Jubilee C.O.R. Door Exhibit April 10-18, 2000 Opening Reception Monday, April 10, 2000 7:00-8:30 p.m. Lewis Hall, 2nd Floor Dominican University

Catholic Schools Opposing Racism celebrated the end of a successful year at the reception for the Jubilee C.O.R. Door exhibit, which displayed the hopes of 17 Catholic high schools for racial harmony through their artistic renderings on doors. These doors - tied symbolically to the Jubilee Year - were conceived of and created by students from participating schools. Schools brought real doors and facsimiles of doors.

Student artists decorated their doors with such images as the patron of their schools, hands working together, the face of Jesus and the faces of people from all over the world. Doors encompassed a variety of media: paint, pictures cut from magazines, construction paper, paper mashé, cloth flowers and craft materials. Diverse choices were made in the creation of these doors, but they all sent the same message: we must work for racial reconciliation.

Dr. Elaine Schuster

The evening began with a welcome and prayer by Patty Nolan-Fitzgerald, principal of Queen of Peace High School and founder of C.O.R., and a brief address by Elaine Schuster, Ph.D., Superintendent of the Chicago Catholic schools. Dr. Schuster commended the work of C.O.R. and .spoke to the need for the schools to work together to create inclusive communities in individual schools and throughout the Archdiocese. She apologized to the students for the failure of her generation to bridge the racial divide, but she expressed confidence in the teens' abilities to bring the races together during their lifetimes. The guests at the reception then viewed the exhibit, talking to the student artists, who were on hand to explain their doors.

This opening reception included students and faculty from around the Archdiocese.

C.O.R. is sponsored by Queen of Peace High School a Sinsinawa Dominican-sponsored school for young women and Angels Studio, a communications ministry of the Chicago Province of the Society of the Divine Word.

Queen of Peace (above)Leo High School (left)

St. Laurence (below)

St. Benedict High School

Notre Dame High School

for Boys

From: Ken Kearney of Notre Dame High School for Boys

Our school commits to opening the doors of our hearts to all people by. .

.· Counting all with the blessed.

· Following the teachings of Christ.

· Including all in our fun times.

· Sharing with others.

· Creating utopia. I hope we will.

· Allowing love to rule a thousand year reign.

· Treating one another with the love and respect we all deserve.

· Being a gentleman.

· Recognizing that every person is made uniquely in God's image

and therefore deserves respect and treatment with dignity.

· Respecting everyone for who they are, not what they look like.

· Understanding that we all have the same color blood.

· Respecting all people and each other.

· Accepting people of all nations, creed, and religion.

· Expecting equality.

· Being fair and caring for all.

· Tolerating the idiosyncrasies of others.

· Allowing all to participate.

· Respecting all people regardless of race.

· Acknowledging that we are of "one body, one soul."

· Breaking all unfair barriers.

· Loving others for who they are.

· Saying that ND stands for "NO DISCRIMINATION".

St. Rita High School

From: Paul Harrington of St. Rita High School

The St.Rita of Cascia High School Family com-mits to opening wide the doors of Christ by first opening our hearts to Christ and then to our brothers and sisters.

As an Augustinian school community, we are committed to St. Augustine's ideal of building a community that searches for God in union with our brothers and sisters. By being faithful to St. Augustine's ideal, we strive to accept each other as the people God has created us to be. Our differences are not meant to divide us, but rather be a means of celebration of God's infinite good-ness and creativity. This is our hope: to be peo-ple who hold Christ in our hearts, to be people who see Christ in others by what we say and do. When we fail to live up to these ideals, we ask God's forgiveness and strive to learn from our mistakes and move on with our life journey.

As an Augustinian school, we pledge to follow our Augustinian charism and the example of our patroness, St. Rita of Cascia, to be peacemakers and lovers of Christ's truth and open wide our hearts to Christ and all our brothers and sisters by all we say and do.

St. Rita of Cascia, our patroness, invites us to open the doors of our hearts and minds to Christ. St. Rita was known as a peacemaker throughout her life and challenges us to act as peacemakers by opposing racism and by accepting all people.

The symbols used on our door are:

• The symbol of St. Rita of Cascia High School and the Augustinian Order, • The Papal flag to represent our Catholic faith, • Roses, which are the symbol of St. Rita and • The Jubilee logo of the Catholic Church.

