Authority Properly Focused: Homily for Monday, September 18, 2023

Homily given at Christian Brothers College High School, Town and Country, Missouri. Readings for Today. Listen to our other homilies. Authority Properly FocusedTranscript There is, I suspect, something that if any of you are lawyers, you might be aware of as it pertains to educational law. It is particularly important for Catholic schools. It's called the Ministerial Exemption.  And what that means is that in a variety of ways, Catholic schools are not bound by the the same limitations that public schools are bound by, or by, for that matter, Catholic institutions are not bound by the same rules that other institutions would be bound by. And it's not just Catholic schools, it's any religious organization.  Because the ministerial exemption is founded on the notion that everyone who works for an institution that has a religious nature is a minister. And the Supreme Court does not want to get into deciding who counts as a minister and who doesn't.  Long before the Supreme Court established this precedent, in the 17th and 18th century, this idea was something that was quite familiar to St. John Baptist de La Salle. Because he, in a way-- while he didn't have a ministerial exemption, he was very strong on the notion that everyone involved in this fledgling endeavor of schools was a minister.  Everyone did what they did out of a call by God and a concern for the salvation of those children they taught and educated. And perhaps also it's important to know that any vocation, given to us by God, is given to us for our own salvation.  So when a husband and wife get married, ideally being called to the vocation of marriage, they see in that vocation the very means to their salvation, each one of them. When I became a priest, that is a way in which I live out my salvation offered by God. And that's what De La Salle picked up on when he founded his schools.  That everything that was being done was not frivolous, it was for a divine purpose, the salvation of the students. And what was important to know? What were the important things that were necessary? Well, certainly they needed to know the faith. They needed to ultimately know Jesus, but they also needed opportunity.  These kids were running wild all over the streets. They didn't have a purpose or a direction. And De La Salle recognized that if they didn't have the skills necessary to improve their lives and ultimately to provide for families, then they were at risk of being lost in every way one wants to think about that word.  Today's readings really focus on the idea and the notion of authority. But it's not authority for power's sake. It's an authority for a different sake, namely for service. There was a while, probably because of Thomas Sergiovanni, who is an educator and talked about servant leadership or leadership from the heart. That was really a popular notion for a while.  But the point is that all service in the context of ministry, when it's centered on God, comes from the heart. It is service because true authority happens because it has an end or a purpose that comes from God.  Think of how little could be accomplished if we didn't have the right authority of the rules of the road. If everybody just kind of drove whenever they liked and however they liked, some days it may feel like that. But the reality is that we give up certain things that may appear to be less important for the sake of something really important.  The first reading is such a powerful reading that I think sets the tone, I hope, for you, the board, who are involved in service. Because what he asks us in this first reading to do through the letter to Timothy is to pray for those who are given a particular authority, leaders in ...