers” who “believe” in everything, in every ceremony, every ritual – but know nothing whatever about the living God? One has to be very careful in formulating this thought, not from cowardice but because the subject is so awe-inspiring. One thinks of all the meaningless attitudes and gestures – in the name of God? No, in the name of habit, of tradition, custom, convenience, safety and even – let us be honest – in the name of middle-class respectability which is perhaps the very least suitable vehicle for the coming of the Holy Spirit...Let us give free rein to the divine instinct with which we are endowed and climb out of this morass in which we are bogged, emerge from this trance of false security. Then we shall discover the real efficacy of prayer and its power to bless and to heal...Without a minimum of sound humanity, genuine human dignity and human culture, no one is capable of making contact with God. One is not even capable of ordinary understanding and behavior.” (Delp, Prison Writings 75-76)
(4) “To be a Christian is to be a revolutionary. If you are not a revolutionary, you are not a Christian” (Carney, To Be a Revolutionary 441)
(5) “Jesus poses the question of God dialectically from the existence of various gods among whom we must choose and ... makes clear what this choice means: to serve one master means hating the other. In plain terms, Jesus asks people not only if they believe in God, but what God they do not believe in “and” what god they “hate.” Jesus calls these gods that must be hated, not just ignored, “masters” and, by setting them against God, calls them gods. So Jesus describes idolatry in all clarity and, indeed, gives it the characteristics already systematically examined here. For Jesus, the idol is not a ‘religious’ idol but an actual reality: mammon, wealth. This is an idol that offers salvation to those
who worship it (this is the presupposition of the rich whom Jesus disabuses and castigates), but a false salvation in Jesus’ eyes. And it is an idol that produces victims through the worship offered to it: the poor.” (Sobrino, Jesus the Liberator 187)
(6) “The poor have shown the church the true way to go. A church that does not join the poor, in order to speak out from the side of the poor against the injustices committed against them, is not the true church of Jesus Christ....Nothing is as important to the church as human life, the human person, especially the lives of the poor and the oppressed...Jesus said that whatever is done to the poor is done to him. This bloodshed, these deaths, are beyond all politics. They touch the very heart of God” (Romero, Essential Writings 65, 76)
(7) In the commission of any crime, a person can fill one of the following roles: perpetrator, accomplice, complicit bystander, resister, or victim. Morally and legally speaking, it is worse to be an accomplice than a complicit bystander. This will play a role later.
( Two things must be clarified: first, it is both significant and necessary that the candidate makes such campaign promises in order for a voter / supporter to then be moral categorized as an accomplice (voting for Candidate A who, on the campaign trail, never once even alludes to moral repugnant action x is not sufficient to make Supporter A an accomplice when, later as President A,
Candidate A carries out action x); second, there is no parallel retort with regard to permitted abortion access, as the most a supporter can be is complicit in the abortion, as the abortion is not mandated by the state (if this were false, then God would be an accomplice to abortion, as well as every other type of evil)
(9) “Read carefully what [the bishops of Nicaragua] said in [‘The Christian Commitment for a New Nicaragua’, November 17, 1979] with regard to socialism and with regard to the class struggle:
If socialism means, as it should mean, giving pre-eminence to the interests of the majority of the Nicaraguans and following the model of a nationally planned economy with progressively more participation of all the people, we have no reason to object. A social project that guarantees the common destiny of the riches and resources of the country and permits that the quality of human life advances upon the base of satisfying the fundamental needs of all, seems very just to us. If socialism implies a continual lessening of injustice and of the traditional inequalities between city and rural life, between the remuneration for intellectual and for manual work; if it means the participation of the worker in the product of his work, thus overcoming his economic alienation, there is nothing in Christianity that implies a contradiction with this process....With regard to the conflict between the social classes, we think that one thing is the dynamic reality of the class struggle that leads to a just transformation of structures, and a completely different thing is class hatred that directs itself against persons and radically contradicts the Christian duty of being ruled by love.
