The Identity of an Episcopal School
Our Episcopal identity is at the heart of our mission and provides a framework for all members of our school community to live and learn together. While we are committed to preparing our students for the world beyond our campus, this very same world presents constant challenges to what we stand for as a school. With this in mind, all members of the St. Margaret’s Episcopal School community are called to support and advance our mission and to adhere to the highest standards of ethical behavior and conduct.
The National Association of Episcopal Schools describes the unique qualities of Episcopal schools as being “models of God’s love and grace, created to serve God in Christ in all persons, regardless of origin, background, ability or religion. They are created to strive for justice and peace among all people and to respect the dignity of every human being. Episcopal schools are clear, yet graceful, about how they articulate and express their basic identities.” There is much in this description, and each of us has an obligation to measure our lives at St. Margaret’s by these standards. Do we conduct ourselves with love and grace? Do we serve, respect and value all members of our school community? Do we strive for fairness and justice from the least significant to the most important? Do we seek to understand before being understood? Do we work to resolve our differences in a peaceful and respectful manner? And, do we “live” our core values with integrity, compassion, dignity, respect and a commitment to the common good?
Membership in the St. Margaret’s Episcopal School community carries with it a responsibility to adhere to the basic principles articulated above. We assume that families choose us because they want to be part of a school community with a clear mission and common core values. Central to our Episcopal identity is a willingness to explore complex topics, inspire debate, welcome diverse ideas, value ambiguity and paradox and celebrate the pluralism of our school community. In this way, we invite all members of our school community – Episcopalians and non-Episcopalians, Christians and non-Christians, people of no faith tradition – to seek clarity about their own beliefs and religions and to honor those traditions more fully and faithfully in their own lives. We acknowledge that in a world that seeks simple answers to complex issues, we are willing to keep asking questions. Occasionally, our openness is misunderstood or challenged, and in these moments of tension and potential disagreement, it is incumbent upon all of us to strive faithfully to be “models of God’s love and grace.”
In the end, however, we must always be mindful that we are here to serve our children and provide for them a sound, moral and ethical foundation from which to launch their lives and bring value to the world they will inherit. We join together each day as an Episcopal school community guided by a strong and courageous national Episcopal Church, and while we are not all Episcopalian, we are called upon to live our lives together guided by the belief that we exist not only to educate and be educated, but to demonstrate and proclaim the unique worth and beauty of all human beings as creations of a loving, empowering God – to be, as we say in the Prayer of St. Francis, instruments of God’s peace.