Finally, the quote from Pope John Paul II as he spoke to children in Drogheda, Ireland

"Unity and Harmony..." The values of our Sinsinawa Dominican spon-sors inspire all that we do in our Queen of Peace Community. Thus, as we began to envi-sion our Jubilee C.O.R. Door, we turned to the five Sinsinawa Dominican values of Truth, Com-passion, Justice, Partnership and Community and to the opening words of our alma mater: "Unity and Harmony are symbols of Queen of Peace . . .î Honoring the individual while also creating community is an essential aim of Queen of Peace High School. Not only did we want to represent this idea visually, but we also wanted to live this philosophy in the creation of the door, making certain that all students were involved in creating our C.O.R. Doors. The Student Harmony Committee, the C.O.R. Steering Committee and art students surveyed all 1,037 of the students in our school to gather ideas for the doors that now represent our com-munity. After advertising the project and talking to students during lunch, the three diverse groups of students began planning the design of the doors. Art students, aided by art teacher Ms. Sandy Safranek, finalized the design for our doors and then went to work creating the double doors that we hope swing open to welcome all to our community. The first panel of our doors contains a visual play on words: on our "C.O.R. Door" we have painted a "corridor" that looks like a hallway at our school. This panel, which uses perspective to invite the viewer to step into our community and walk down the hallway towards the Domini-can shield, however, is much more than a visual technique. A welcome mat greets the viewer, which we hope is the first feeling that a visitor gets at Queen of Peace: Welcome. The Domini-can Shield stands at the middle of our door be-

Queen of Peace High School

cause it is at the core of our identity as a school. It is this "core" that led us to found the anti-racism organization C.O.R. We photocopied pictures of a cross-section of our community members - athletes and thespians, NHS mem-bers and artists, students in classes and at dances, black students and brown students and white students, faculty and staff - to make up the background of the Dominican shield. Standing away from the door, the pictures unify into a shield, but as the viewer walks closer she can see the individuals who make up the Queen of Peace Community because, after all, it is the individuals who make us feel welcomed in any community. The next two panels that we would like the viewer to see share the unified image of wel-coming hands of different ethnic groups holding six versions of the Dominican shield. The Do-minican shield and values - with the added value of "harmony" that is so central to our mis-sion - are the focus of these door panels. The shield has been transformed six times to repre-sent the diversity of our school and to coordi-nate with the value identified on each shield. Instead of merely representing the Dominican values, we wished to show that they are part of our community and are so important that we grip them in our raised hands, refusing to let go of them. Each shield displays a different color in its field, coordinated with the value identified, and is held by hands representing a variety of ethnic groups. We chose colors carefully. For instance, we made the shield with the value of "harmony" orange because orange is a har-mony of red and yellow; we also placed com-plementary colors behind the shields so that they would leap out at the viewer. Just as the mission and values of our Sinsi-nawa Dominican identity lead us to do the work of Harmony and C.O.R., so too do the Catholic Social Teachings of The Dignity of the Human Person, Community and the Common Good, Rights and Responsibilities, Option for the Poor, the Dignity of Work, and Solidarity urge us to go beyond words to intentionally act in our creation of an inclusive community in our school

and in the wider world. So, just as we place the Dominican shield at the center of the first door panel, and just as we display the Queen of Peace-created poster of the Catholic Social Teachings which hangs on every classroom and office door in our school, we place the Catholic Social Teachings at the heart of our final door. We boldly surround this statement of beliefs with the hand prints of every student and every teacher in our school to show that we have all raised our right hands in pledging our-selves to these principles. These layers of hand prints demonstrate that we need each and every one of us as we go about the difficult and urgent work of healing racism. And so we complete our Jubilee C.O.R. Door in the same way that we opened it: with everyone represented, with everyone having a hand in it. Unity and Harmony are symbols of Queen of Peace. From: Suzanne Wille

School: Queen of Peace High School

Queen of Peace High School commits to opening the doors of our hearts to all people by

* learning more about different people and cultures so that we may look beyond stereotypes and stop stop judging and joking about those who are different from ourselves;

* accepting people for who they are because they are made in God's image, helping each other when needed and looking at the inside instead of the outside of a per-son;

* having the courage to stand up for those who are being hurt or ridiculed;

* listening with our hearts, not just our ears; and

* reaching out to others in service.

Queen of Peace High School

Notre Dame High School

for Girls

From: Kathy Woytych of Notre Dame High School for Girls

Our school commits to opening the doors of our hearts to all people by . . .

