Intersecting Systems: Abuse Implications for Teachers‪.‬

I began teaching in 1984 in a private Catholic high school, following three years of study for diocesan priesthood at St. John's Theologate in Camarillo, California. Since then, I have: taught poor, immigrant English language learners in a Los Angeles inner-city junior high and then in a San Diego suburban middle school; worked as an assistant principal in a poor, urban middle school and in a suburban high school. For the past ten years, my teacher education work has focused on: student and teacher identity development; hidden (collective unconscious) dynamics that undermine social justice in organizations; bi-cultural and bi-national education; and the intersection of these three areas. In the summer of 2002, I completed my first year as an assistant professor at a small Catholic university and I attended the summer Collegium (1) at Fairfield University to reflect about my work as a teacher educator and my Catholic identity. Christine Firer-Hinze, of Marquette University, gave a presentation during the week that resonated deeply with me. Against the backdrop of over a century of Catholic teachings, (2) she identified three gaps in contemporary practice that served as practical litmus tests of Catholic social teaching: a. Lack of real, effective engagement with realities of conflict/tragedy;