....We Christian Revolutionaries of Central America believe that the basis of the new Christian Socialist system will be a spirit of equality and brotherhood, rather than seeking personal gain. This search for personal gain, inculcated continuously by propaganda, education, and structures of capitalism is a main cause of the injustices which we suffer at every level of life. The strongest, the most unscrupulous go ahead in the world. Meanwhile, the weakest and the workers are used by the owners as servants, or as a means of production. In the same way, the strongest countries, with the same selfish mentality exploit the poor countries. The nations often act like animals, the strongest eat up the weakest. (Carney, SJ, 431, 43
(10) “Alas! How few religious in our day are found to be progressing from good to better, or ascending from virtue to virtue. [Saint] Bernard complains, ‘It is much easier to find a worldly person who converts to goodness than it is to find a religious person who advances to a better condition. The rarest bird on earth is that religious who has advanced even a step beyond the fervor he or she felt in the novitiate.’ And elsewhere, ‘You must of necessity get better or worse; to stay in the same place will be your ruin. To be sure, a person will not be very good who is not striving to improve; where you do not try to become better, you will cease to be good.’” (Ludolph of Saxony, 289)
(11) In The Life of Jesus Christ, the book that inspired Ignatius of Loyola to a life of conversion, Ludolph of Saxony writes that one ought to teach with “teaching that provokes the lazy” (Ludolph of Saxony, 140). Continue to boldly teach the teachings that should provoke the privileged, the wealthy, the fascist, the racist, the misogynist, the xenophobe, the homophobe, etc. If you are doing it right, you teaching should leave the MAGA loyalist irate!
P.S. For those in the Rockhurst community who are supportive of the president-elect’s promises of mass deportation and retribution, I beg of you now, while I have the courage: if and when he asks for “enemies from within” please mention me. I would rather be rounded up at the beginning of the persecution than silently survive.
Thank you.
Addenda:
I: Education for Social Justice, Pedro Arrupe
II: Dangerous Men, Lucas Jones
More to be added later
[Diana Moon Glampers removed a long screed by Arrupe, but will reproduce the poem for the most dedicated readers, who have scrolled this far in the spoiler.]
Sisters, Brothers, Friends, and Lovers in and of peace, justice, truth, and love, I write first to express my gratitude for all I have received and experienced over the past seven years as both a classroom teacher and a coach at Rockhurst High School.
To my former students and players, I am grateful for the opportunity and privilege to have been a small part of your pilgrimage in this life. I lack, and will forever lack, the capacity to articulate the joy you have given me. You demonstrated courage in trusting that my genuine desire for you was that you open yourself to believing that God loves you unconditionally: in spite of your sins, failures, etc.; never once due to your merit, achievements, successes, etc.
Demonstrated in your willingness to dare to love yourself unconditionally, you have accepted and internalized that faith, and, in so doing, have loved others more fully; tasted the happiness that comes only through genuine care and concern for the good and happiness of others.
To the parents who entrusted me with teaching your sons about virtue, happiness, and love, I am in your debt for the opportunity and privilege. I took your trust seriously. I always endeavored to align my teaching and my words to the teaching and guidance of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Compendium of the Social Teaching of the Church,(1) and the words and teachings of saints, priests, bishops, and popes (Rahner, Delp, Romero, Arrupe, Francis, etc) in the tradition of Ignatian values and spirituality (commitment to social justice, seeing God in all things and all persons, an understanding that sees “love of God” without a commitment to social justice as a farce). Where I failed, and I failed and fail daily, I do so out of cowardice, ignorance, and/or imprudence; never malice, negligence, self-interest nor lack of love and effort.
To the faculty and staff, my former colleagues, to include the FLIK staff, custodial staff, and maintenance crew, many of whom have become loving and trusted friends, I thank you for the daily inspiration you provided not only to me but to all in your presence. You are water in the desert; light on dark days; warmth in the cold. Your comradery [sic] and support has been the unwavering foundation from which we went to work building and forming the next generation of men for others: men who know and understand that their life is not for themselves but genuinely for the service of others.
