Thank you to all who came out on a hot Saturday morning to help us on our work day at Southwest Early College Campus, and to Catherine and Mark Kuhls who took on the enormous job of organizing our efforts. This was a great day and an important first step for us. I look forward to working with the principal, staff and parents at SWECC to find more ways for us – and others in the community - to welcome the students and work to help them succeed

Some of you have asked why I am urging St. Peter’s to embrace this effort to become involved at Southwest. I believe strongly that this opportunity has been presented to us and that we are uniquely positioned in the community to respond. Certainly we all have an interest in a successful, safe school at Southwest. We live in this neighborhood, our children go to school in this neighborhood, we shop and dine and play in this neighborhood. We also have a strong interest in seeing the Kansas City Public Schools improve.

Most importantly, I want us to seize this opportunity because we are a Catholic parish which extends east to Prospect. We must learn how to be an anchor for the eastern part of our parish as well as the Brookside community. We are a stable, gifted community. We operate our own neighborhood school and surely have experience or expertise to share. I realize this could turn into a huge project over time, but we can start small and take on larger projects over time.

We have a choice to make as the Westport High students begin attending SWECC. We can resist the change or we can welcome this opportunity to be a good neighbor and work for an outcome that is better for everyone involved. I believe that in ten years we will look back at the effort that we’ve begun this month, and see tangible, positive effects at SWECC, in our neighborhoods and in our parish community.

God bless you,
Father Steve