| Possumus Fall 2008 |
Partnerships |
Perspectives
M utual admiration.
Cretin and Derham Hall were once separate high schools, facing each other across a field in St. Paul. Cretin, an all boys school, was run by the Christian Brothers; Derham Hall, all girls, was run by the CSJs. In the 1980s, the groups agreed to study the idea of a merger of the two schools. Richard Engler, President and Principal of Cretin-Derham Hall High School, tells us about the amazing partnership that, in 1987, brought the two schools together as one.
The Christian Brothers and the CSJs came to the table with very strong self-interests. They really argued out that merger. They had a lot to argue about. The Sisters were proud of how they were teaching young women. They didn’t want to lose that, to become absorbed into the male culture that existed at Cretin. The Brothers wanted to make it work, too, but they didn’t want to lose what they had either. So they had to come together and ask themselves, “What is in the common good?” And out of what must have been a painful process came beauty-- a vision statement that detailed the kind of school both these parties could be proud of. In 1990, we derived seven values from that statement: Catholic, academic, leadership, service, equity, diversity and community. They guide us every day. What I’m the most proud of at this school is that the charism of our two sponsors, and the incredible spirit they have, still exists at CDH today.
-Richard Engler, President, Cretin-Derham Hall
After leaving the St. Paul Province of the CSJs in 1972, Harriet Hentges took her interest in environmental sustainability into the secular world. Eventually she began working as a Senior Director in the Corporate Strategy and Sustainability Unit at Wal-Mart, helping to guide it toward a more enlightened worldview. Today she is Vice President for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability for a Dutch global food retailer.
People may think I made a huge leap here, but everything the CSJs taught me is absolutely relevant to what I’m doing now. Of course, the issues of social justice, poverty, and environmental sustainability are too big for one sector to handle -- too big for government or business or non-profits alone. So I keep coming back to the need for mutually beneficial partnerships. At Wal-Mart, when I sat down with the business units and heard the problems they were wrestling with, I could identify outside groups that could help them solve what they thought was unsolvable. The units were inexperienced at creating partnerships with non-profits, but they were open to it. The nonprofits of course recognized they could have more impact on their own social cause agendas if Wal-Mart got involved. By themselves, neither party could have gotten what they wanted. These days, corporations are falling all over themselves to plug holes in our world. Job openings in my field are increasing 37% a year. There’s no doubt in my mind Corporate Responsibility has become a movement.
-Harriet Hentges, Ahold USA
In 1996, civil law attorney Linda Miller was looking for a way to change her life. Her search led her to found Civil Society, dedicated to helping those victims of crime who are least likely to report one. Civil Society has since grown to 15 legal clinics in the Twin Cites, where minority and immigrant groups find comfort and wise counsel. In 1998, the first human trafficking victim walked into one of Linda’s clinics. This initial act has brought Linda into partnership time and again with the CSJs.
The people we help don’t know the law or the language. They often don’t even know what a crime is or what happens when you report one. Sometimes they’ve been stripped of their legal documents and identities. At our clinics, they can meet with attorneys without a lot of screening or hassle. That engenders trust. We provide legal counsel and social services, too. This is where our programs fit so well with the CSJs. We’ve received grants from the Sisters’ Partners In Justice Fund, and right now we have a St. Joseph Worker, Anna Zares, placed with us as a full-time caseworker. We benefit from our CSJ association because they are a group of people already trained, organized and dedicated to the same goals we are. The Sisters really want to do something about human trafficking and abuse problems. Civil Society helps them do it.
-Linda Miller, founder of Civil Society
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