Mission Statement

Summits like this are frequent occurrences at universities and colleges around the world; often the goal of these summits is to bring influential voices together to effect change in policy, procedure and the world in which we live. These summits serve as an immersion experience through which students are asked to reflect on how their faith calls them to respond to a complicated world. While we realize the majority of our students are not yet of voting age, we nonetheless recognize their capacity for change as young people who are in formation. And so, it is Brophy’s hope that our annual summit might contribute to the formation of our students such that they become young men of conscience and conviction, willing to stand up against a culture that too often values expediency and efficiency at the expense of human dignity. Ultimately, Brophy hopes to graduate young men who will one day participate in summits at colleges and universities, young men who will have voices that can positively influence real change in policy, procedure, and the world in which we live.

Summit 2013: Mission Statement

In recent years, income inequality has become a central focus of social, political and personal conversations. The growing disparity between the rich and the poor has long been an area of concern in developing countries. One cannot open a newspaper or browse the Internet without being confronted with statistics, images, anecdotes, or opinions about the distribution of wealth in America. Laura D’Andrea Tyson, Professor of Business at the University of California Berkeley, states that “[Rising income inequality]…undermines the intergenerational mobility upon which Americans have always prided themselves and perpetuates income inequality from generation to generation.”

The American Dream is defined as the ability to achieve success through hard work, regardless of social or economic status however, given our current economic state and an ever-increasing gap in opportunity, we are called to question whether achieving the American Dream in today’s society is even possible.

Pope Benedict reminds us that the “scandal of glaring inequalities continues,” and calls for a more just distribution of wealth. The Catholic Church is issuing a challenge, a call to examine the world critically and honestly, so that we can align ourselves with the virtues modeled for us by Jesus Christ. Primary areas of concern to be addressed by Summit speakers and explored further in Summit workshops and classroom activities will include education, health care, wealth, access to resources, and the realities faced by individuals and families of various income levels. We will explore and celebrate efforts being made by those individuals, organizations, and corporations whose success is not driven strictly by profit. We will look to these groups to serve as witness to the call of the United States Catholic Bishops who advocate for “an economy that serves the dignity of the human person.” [1]

As a Jesuit school, members of our community will be asked to openly examine the issues of economic inequality through the lens of Christ’s example. Jesus ministered to those in need, extending a special invitation to the poor and calling us all to be agents of change in our world. The reality of economic structures, and the opportunities they either allow or prohibit, is multifaceted, but rather than shy away from these complexities, we are summoned to question them in order to effect change. Therefore, in the Jesuit Catholic tradition, the Brophy community will be asked to consider four primary questions: What is the reality of income inequality in the United States? How did we get here? Why should we be concerned? Finally, what can we do about it? It is Brophy’s hope that through this educational experience, we might come to view our individual and collective roles in the economy as a call to promote human dignity in very real and concrete ways.