To the administration and the board, I thank you for placing me in the classroom and on the field. I thank you for challenging me to deepen my faith and deepen my understanding of Ignatian values. It was through my time and acquaintances at Rockhurst that I discovered the passion and zeal for love and social justice so eloquently and forcefully manifest in the words and writings of John LaFarge, SJ,(2) Karl Rahner, SJ, Alfred Delp, SJ,(3) Servant of God Dom Kamara, Jim Carney, SJ,(4) Jon Sobrino,(5) SJ, Predro Arrupe, SJ, Pope
Francis, SJ, and the patron of Latin America, Saint Oscar Romero.(6)
It was at your invitation and expense that I was blessed to attend the Jesuit Schools’ Network Colloquium on Jesuit Education 2022. It was there that my Catholic activism was re-inspired and refreshed. It was there I heard from multiple speakers concerning the inhumane treatment of asylum-seeking immigrants who are concentrated in camps of minimal and subhuman conditions. It was there I became acquainted with Companions in Community Organizing in Jesuits West. From them, I received and pasted on my publicly used and school-issued laptop the following call to action from Dolores Huerta: “Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.” The exposure to such passionate faith in the Ignatian tradition, the passion to set it all on fire, inspired, and continues to inspire, me to take bold stands and speak out against injustice and hatred in its many guises. Without such exposure, I know I would be a less loving and less courageous man than I am today. For this, my debt to you is steep.
As a young man, I often wondered at the general failure of the German people to speak out against and resist the hateful words and actions of the Nazi Party; to speak out everywhere and at all times against such a politics of hate. I assumed that persons of good will would readily speak out against and expose such hatred; that such evil persisted due to indifference. Then, I deployed to Iraq. One of my weekly tasks was to prepare my Battalion Commander’s (BC’s) remarks for each week’s Battle Update Brief (BUB) to Brigade. This task involved speaking with and consolidating reports and
evaluations from four Rifle Company Commanders (spread across an Area of Operations the size of Maine), the Battalion Intel Officer, and the Battalion Operations Officer. They saw clearly what I saw: what we were doing was unsustainable, futile, and, within the confines of our mission, there was no clear path forward.
This process, up to the completion of a first draft of remarks, took between two and four hours, depending on the events of the previous week (how many mortar attacks, rocket attacks, complex ambushes, AAIED attacks, patrols, troops in contact (TICs), casualties, detainees, interrogations, etc). By 5pm, every Friday, the BC had a polished draft of the remarks.
Yet, for the following six weeks, it was not until, at the earliest, three in the morning before the remarks were finalized. The BC wanted to omit, or report in a more favorable, or less truthful, light, any data or information suggesting that we were not or could not satisfactorily complete the mission. Every Friday night through the early hours of Saturday morning, I fought for the truth, revision after revision, until I was finally commanded to assert a falsehood or omit an important, substantive, and significant truth. At first, in my exhaustion, I attempted to assuage my conscience and console myself: at least I tried; though, I knew I did not try hard enough.
Finally, I gave up. I quit. I knew what the BC wanted the remarks to say. So, without his prompting, I went ahead massaging and distorting the reports. By 5pm, he had his finished copy. To my surprise, not a single revision was suggested; no changes were necessary. I hurried off to lift with my buddies. I then ate chow with by buddies. And, I went to sleep. For the remainder of the deployment, the BC received the report he wanted. The task, as it no longer relied on a real analysis of the situation, eventually took less than an hour. I had even more time to relax; and, persons living in or working in Iraq, Iraqi men, women, and children, as well as American soldiers and personnel, died as a result. Of that, I have no doubt.
Fifteen years later, of all that I was tasked to do and of all that I experienced and observed as a Light Infantry Officer in the Sunni Triangle, the decision to lie, to take the easy way out, to relax instead of fight for the truth haunts me the most.
What would I have done in 1930s Germany? At best, I would have been silent, complicit; most likely, I would have been an accomplice.(7)
I hate that about myself and I hate to think that about myself; I hate that others might have to think that about themselves. I was hired at Rockhurst to teach virtue and help form young men that are committed to social justice, inspired with courage to do what I do not believe I have the courage to do.
I pray the president-elect does not attempt to fulfill his promise to use the military to round up and detain millions of persons living in the United States: immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees, protestors, leftists, socialists, dissenters, political opponents, journalists, etc. I believe, charitably, that the young men enrolled at Rockhurst also pray these promises remain unfulfilled. Yet, I firmly and clearly believe they ought to know, they must know, they have a moral
obligation to stand up, speak out, and risk their well-being, reputation, criminal record, and, God forbid, if need be, their life to defend those being targeted, should the president-elect attempt to fulfill such promises. They must know that a more stringent and urgent obligation applies to those who supported, and thus empowered, this president-elect: i.e., in voting and supporting, one is not a mere spectator, but a participant and accomplice, with all the moral consequences entailed.
