Calderon: ‘Where is our Core?’
By Austin Norville ’15
THE ROUNDUP
Assistant Principal of Ministry Mr. Christopher Calderon, S.J. took over the AP position in the Office of Faith and Justice this year after Ms. Kim Baldwin’s transition back to the classroom.
“It’s really an opportunity to create a space of prayer, a space of community and a space where all of us can recognize God at work,” Mr. Calderon said.
According to Mr. Calderon he will be working with retreats and Masses.
“In terms of programs, programs will stay the same more or less; however, how we approach them, how we experience them … so that we can realize that God is not new, but that God has always been there and that we can look at it with new eyes,” Mr. Calderon said.
This will be Mr. Calderon’s third year as a part of the Brophy community.
“My first year teaching was a blast, I hated grading but what made it worth it were the students,” Mr. Calderon said. “Last year I got to work with retreats and I got to experience a great depth that a lot of people in everyday society probably don’t feel teenagers have.”
According to Mrs. Sue Hornbeck, assistant to the assistant principal for ministry, Mr. Calderon hopes to implement service programs in every class not just freshman breakaway, SSP and JJP; he wants to create a service program for seniors as well.
“So the last two years have painted a picture for me of great generosity, great spirit, and great community, so as I move into this year, in this role I walk in doing my best to hold on to humility,” Mr. Calderon said.
According to Mr. Calderon this year will be about finding our center.
“One of my focuses for the year is the idea of recognizing that while the OFJ is physically at the center of campus … so in a sense the OFJ is the heart of campus,” Mr. Calderon said. “The whole purpose of the OFJ is to help our community encounter God. This year for me as assistant principal is not about me; this year I hope to continue to make this place about us.”
This will be his final year at Brophy as he moves on in his formation as a Jesuit.
“It will be so hard to leave Brophy and I have students who jokingly say they’re going to write to my superiors and sign petitions,” Mr. Calderon said. “But, I want to become a priest one day, because I look at it as another opportunity to experience your lives, to be a part of your lives, and see how God is at work.”
Along with his work in the OFJ Mr. Calderon also teaches a class for seniors called The Ignatian Work Out.
“When Saint Ignatius was still trying to figure out where life was leading him he came up with this retreat he called the Spiritual Exercises and he very much meant it to be an exercise,” Mr. Calderon said. “The class is an opportunity to teach our seniors during a semester what that retreat was about in ways that are practical.”
According to Mrs. Hornbeck, Mr. Calderon aims to show God in all programs.
“He wants to make sure that in the center of all of our programs that we remember that God is in the center of all of our programs,” Mrs. Hornbeck said. “He’s so compassionate about everything that he does, he approaches everything with such humility, and that compassion and love that he has for God just overflows and spills into all the programs that we have here I think he challenges all of us to be better people.
