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Belonging at SJCS

St. Joseph’s Catholic School commits to an educational mission that invites students and families from all backgrounds into a life-changing relationship with Christ. We recognize and are inspired by the belief that God created all people with infinite dignity and worth.  St. Joseph’s Catholic School welcomes all students as equally esteemed members of our community, and affirms the dignity of every human being by rejecting all forms of prejudice, racism, sexism and classism in all their manifestations. We do this not just as goals for our school but as critical components of our Catholic identity and mission.

We aim to foster an understanding and appreciation for diversity among our students, both within our school community and in the broader world.

Dorian Lane, Belonging Coordinator

Catholic Resources to Combat Racism

 Highlights

In an effort to be more intentional about creating a culture of encounter and belonging, we:

  • Adopted a belonging statement and added it to every student ID tag.
  • Formation of Belonging Committee as a Sub-Committee of the Standards Committee.
  • Increased our diverse staff with the hiring of 3 staff members; High School Dean of Student Life, Hispanic Family Coordinator, and Middle School Counselor.
  • Resources to combat racism provided by the USCCB to students and parents and linked directly to their website.
  • Included a wider range of books in the library, with a focus on promoting books written by authors from diverse backgrounds.
  • Helped our students become more culturally aware by including a greater variety of historical and literary voices.
  • Created an anonymous reporting form placed on the website to report any incidents of bullying.

  • Celebrated Hispanic Heritage Mass during Hispanic Heritage Month with guests from Iglesia Católica San Sebastián. Fr. Rafael was the guest homilist.

  • Celebrated African-American Mass during Black History Month with guests from St. Anthony’s Parish. Fr. Mwape was the guest homilist.

  • Celebrated Asian Heritage Mass in April with guests from Jesus Our Risen Savior with Fr. Liam as the guest homilist.

  • Added a required class on Catholic Social Teaching.

  • The Office of Ethnic Ministries of the Diocese of Charleston led a discussion about Black Catholic History in the U.S. and South Carolina in February.

  • Prioritized professional development for administration and faculty on matters of belonging.

Future Plans

We remain fully committed to addressing racism.  This task is ongoing and cannot be marked as completed or checked off a to-do list.