On Wednesday and Thursday, November 6 and 7, 2024, I made this clear to the students in my ethics classes. When contacted by the administration about these “problematic” statements, I made it clear that I neither regret what I said nor how I said it. I made it clear that I will make no apology for exposing the politics of hate and for exposing an uncomfortable truth: your vote and support have consequences; when you vote for a candidate promising retribution, you become an accomplice in his/her acts of vengeance; when you vote for a candidate promising mass deportation, you become an accomplice in the violation of the human rights of the asylum seeker and the refugee; when you vote for a candidate promising to use lethal force against protestors, you become an accomplice in such a massacre.(
It was this lesson (or, the unapologetic response and refusal to stay silent in the future) that precipitated the termination of my contract at Rockhurst High School. This was the proximate cause of my termination: the last incident in a long list of incidents of which the administration chose to remind me, via email (as they also fired me via email), on the evening of Thursday, November 7. When I was arrested during the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020, I was written up for saying “fuck” while multiple police officers in riot gear violently detained me (I say “fuck” a lot). When Rush Limbaugh passed away, I was written up for a social media post in which I declared, “I pray his soul is in heaven, but the world is a better place without him”. I was written up when a parent complained of a social media post that was anti-capitalist and pro-socialist.(9) I said “fuck” in class; I said “fuck” on the field. I loudly and concisely interrupted a student-leader, in a position to teach and guide younger students, when he tried to assert that, according to the Bible, women are inferior to men. I addressed, in class, the scientific fact that some humans are born with XX chromosomes yet display “male” genitalia (de la Chappelle syndrome), while others are born with XY chromosomes yet display “female” genitalia (Swyer syndrome), demonstrating the complexity and sophistication of understanding biological sex and gender, a complexity and sophistication that has been tragically overlooked and neglected by the Catholic Church.
What I said with regard to the president-elect’s promises was, I believe, merely the precipitating and proximate cause of my termination. The alternative to this belief is that my contract was terminated because in response to the principal’s email on November 7, I did not demonstrate the proper decorum and deference to the authority of that office in my refusal to apologize, my refusal to remain silent, and my refusal to compromise my values for fear of losing my job; i.e., it was clearly manifest in my response that I was not going to “kiss the ring”. Charitably, I do not believe the administration is that petty; as such, I believe my response could not be the cause of my termination.
In class, on Thursday, November 7, I read Pastor Neimoller’s poem, “First They Came”, taking some liberties with the original text:
First they came for the communists
And I did not speak out
Because I am not a communist
Then they came for the socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I am not a socialist
Then they came for the trade-unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I am not a trade-unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I am not a Jew
Then they came for the immigrants
And I did not speak out
Because I am not an immigrant
Then they came for the drag queens
And I did not speak out
Because I am not a drag queen
Then they came for the transgender
And I did not speak out
Because I am not transgender
Then they came for the homosexuals
And I did not speak out
Because I am not a homosexual
Then they came for the journalist
And I did not speak out
Because I am not a journalist
Then they came for the protestor
And I did not speak out
Because I am not a protestor
Then they came for the dissenter
And I did not speak out
Because I am not a dissenter
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
Were I in Germany in the 1930s, how long would I have waited before speaking out? Were I convinced of the evil on the horizon, would I pause? Worry for my job? My livelihood? My? My? My? I should hope not.
I hope and I pray that I am a fool, and the greatest of fools. I hope the president-elect introduces an era of global and domestic peace, where justice reigns, where poverty and vulnerability (the two greatest contributors to abortion in the United States), exploitation and oppression, and hatred and violence cease both within and beyond the borders of the United States. I hope and pray the president-elect repents and converts, and convinces the electorate to be Christ-like and to build a Christ-like nation: a nation that, like Christ, opens its arms to all, saying: “Come to me, all you who are weary, and I will give you rest”; a nation that lights a beacon, declaring, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Short of that, I hope and pray to be seen and spoken of as a fool, and a great fool: that one person, who believes as I do, has the opportunity to persuade the president-elect to abandon his promises of mass deportation and retribution; that these events never occur; that I be seen as a crank, a crazy, fit not for the classroom but the asylum.
Yet, not matter how much I hope and I pray, I have heard the promises from the president-elect, and I am foolishly taking the president-elect at his word. I am more convinced that he will pursue, rather than abandon, such evil designs. I care not to convince you, here, that my reading of the situation is correct. You need only know that this is how I do read it.
