Educating the Underserved

Editor Christy Hicks interviews Robert Birdsell, President and CEO of the Cristo Rey Network.

Q) What is the mission of the Cristo Rey Network and what benefits are evident from the organization?

A) The Cristo Rey Network empowers thousands of students from underserved lower-income communities to develop their minds and hearts to become lifelong contributors to society. By providing students an extraordinary college-preparatory education and a unique four-year integrated corporate work-study experience, we seek to help transform urban America.

Nationally, the Cristo Rey Network schools are succeeding. For the classes of 2008 and 2009, more than 84 percent have enrolled in college (source: National Student Clearinghouse). This is nearly twice the rate of their peers from the same socioeconomic background.

Martha poured the tea and helped herself to a slice of cherry pie left over from the repast. Trying to comfort her sister, she began, “Your church really did a nice job with Larry’s funeral. I must admit the service was far more positive than I expected.” Martha had never liked the fact that her baby sister had converted to Catholicism after her marriage to Larry.

“Yes,” Mary responded absent-mindedly, “If there’s one thing Catholics do well, it’s a funeral.” Mary really didn’t want to get into another argument about religion with Martha, but it looked like that was where this conversation was headed.

“Of course, as nice as the funeral was, there were still some strange things that went on. Why did the priest wave that smoking brass pot around? Was that incense?” 

Novel T. Jobes kicked rocks on the desolate back road. Far to his right the tops of 1OO-story buildings lifted eerily in the dawn mist. He shifted his belongings from one shoulder to the other, which caused him to stumble. I should get rid of this, he thought, looking down at his heaviest item, a six-by-eight-inch box.

Stopping in front of a roadside billboard, he tried to read the words. The sign had changed and was as new as a freshly minted penny. Though it was different, the picture still looked familiar. Depicted in color were two men. “Looks like me in the old days,” he said, staring at the poster. Indeed, when he was young, people called him by his middle name, Titan. It made sense; he was a mighty logger running machinery in the Wenatchee Forest. Now he looked like the other man holding a soup bowl. 

“G-i-v-e,” he read.

Belief, Action, Integrity

How do we become a Christian? The simple answer is that we respond to the invitation to follow Jesus Christ. However, the Christian identity is more than a set of commandments about how we should live. It involves a completely new and very different mindset. Thus perhaps the bigger question is, How do we remain a Christian? I believe the Letter of James was written to address this question. James challenges its readers to reflect on how they put their faith into action. It is a very practical letter, filled with encouragement and examples from daily living that still hold true today.

So who was this James who offered such wisdom for all ages? Sadly, that question is not easy to answer because “James” was a very common name in the New Testament. He was not one of the Twelve, nor was he considered among the larger group of disciples, yet he was important enough to be named separately as one who saw the risen Lord. (See 1 Cor 15:7.) Perhaps this James was the same one who was close enough to Jesus to become the head of the church in Jerusalem. (See Gal 2:9.) He would then have had the authority to write a letter to Christians and have its contents spread throughout the Roman Empire.