Cyrille’’s Talk

Jesus exhorted his disciples to love one another as he loved them and to be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. But overcrowded schedules, looming deadlines, and competing demands can set a frenetic pace in the Catholic high school. Our students join the fray, trying to keep up. They proffer a cooperative demeanor for teachers, while inside they are falling apart from stress and anxiety. A culture of compassion can seem more a heavenly ideal than an earthly reality. It’s time for a reset. Building a culture of compassion takes more than words in a mission statement or promotional brochure. It is hard work. But this is what students long for, and when they receive it they realize that the school really does care about them. Between the covers of Cyrille’s Talk the reader will taste and see what a culture of compassion is like and discover what it takes to make it happen.

Danny Brock has taught religion and directed retreats in Catholic high schools in the USA and Canada for over thirty years. He is the author of Teaching Teens Religion (2009), Catholicity Ain’t What It Used to Be (2014), and the editor of I Met God Today (2017).

Cyrille Santos was born in Manila, Philippines, and raised in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. She has attended Catholic schools from K-12, and is currently pursuing a degree at the University of Victoria to become a high school teacher.