I read the situation in a way that makes the 1930s Germany question pertinent and real. You, the reader, are a loving person of good will. I know that if you believed as I do, you, too, would feel compelled by moral obligation to prepare others to take the stand they will be called to take, particularly if you were charged, specifically, with the task of helping form young men into men for others with the virtues required to stand up against such evil. If the president-elect decides to follow through on these promises of deportation and retribution, to follow the path of hatred, every person of good will must face the very real prospect of martyrdom. We must fight against the urge to ignore this prospect or massage it away because it is disturbing to contemplate. We must face it, openly and boldly, hoping that in facing it, we may be inspired with the courage of the martyrs. This is a most inconvenient and uncomfortable truth; a truth that points my eyes inward, searching for that courage I do not yet possess. I pray I am a fool so as not to be exposed as a coward.
It is unfortunate that due to the tyrannic cult of personality and loyalty to the president-elect, such conversations in the classroom are VERBOTEN. It is unfortunate that over the past four years, the administration at Rockhurst has, seemingly, shied away from its mission, shied away from teaching, promoting, and proclaiming social justice. It is unfortunate that I suspect the administration has shied away from this mission in an effort to placate loyalists, to include parents, students, and donors, of the president-elect. It is unfortunate that the administration at Rockhurst has, I suspect in response to such extremists, abandoned its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts. It is unfortunate that the administration at Rockhurst, I suspect in response to extremists, has taken measures to remove certain books from the shelves of the Learning Commons. It is unfortunate that the administration at Rockhurst, I suspect in response to extremists, has denied providing a platform for a recent (Jewish) alumnus who, having spent months living with Palestinians and reporting from the West Bank, wanted to help humanize and contextualize the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, providing a richer understanding for our students. Further, if the following occurred, it is not just unfortunate but scandalous. Did a white Rockhurst student call a black Rockhurst student, “boy”? Did the white Rockhurst student continue to do so after he was asked to stop by the black Rockhurst student? Did the black Rockhurst student, after showing a great deal of restraint for a young adolescent, finally punch the white Rockhurst student? Did this incident lead to the black Rockhurst student no longer being enrolled at Rockhurst? Is it true that the white student, the student who embraced hate-speech and white-supremacist rhetoric, remains enrolled at Rockhurst? If so, this a grave moral failure of the institution, at the very highest level.
To the administration,(10) my advice is to build and maintain a wall between yourselves and parent complaints. You have made yourselves too available to parent complaints that should, according to the Catholic notion of subsidiarity, be handled, first, between the parent and the teacher; only if and when the parent is not satisfied with that engagement should the complaint move up the chain of command. Yet, the administration has consistently refused to put in place any complaint management system, ombudsman position, or buffer; you, the administration, have consistently refused to put in place any clear due process system for employees. That is your prerogative, but that prerogative comes with the responsibility to build and maintain that wall. When parents call, email, or turn to you to complain about a teacher, your response must be: “Unless you have first spoken with the teacher, I will hear no more of this”. Without this wall, you will continue to allow a few parents, parents who lack the courage to speak directly with the teacher in question, to have significant influence over what occurs in the classrooms at Rockhurst: i.e., in allowing such access, you permit a few parents to set the direction of the institution.
Seriously reflect upon and consider the example of Georgetown. Those entrusted with maintaining the institution feared for the institution’s continued existence, as they lacked the funds needed to continue operations.
Instead of reflecting and realizing that the institution dies when it compromises its values; instead of trusting that in doing the Lord’s work, God provides if God so wills, they turned away from faith, hope, and love and entered the very real market of human persons in the era of chattel slavery. Georgetown sold slaves to increase revenue to continue operating.
The administration has done a brilliant job raising revenue over the past five years. Yet, consider the example of Georgetown and understand that an increase in revenue (through various sources) does not necessarily entail the benefit of the institution. It may entail its demise. If the administration continues to refuse to publicly and loudly champion social justice, civil rights, the preferential option for the poor, defense of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers; if the administration refuses to publicly denounce hatred and
selfishness in the world; if the administration cannot loudly and publicly call on some of its more notable and politically powerful alumni to repent for championing lies, falsehoods, and violent insurrections in an attempt to overthrow democracy, then the administration, in being everything to everyone (or, nothing to nobody) will likely continue to raise money, and a nominal Rockhurst will remain on the Greenlease Campus. Depending on how many and how weighty the values are that you must compromise in order to keep the money flowing, a Rockhurst in name only will remain, but the institution will die, and Rockhurst will be nothing more than an expensive prep school where lip-service is paid to Ignatian values and standards slack; where racist parents can have their child removed from a classroom because the only faces on the walls of the classroom are black and brown faces (and, where the advice from the administration to the teacher is, “To avoid problems, maybe you should put up posters of some white people”.)
