Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Dear Miss Taylor,

Or may we call you Elizabeth?  Loved you in that movie, by the way -- the one where your violet eyes made us shake our head in wonder at God's creative whimsy.  But then, that's all of of them. 

And over the years, we have been touched by your generous support of charities involved with HIV/AIDS.  We do not forget that you were out there, in public, at a time when the US president wouldn't even say the scary words.  Thank you for that.

Now we read that you are giving $100,000 to something called the Alliance for Christian Education, in Santa Barbara.  The ACE operates a school called Providence Hall. We don't know a thing about this school, except that it is new, small, and has an awesome website. The faculty is mostly young, and drawn largely from Christian universities: Azusa, Wheaton, and especially Westmont. Oh, and the UC-Sanata Barbara. We suspect many are in their first or second teaching post -- but that is not by any means a bad thing.

No, the place seems lovely.  We do find it a little curious that you have offered this donation "because our new president challenged us to break down barriers that divide us."  Which walls, exactly?  The ones between Christians, like those at Providence, and Jews, like yourself?  Or between the right and left wings of American culture?  Either way, we're all for it.

Our only real question is whether other needy Christian schools can look to you for help -- perhaps even some in poor neighborhoods, where both Romish and Lutheran parochial schools are having a terrible time, even though they are often the only feasible hope that children have for a decent education and a better life.  Because if you're interested, we know that this school could use $100,000.  So could this one.

Thanking you in advance.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nice. I linked to the school sites. I was on the MLHS board when that mission statement was adopted. I thought it curious at the time (and still do) that the school "challenges mind and body" and "shapes characters" with the goal that its students "succed as God's people in the world" but it avoids us saying that the mission of the school is to "teach" so that students "learn." All right, so call me a nitpicker