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The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle.They said to him,
"Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?"
They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.
But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them,
"Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her."
Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her,
"Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
She replied, "No one, sir."
Then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, (and) from now on do not sin any more."
John 8:3-11
Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone. It will not be me, because I know I have a lot of sins to answer for.
The things I am about to say are not meant to accuse or embarrass anyone. They are not meant to scare or threaten anyone. They are not meant to anger anyone. They are meant for all of us, and they are for the benefit of the Priory School Community, and the whole Priory family. I mean only to be perfectly clear.
I speak to you as headmaster, and I hope, as a friend of some sort or father, who has you best interest at heart.
Last week, as most of you are aware, there was a major incident of cheating, particularly visible and serious. It has been particularly difficult to get to the exact truth of the matter because as a group you, students in general, value a student code of silence and protection higher than our honor code and a significant number of you will lie to protect your friends from the consequences of their actions.
Despite the lack of clarity about this incident, there has been a lot of talk and rumors about the whole matter. Talk is cheap and talk is dangerous and speculative, ignorant talk ñ rumor ñ is harmful and destructive and unfair.
Nothing disturbs and angers me more than talk that goes around about cheating at Priory, and this incident has made me very angry. But it angers and distresses me even more that some people just take it for granted that there is or will be cheating here. So I want to speak to you today about stopping cheating and cheap talk about it.
First we have an honor code. You know what it saysÖitís in the handbook. Almost all of you have signed it, when you were in 7th grade.
If you came after 7th grade, I want you to find your classís copy of the honor code and sign it. They are here in front of you. Iím going to hold you all to it.
If any of you donít want to live by this code, talk to your parents tonight and withdraw from Priory. Tuition has not been billed yet for the new term. If you donít want to live by the honor code, I want you gone by the first day of the new term.
There will be changes to the honor code and the discipline policy and procedures, which I will communicate to your parents and which will be in the handbook next year, but which will go into effect now, today, November 6 2009.
If a student is caught cheating, he will be disciplined as usual; I will then give him one chance to redeem himself and to live and study here honestly. If he is caught a second time, I will expel himÖno questions asked. Two strikes is an automatic out.
If a student lies to protect someone who has cheated, I will consider that he has cheated and he has a strike against him. Anyone who cheats will be putting his closest friends in danger.
Cheating on homework, labs, plagiarism, cheating on quizzes, tests, examsÖit doesnít matter. Two strikes and you are out. One is either honest or one is not.
ìThe person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones. Lk 16:10
If a student cheats, he will have one and only one chance to prove that he is honest.
If any of you cannot live with this or do not want to, talk to your parents tonight and withdraw from Priory. Tuition has not been billed yet for the new term. If you donít want to live with this, I want you gone by the first day of the new term.
Talk is cheap. You may well say. I ñ Fr. Michael - have never expelled anyone; I had an opportunity to expel some persons, but I did not. Some teachers, perhaps some of you, wanted me to.
I did not because we did not have such a clear policy with the consequences articulated. I did not, because the Rule of St. Benedict, by which we live and which is the constitution of our community life here, says that we must first seek to heal before we cut off someone from our community. I did not because the people involved had a clear disciplinary record, and I felt, after my anger cooled, that they deserved their one chance.
My father once told me that although some fathers might disown their sons for this or that reason, he wanted me to know he would never do that to me. This is the Priory School family, and I think of you, each of you, as my son and I love you. When it comes to this matter, any son gets one chance. And that is because I have faith in you, your goodness and your ability to grow and learn from your mistakes.
I know you are not perfect, and that I am not. I did not come to the monastery because I was perfect, and we did not accept you here because we thought you were. You and I both came here to be perfected. But I want you to prove to these people that say you cheatÖI want you to prove that you donít.
The proof will be that I donít expel anyone.
Talk is cheap. Perhaps you doubt that I ever would. Please donít test me, but if you do you will indeed find out.
I can tell you that in my 25 years in business before I became a monk, I fired many people; I had many people arrested; I prosecuted many people; I evicted many people and confiscated their property. I stopped large banquets at the last minute. I sent the Police to an off-Broadway play to arrest the producer.
I closed a whole hotel with 12 hours notice, and told 75 people they were unemployed, faced the wrath of labor union officials and told brides for that weekend that their wedding receptions wouldnít happen. One of the reasons I came to the monastery is so that I wouldnít have to do that sort of thing anymore. Please donít make me prove to you that I can expel a student from high school, that I can, if pressed, disown a son.
As much as I think of us as a family and you my sons, I know this is not a relationship based on blood.
Ours is a family created by mutual consent, by social contract.
Therefore it is made clear by ones behavior if a person belongs to this family or not; if one consents to the contract and shares the values and upholds the honor of the familyÖor not. It is by reprehensible behavior, by cheating and lying, that a person would clearly be stating that he has quit this family.
And expulsion then would simply be giving formal effect to that personís decision.
I realize that as a metaphorical father I have a serious obligation to you my honest sons, to protect you from those who would gain advantage over you by cheating & lying.
I realize a have a serious obligation to your parents to give you an unhindered opportunity to succeed.
I realize that I have a serious obligation to our teachers to have students here they can trust, to protect the integrity of their classrooms so they can focus on teaching you without worrying about watching their backs or turning their backs.
I realize that I have a serious obligation to protect the honor of my family. I realize that I have a serious obligation to God to uphold the truth.
I know that it is hard to be good, to be honest. I lived for 47 years in the world that you will be going out into. I know that people can get ahead by lying and cheating. I know that itís not hard to steal. Itís strange, but the more people trust you, the more you can lie, cheat and steal and get away with it for a while.
If any of you are here to learn how to succeed that way, talk to your parents tonight and withdraw from Priory. Tuition has not been billed yet for the new term. If you donít want to learn how to succeed with honor, I want you gone by the first day of the new term.
I have a dreamÖthat you will learn the best of what we have to teach here; that you will judge yourselves and be judged not by your grade point averages, bank accounts or portfolios, but by the content of your souls and character. This means that you must learn to be active-not passive- in the life of your soul and your moral life. You must learn to seek God in the light of truth and life, and not just stumble over Him in the dark.
You must learn to avoid the traps in life which destroy the integrity of the soul. And believe it or not, those traps include cheating in high school.
Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.
Let your love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good;
love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor.
Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Be concerned for what is noble in the sight of all.
Rom 12: 2, 9-13, 18
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