To the faculty and staff: having endured a similar scenario, a few years back, in which David Spitz left after a complaint from an extremist parent, I know the pain, anxiety, fear, and frustration some of you are feeling. I remember the conversations: so many of us wondering if we should resign, abandon the anxiety that comes with teaching on a tightrope, unsure of what will prompt the next extremist parent complaint; a complaint you will hear about only secondhand, in the ominous email from the admin asking you to come talk about something “potentially problematic” you said in class; the parents lodging the complaint hiding cowardly behind anonymity.
Resist the thought of resigning. Boldly teach these young men what they need to overcome and fight against the misogyny, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, fascism, and general hatred that has roared back into fashion.11 Challenge them to be men who know that their life is not for them but for others; that their abiding role model is neither Andrew Tate, Joe Rogan, Harrison Butker, nor Donald Trump, but must be the Jesus of Nazareth who had special love and regard for the poor, the “sexual deviant”, the outcast, the marginalized, those whom society and religion had declared taboo. For, it is with them and in service and love for them, the “least of these”, that we encounter Christ in all of Christ’s glory!
To the young men of Rockhurst, know that you are enough, and know that in doing God’s will, God prepares your path, whatever that may be. Know that I am at peace and free. The martyr, Charles de Foucauld once wrote, “At every moment I should live as though that day I should die a martyr’s death”. I wish I had the fortitude to live like that. I have been fortunate in that I have never loved money nor fame nor power; what I have loved has been teaching you, the young men at Rockhurst.
For years, I have repeatedly had thoughts such that I believed, whether I desired to believe or not, I had a moral obligation to share them with you in a lesson plan or a lecture. Often, these clear dictates if my conscience encountered a barrier: “I might lose my job for saying this”. The risk of losing something I loved only heightened the belief that I had a moral duty to figure out how best to work these thoughts into the lesson plan or the lecture. More often than not, I failed: I lacked the courage to do and say what I believed was right and necessary because I wanted to keep my job. There were, however, times where, due to neither my ability nor my effort, such courage was awakened and inspired by grace. I think it was in these moments, my best moments, that so many of you, especially the non-white Rockhurst students, started to trust in my care and concern for you.
Know that I am now free of this tension. I am at peace with what I said and how I taught. Know that I am happy. Know that when God asks you to risk that which you love, God fills that space with God’s love, God’s peace, God’s serenity, and God’s happiness. Know that I love you and I pray for you. Know that I want you to find true happiness.
Rockhurst High School is still the best school in the Kansas City area for forming men for others. Rockhurst High School is still the best school in the Kansas City area for producing young men who care about social justice. I pray nothing I have said here keeps any parent from enrolling their son at Rockhurst High School. However, institutions do not remain true to their mission without constant reflection, examination, and penetrating critique. Rockhurst is slipping away from that which makes Jesuit education unique and uniquely unapologetic. If the wider community of those associated with Rockhurst does not increase its active participation in ensuring that Rockhurst High School remains true to the mission of Jesuit education, as outlined in Pedro Arrupe’s speech, “Education for Social Justice”, the speech from which we derive the mission to produce men for others (and which I am attaching as the first of many addenda), Rockhurst High School will no longer remain true to that mission and vision.
