Committed to Making
Memorable Connections

Reinventing Our Programs

COVID-19 has changed many things. We at focus :  LIFE are thankful for Sister Sarah. A temporary gift from the Sisters of Saint Joseph, she has been with us to navigate COVID-19’s impact on our journey! She helped our staff to reinvent itself to stay in touch with the people we serve. We can do remote learning. She trained us to be competent with Zoom, Google Classroom, and Microsoft Teams. We now have new ways to reach people and expand the conversation to places that once seemed “remote”!

Peacebuilding During the Pandemic

My plan for the second half of the semester came to a screeching halt with COVID-19! Many students expressed being overwhelmed. Remote learning was not the same. I could not have predicted how complicated home lives made online learning more difficult. I developed deeper relationships with parents. I turned toward being an advocate. I helped students and parents navigate relationships. So, when I attended Bowen High School’s “drive-thru” graduation I felt proud of all our students who persevered to reach this milestone. Peacebuilding and raising hope are the gift we have to give!

Reflecting on White Privilege

In light of all that has happened in the wake of George Floyd’s death, the focus :  LIFE Discernment Community is reflecting on “white privilege.” The Partners for PeaceMakers Workshop is used to look into the “mess,” decide on a “message,” and become “messengers.” The Community committed to these action steps:

1. Be unconditionally pro-life;
2. Stay in the discomfort of the moment;
3. Continue to have discussions, listening to each other’s stories;
4. Preach on the social implications for repentance, conversion, and social justice;
5. Have the courage to confront family and friends.

Grandmothers — An Untapped Resource !

Name the disaster — school shootings, hurricanes, rioting, or the rising rate of teen suicide — we always hear the same thing. “We need more mental health counselors.” But at risk neighborhoods have lost public mental health clinics. As one senior told a freshman, “If you get sick make sure it’s on Tuesday, then you can see the school nurse.” What if we tackled this problem of scarcity with something every community has in abundance: grandmothers! This is what a psychologist did in Zimbabwe. The grandmothers proved to be more effective than the doctors! We believe we can do the same here.