-continuing to appreciate and respect the unique-ness of each culture

-educating ourselves in the many differ-ent cultures

-respecting and honoring everyone's beliefs

-offering our friendship to all people and not letting race, gender or religion be the basis

-accepting people for who they are and not for what they say, wear, offer or have

-not judging or classifying people be-cause of how they look or the music they listen to

-being courteous to people around us

-attempting to treat everyone kindly, regardless of the way they treat us

-acknowledging the fact that some jokes hurt people and doing something about it

-keeping an open mind to those we have just met

-allowing ourselves to grow and gain knowledge from the thoughts and feel-ings of others

-breaking down the barriers of hate, sorrow and pain with compassion, ac-ceptance and love

-learning to forgive and not hold grudges against others

-recognizing God's presence and love in our hearts and in the hearts of all people

Loyola Academy

Nazareth Academy

From: J.L. Kolodziej of Nazareth Academy

* I commit to opening the doors of my heart to all people by spend-ing time getting to know others better so I can become better friends with them.

* I commit to opening the doors of my heart to all people by trying to better understand the customs and heritage of others.

* I commit to opening the doors of my heart to all people by refusing to ignore the presence of discrimination and deter-mining to speak against the injustices I see.

Nazareth Academy

"Stories of Open Doors" On last Christmas Eve, Pope John Paul II opened the Holy Door to begin the Jubilee Year. The doors at St. Peter's basilica were decorated with scenes from Scrip-ture stories. In his millennial message, Bishop Anthony Pilla of Cleveland urged his diocese to consider the practice of opening the Holy Door as more than an "ancient ritual recalling the birth of Jesus." The bishop said that the church's holy doors would "fly open in the face of an age dominated, not by open doors, but by barred doors." He noted that people frequently face "metal detectors of fear, barricades of racial hatred, locked cellblocks of injustice, barbed walls of religious intoler-ance and blockades to equal opportunity." The world needs to "open wide all of these doors and meet Christ." This year, the theme for Catholic Schools Opposing Racism (C.O.R.) is Opening. C.O.R. participants learned that the first key to opening doors is using storytelling to unlock the doors of our hearts. There-fore, the Seton Academy doors were decorated like St. Peter's Holy Door. But instead of scenes from Scrip-ture, the stories of our community, in the folk art form of retablos, decorate the doors. Every member of the Seton Academy family was in-vited to tell their story of open hearts and open doors. They describe a time when that person was welcoming to someone outside their own group or when they were made to feel welcome despite being an "outsider." The result was a set of hallway doors being entirely covered by retablos, which were brought together on one door for the C.O.R. Door exhibit at Dominican University.

From: The Seton Academy Library Department

The community of Seton Academy pledges...

...to open our hearts to the differences that make each person dynamic;

...to open our minds to those with new ideas;

...to open our eyes to those different than us;

...to open the doors of our community to those individuals who are without a caring environment.

We at Seton Academy pledge

...to provide an education for those seeking one;

...to help provide a helping hand for those looking to embark on success.

We at Seton Academy pledge to…

...defy the prejudices that confront our society;

...to stray from the crowd if they are not on the same road to opposing racism.

Mt. Assisi Academy

Carrie Higgins: Artist's Statement The poster is of four children of different ethnic groups - African, Caucasian, Asian and Hispanic - covered with a quilt of flags from different parts of the world. Children are used in the artwork to stress the importance of loving them and teaching them the unity of humankind. Children are the future. How we treat them and what we teach them will influence generations to come. The quilt shows the world of nations working as a whole to love, protect and guide the children. It's our hope to bring the children of the world under one flag of a nurturing global village. _______________________________ From: Bonnie Goliak of Mt. Assisi Academy

Living the message of Jesus and loving others gives life real meaning.

We, the family of Mt. Assisi, will strive to achieve a closeness to God by reaching out and forming new relationships with others in our school, our family, and our communities.

Marian Catholic

High School

Gordon Tech High School

Our school commits to opening the doors of our hearts to all people by serving as signs of the transforming

power of the Risen Lord's love, by be-ing His instruments for the renewal of society, and by bringing respect and understanding among all peoples of

ethnicity and race.

_________________________

"We Remain the Same in Christ's Eyes"

Adolfo Collazo-Anderson and Julio C. Delgado

The overall meaning of our door can be summed up in one sentence: "We remain the same in Christ's eyes." The teens you see within the cross represent many races and genders that make up our society. Christ is featured above the teens because they aspire to serve him by respecting all peoples. The angels holding the cross represent the support and protection that is provided under Christ. The background contains an image of what awaits those who follow God's command of peace, justice and love.

St. Scholastica Academy

The Campus Ministry door at St. Scholastica Academy has been transformed into our 2000 Catholic Schools Opposing Racism "C.O.R. Door."

Our door is a silver key hole with a silver key hanging next to it. The clusters of red, yellow, white and brown hands gathered together on the outside of the keyhole represent groups that are not accepting of others. These are people who do not have an open heart to those of other races, languages, nationalities, genders and religions.