God Speed,
Jimbo
jimbogillcrist@gmail.com
Footnotes:
(1) In the presence of serious forms of exploitation and social injustice, there is “an ever more widespread and acute sense of the need for a radical personal and social renewal capable of ensuring justice, solidarity, honesty and openness (Compendium 577)
(2) “Following the teachings of Christ, we hold that the relationships of mankind are not matters of mere adjustment, for comfort or for material profit or for expediency’s sake, but a vital question of the life and death, perfection or destruction of humanity. The guarantee of these relationships is human rights” (LaFarge, Interracial Justice, 60)
(3) "The new spirit of Creation flows without interruption through the new Church – but how much force it requires to achieve its purpose. The officers of the Church have the inner guidance of the Spirit – but what about the executive departments? And the bureaucratic officials? And the mechanical “believers” who “believe” in everything, in every ceremony, every ritual – but know nothing whatever about the living God? One has to be very careful in formulating this thought, not from cowardice but because the subject is so awe-inspiring. One thinks of all the meaningless attitudes and gestures – in the name of God? No, in the name of habit, of tradition, custom, convenience, safety and even – let us be honest – in the name of middle-class respectability which is perhaps the very least suitable vehicle for the coming of the Holy Spirit...Let us give free rein to the divine instinct with which we are endowed and climb out of this morass in which we are bogged, emerge from this trance of false security. Then we shall discover the real efficacy of prayer and its power to bless and to heal...Without a minimum of sound humanity, genuine human dignity and human culture, no one is capable of making contact with God. One is not even capable of ordinary understanding and behavior.” (Delp, Prison Writings 75-76)
(4) “To be a Christian is to be a revolutionary. If you are not a revolutionary, you are not a Christian” (Carney, To Be a Revolutionary 441)
(5) “Jesus poses the question of God dialectically from the existence of various gods among whom we must choose and ... makes clear what this choice means: to serve one master means hating the other. In plain terms, Jesus asks people not only if they believe in God, but what God they do not believe in “and” what god they “hate.” Jesus calls these gods that must be hated, not just ignored, “masters” and, by setting them against God, calls them gods. So Jesus describes idolatry in all clarity and, indeed, gives it the characteristics already systematically examined here. For Jesus, the idol is not a ‘religious’ idol but an actual reality: mammon, wealth. This is an idol that offers salvation to those
who worship it (this is the presupposition of the rich whom Jesus disabuses and castigates), but a false salvation in Jesus’ eyes. And it is an idol that produces victims through the worship offered to it: the poor.” (Sobrino, Jesus the Liberator 187)
(6) “The poor have shown the church the true way to go. A church that does not join the poor, in order to speak out from the side of the poor against the injustices committed against them, is not the true church of Jesus Christ....Nothing is as important to the church as human life, the human person, especially the lives of the poor and the oppressed...Jesus said that whatever is done to the poor is done to him. This bloodshed, these deaths, are beyond all politics. They touch the very heart of God” (Romero, Essential Writings 65, 76)
(7) In the commission of any crime, a person can fill one of the following roles: perpetrator, accomplice, complicit bystander, resister, or victim. Morally and legally speaking, it is worse to be an accomplice than a complicit bystander. This will play a role later.
(
Two things must be clarified: first, it is both significant and necessary that the candidate makes such campaign promises in order for a voter / supporter to then be moral categorized as an accomplice (voting for Candidate A who, on the campaign trail, never once even alludes to moral repugnant action x is not sufficient to make Supporter A an accomplice when, later as President A,Candidate A carries out action x); second, there is no parallel retort with regard to permitted abortion access, as the most a supporter can be is complicit in the abortion, as the abortion is not mandated by the state (if this were false, then God would be an accomplice to abortion, as well as every other type of evil)
(9) “Read carefully what [the bishops of Nicaragua] said in [‘The Christian Commitment for a New Nicaragua’, November 17, 1979] with regard to socialism and with regard to the class struggle:
If socialism means, as it should mean, giving pre-eminence to the interests of the majority of the Nicaraguans and following the model of a nationally planned economy with progressively more participation of all the people, we have no reason to object. A social project that guarantees the common destiny of the riches and resources of the country and permits that the quality of human life advances upon the base of satisfying the fundamental needs of all, seems very just to us. If socialism implies a continual lessening of injustice and of the traditional inequalities between city and rural life, between the remuneration for intellectual and for manual work; if it means the participation of the worker in the product of his work, thus overcoming his economic alienation, there is nothing in Christianity that implies a contradiction with this process....With regard to the conflict between the social classes, we think that one thing is the dynamic reality of the class struggle that leads to a just transformation of structures, and a completely different thing is class hatred that directs itself against persons and radically contradicts the Christian duty of being ruled by love.
