Videos

President Clem Martin's Remarks - 2018 King of Hearts Gala

Added Jan 31, 2018 •

Copy this URL:
Embed code:	<iframe class="edlio-embed-player" type="text/html" width="640" height="360" src="//www.ctkjesuit.org/apps/embed/?v=173269" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Change dimensions

Show Transcript

I tried to convince Steve to let me go first death of our board chair Dave Nikolai Templeton our school principal our entire faculty and staff are students and their families I would like to welcome you to our 10th anniversary celebration of King of Hearts I like to begin by saying thank you your presence here tonight and support of our mission in support of our young men and women helps to make many amazing things possible so thank you especially like to thank Lynn and Tony McGuire our chair couple for this evening with our time talent and energy we are able to have a great party this evening selling out for the fifth consecutive year while significantly increasing our sponsorship attendance were over 700 people here tonight thank you for coming we also had an incredible host committee there listed in your program books that can be found at your table this group was instrumental in making tonight a huge success from centerpieces to silent auction they did it all your incredible thank you I'd also like to thank our team from Christ the King Steve halti morning Kelly Katie Carriage Tony as a papa Jessica Douglas and Mike Smith they do a tremendous job every day and a responsible for much of the work behind the scenes that special night every year thank you very much we have our development committee meetings on the 59th floor of an office tower Franklin Quest out the window you can trace Jackson Boulevard all the way from the loop to the United Center to Garfield park across the west side and all the way to Christ the King it's only a short distance it's just over 6 miles I thought about those six miles quite a bit over the past 5 years in the last speech Martin Luther King day before his assassination 50 years ago he use the phrase that resonated with me in a service appointment flexion quite a bit this past year it's not the final lines of the speech that most remember I've been to the Mountaintop I can picture King hammering out with his powerful voice the simple phrase 20 minutes earlier it is let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness 6 pound saponified placing himself in the story of the Good Samaritan the Good Samaritan starts with a lawyer tribe testing Jesus es Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life Jesus respond to the long version of love God and love your neighbor the band trying to justify himself trying to show himself righteous follows up and ask Jesus and who is my neighbor jesus takes this question and places places on a notoriously dangerous road between Jerusalem and Jericho he talks about a man stop by Steve's who is beaten and robbed and left to die in the road mini if you know the story how the priest and the levite upon seeing the Man passed by on the other side the third person to come along Samaritan sees the man tends to his wounds and ensures that he is cared for King imagines himself versus the priest and then the levite trying to understand their motives for not stopping using sarcasm we talk you might have to attend or gathering of the Jericho Road Improvement Association running back to more serious. He concludes that the priest in the Levi don't stop because they're afraid they're scared the road to Jericho was known as the bloody pass during the time of Jesus thing feels the men were stuck asking themselves the question if I stop to help this man what will happen to me the Samaritan flips that question and a if I don't stop to help this man what will happen to him play some stuff along Jackson Boulevard along Washington Boulevard Lake Street and Madison Avenue that separate Christ the King downtown play some self on those street that separate many of our students from the opportunities offered in the loop we all like to think that we would stop much like the Samaritan with the decision to stop is not always an easy one when I was speaking with one of our current board members about why he wants to get involved he spoke about watching the news reading the newspapers about some of the problems that continue to plague the West Side violence drugs find yourself driving on the Eisenhower and asking different iterations of those same questions who is my neighbor and if I don't stop to help what will happen to my neighbor who is willing to walk that road to step outside your comfort zone to share in a dangerous unselfishness to focus on and put the needs of others our neighbors before ourselves Mike Kelly stopped he got to know his neighbor I believe strongly in the potential of young people across the West Side feeling that for many the best opportunity for Success would be to open a second priest array model School in the city that would focus on helping students me Austin Community and from across the west side he pushed the judgments open Christ the King who became a sounding board member for centuries the judge would have stopped but there was a renowned missionaries of bygone arrows or John Foley Brad Schafer and Jim gartland for their work until 7 opening the Cristo Rey school and building a network of similar schools across the country weather is Dave Mastrangelo for his work at Loyola in Detroit and now at Christ the King or father Chris devron for his work in the reach program an inner-city teaching Corps founding president of Christ the King of always ends and continue the fight for social justice 11 company stopped in 2008 when the only stories emanating from the west side we're telling Cara violence and drugs and the entire city was reeling from the Great Recession we had 11 companies step forward and exhibit that dangerous unselfishness willingness to dive in and get involved but many other side away and found excuse they're willing to invest for the young men and women of Austin and become the anchors of our corporate work-study program ABC Bank Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital Applegate Thorne Thompson Arthur J Gallagher cmegroup Community investment for Gottlieb Memorial Hospital MB Financial Bank in construction O'Keefe Lyons & Hynes and Reyes Holdings this group of founding companies has provided countless opportunities to our students from attending athletic events and graduations to writing letters of recommendation for college people from these companies have gotten to know their neighbors and have open doors to brighter Futures thank you Chris the school administration our faculty and staff and volunteers all stopped committed to our mission they worked tirelessly on behalf of our ensuring that they are prepared to meet the rigors of college late evenings and weekends preparing lessons and grading papers chaperoning field trips leaving service trips coaching they do it all believing in our students and their ability succeed the North Shore women's Circle in Lake Forest Women's Group both stopped at parents and caring mothers they are acutely aware of the mini need space by families they laid the foundation of what has become our family assistance fund over the years they've done everything needed to meet the basic needs of our families and allowing our students to focus on the education our parent Community has always stopped to make sure they make so many sacrifices to ensure their children of access opportunities and a path to college they gather us in prayer at athletic events honors assemblies at a really to pitch in and volunteer whenever needed if you're hearing this room tonight you have made the decision stop to get you know your neighbors are students and their families at some level you've already asked and answered the question what will happen to my neighbor if I don't stop by stopping you have help to ensure how are young men and women will have access to the rigors of a college prep education offered at Christ the King by Stopping You ensure that all of our students will have access to the transformational opportunities offered in our corporate work-study program by stopping you sure that all of our students will have the opportunity to explore a relationship with God and build a strong moral and spiritual Foundation that a Catholic Education in the Jesuit tradition provides although I've been talking a lot about people stopping our students just gotten started we have against that do highs for students being inducted into the National Honor Society we have a record numbers of students on the honor roll as principal Scholars and as president's Scholars all of our current senior class has already been college for the 7th straight year and we're Hansel shy of all of her students the except 2 four year colleges and universities for the 3rd straight year every student every year we start of the tackle football program this year and are remains undefeated don't ask about the JV schedule we have our over 70 students in our band including a drum Major's a majorettes we have corporate work study partner stop norethindrone Schaumburg in Bensenville at Weston Oak Brook in Westchester on the south side and Hyde Park and throughout the loop and River North our lungs have studied in Argentina the Far East End in London are earliest graduating classes I've already begun graduating from college I begin their careers including Kiara whom you heard from earlier this evening and many of those students have begun working at our current corporate work study partners if we continue to get to know our neighbors and give up ourselves for the dangerous on selfishness those six miles between Christ the King in the loop will no longer be viewed with trepidation go 6 miles to become a road to opportunity I'm which all people will be invited to travel when we come together in kinship when we get to know our neighbors and walk with them when we come together and love it is only then that we can say that we are men and women for and with others is the only thing that we two can say that we have been to Mountaintop thank you all for coming this evening thank you for all your support and making price to take a very very special place

Videos

President Clem Martin's Remarks - 2018 King of Hearts Gala

More videos in Events