The multi-colored hands on the inside of the keyhole are reaching out to those on the out-side to symbolize diversity, unity and accep-tance of all.

The silver key is being held by four hands that want to accept others for who they really are, looking to the inner person, rather than only their exterior.

The pictures scattered on the inside of the keyhole are of St. Scholastica Academy students, showing SSA as a place of acceptance and diversity. The pictures show life at SSA, including sports teams, dances, student council and liturgies, with the many faces of those who participate in these activities.

Prayer: Our school commits to opening the doors of our hearts to all people. We will have the courage to confront and challenge racism, prejudice, discrimination, and ignorance in one another, in our school, and in our world. We will strive to be open to people of all races, languages, genders and religions in a unified diversity. Finally, we will continue to be people of PAX, people of peace.

Trinity High School

Opening Address

Given by Dr. Elaine Schuster Superintendent of Schools

Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago

Thank you for having me. I wouldn't have missed this evening. My

background and my roots, as many of you know, are with the Catholic high

schools of this great Archdiocese, as teacher and administrator. And I'm

delighted to be here this evening to greet you, the teachers, the

administrators, the students, and some family members and friends at this

most unique art exhibit, in this most appropriate and beautiful room. And I

thank Dominican University for welcoming us here. This is so appropriate

because of who you are. Thank you.

And I congratulate all of you, teachers, administrators and students for

what C.O.R. is, what C.O.R. has been and for what C.O.R. is becoming in the

Archdiocese, in the Catholic high schools and, I believe, in this church and

in the hearts of many, many others who could not be with us this evening.

Catholic Schools Opposing Racism. When you think about those four words,

this group, this organization has taken on the major teaching of our Lord,

Jesus. You have said, "Yes, we believe that if we really are a part of

these Catholic schools, and if we really believe in the mission of each and

every one of them, there is nothing else we can do but work together to

oppose racism, hate, violence and keeping people away from one another."

You have taken on a wonderful journey, my friends, as administrators, as

teachers, as students. And you are becoming an example to many of us of

what Jesus' teaching really is. I congratulate you for the commitment, I

congratulate you for the courage, and I congratulate you for these wonderful

works of arts. I think it is so fitting that-as was said this Jubilee Year,

when the symbol of our Jubilee is opening doors-you understood what that

really means, which is that we MUST open our doors to everyone. Because the

basic teaching of our faith is the dignity of every single person. That's

why Jesus came, that's why Jesus lived and died. His message to us is that

we are all with Him and He is with us, and these doors say we better open

the doors wide as we walk into this new millennium and this new century. We

must eradicate hate, and we must give every single person the right to life,

to joy, to peace, to inclusion, to happiness, to service, to community, to

hope in the future. And that's what you in these wonderful high schools

part of C.O.R. say that you are working at.

As I walked around and looked at the beautiful doors that you artists put

together, I see that you've understood that art is the universal language.

No matter who you are-young, old, male, female-what race, what sex, what

creed, art is the universal language. You express your feelings and your

thoughts and you generate conversation because of these beautiful doors.

And that's what will continue to happen in your schools. These doors are a

symbol of what you say you are all about, which is opening doors to make

this world a better place. And as I thought about you students (because in

my heart I remain a high school teacher), I thought about the fact, my

friends, that you have said by being part of C.O.R. and going through its

programs that you want to make this world a better place and that you want

to understand difference and distinction and to build community and to

include everyone. And as we open the doors to this century, I want to say,

don't ever let go of that dream, of that vision or of that ideal.

One of the other things we say this Jubilee Year is all about is repentance

and apology, and I think it's very appropriate this evening as I stand here

with you and look at these beautiful pieces of art, that I say to you as a

representative of one of the generations a little older than you in the room

and representing all these adults who love you and care for you very much

that I say, "I'm sorry." I'm sorry that we have handed you the world that

we have because if we had done our jobs, some of the problems that you

continue to work at would all be fixed now. We have not done as good a job

as we should have for you. And so now we must look to you, and I look to

you with great hope because you are young people of great promise and faith.

I really do believe that because of you, because of these wonderful high

schools you are in and the blessings you have received because of these

schools and these adults wrapped around you, that the world will be a better

place as we walk into this next century because you understood, I think, at

a younger age than many of us how very, very important it is to include, to

love, to serve and to respect everyone. And so in apologizing I also say

"thank you," I a say "thank you" for giving some of us with gray hair great

hope in the future.

And you know what? I think the future is in very good hands.