....We Christian Revolutionaries of Central America believe that the basis of the new Christian Socialist system will be a spirit of equality and brotherhood, rather than seeking personal gain. This search for personal gain, inculcated continuously by propaganda, education, and structures of capitalism is a main cause of the injustices which we suffer at every level of life. The strongest, the most unscrupulous go ahead in the world. Meanwhile, the weakest and the workers are used by the owners as servants, or as a means of production. In the same way, the strongest countries, with the same selfish mentality exploit the poor countries. The nations often act like animals, the strongest eat up the weakest. (Carney, SJ, 431, 43
(10) “Alas! How few religious in our day are found to be progressing from good to better, or ascending from virtue to virtue. [Saint] Bernard complains, ‘It is much easier to find a worldly person who converts to goodness than it is to find a religious person who advances to a better condition. The rarest bird on earth is that religious who has advanced even a step beyond the fervor he or she felt in the novitiate.’ And elsewhere, ‘You must of necessity get better or worse; to stay in the same place will be your ruin. To be sure, a person will not be very good who is not striving to improve; where you do not try to become better, you will cease to be good.’” (Ludolph of Saxony, 289)
(11) In The Life of Jesus Christ, the book that inspired Ignatius of Loyola to a life of conversion, Ludolph of Saxony writes that one ought to teach with “teaching that provokes the lazy” (Ludolph of Saxony, 140). Continue to boldly teach the teachings that should provoke the privileged, the wealthy, the fascist, the racist, the misogynist, the xenophobe, the homophobe, etc. If you are doing it right, you teaching should leave the MAGA loyalist irate!
P.S. For those in the Rockhurst community who are supportive of the president-elect’s promises of mass deportation and retribution, I beg of you now, while I have the courage: if and when he asks for “enemies from within” please mention me. I would rather be rounded up at the beginning of the persecution than silently survive.
Thank you.
Addenda:
I: Education for Social Justice, Pedro Arrupe
II: Dangerous Men, Lucas Jones
More to be added later
[Diana Moon Glampers removed a long screed by Arrupe, but will reproduce the poem for the most dedicated readers, who have scrolled this far in the spoiler.]
Dangerous Men
Lucas Jones
I will teach my boys to be dangerous men
To pick white flowers for all of their friends
To think of patience when they think of strength
I will teach my boys to be dangerous men
And if a sister cries you cry with them
And I’ll teach them to stop before they descend
Too deep in their pain, for those who depend
on us to feel safe, to keep them all warm
And when you feel the cold, you knock on the door
And hope someone like you is there keeping watch
To tap you out and make your bed
Then sharpen your sword and kiss your head
And die as a man who knows what it meant
To be remembered for love and the kindness he spent
I will teach my boys to be dangerous men
In a world where danger is simply the norm
The dangerous thing is not to conform
The dangerous thing is not to watch porn
Not to base love on a paid performance
But in the soft silence of three in the morning
Where their love is safe, sleeping, just bringing them water
To know that it’s not in the wars that you wage
But your choosing to love despite all the rage
I will teach my boys to be dangerous men
And not be naïve enough to pretend
That they won’t have to fight for the ones they defend
But if you must fight, fight to never again
I will teach my boys to be light when they can
And know in the darkness to reach for my hand
I will teach my boys to be dangerous men
So the danger for all of us finally ends
Lucas Jones
I will teach my boys to be dangerous men
To pick white flowers for all of their friends
To think of patience when they think of strength
I will teach my boys to be dangerous men
And if a sister cries you cry with them
And I’ll teach them to stop before they descend
Too deep in their pain, for those who depend
on us to feel safe, to keep them all warm
And when you feel the cold, you knock on the door
And hope someone like you is there keeping watch
To tap you out and make your bed
Then sharpen your sword and kiss your head
And die as a man who knows what it meant
To be remembered for love and the kindness he spent
I will teach my boys to be dangerous men
In a world where danger is simply the norm
The dangerous thing is not to conform
The dangerous thing is not to watch porn
Not to base love on a paid performance
But in the soft silence of three in the morning
Where their love is safe, sleeping, just bringing them water
To know that it’s not in the wars that you wage
But your choosing to love despite all the rage
I will teach my boys to be dangerous men
And not be naïve enough to pretend
That they won’t have to fight for the ones they defend
But if you must fight, fight to never again
I will teach my boys to be light when they can
And know in the darkness to reach for my hand
I will teach my boys to be dangerous men
So the danger for all of us finally ends
