Editor’s Note: The following is the text of a speech given by Michael Baillargeon to the trustees of the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) prior to their election of a chair and vice-chair at their meeting on Wednesday December 09, 2009. It is shared here with his permission.

December 14, 2009 (Catholic education, Catholic schools)

During the past 20 years and in more recent months I have had the privilege to work with trustees who have lived up to their vocation and mission. Over the past eighteen months or so I have also experienced the cooperation and support described by the Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, extended to me by an important part of the TCDSB’s proud Catholic community. I can honestly say that without the constant physical, personal and emotional support and encouragement of a cast of hundreds including; parents, former trustees, members of our religious community, stakeholders, retired, principals, vice-principals, teachers and supervisory officers of the board, along with many of my personal friends and family, I would have long given up any role I may be playing in addressing problems this board is experiencing. Make no mistake, I do not stand here alone and never have. I can assure you that what I have said in the past and am about to say now has the committed support of these people, all of who are vitally concerned about the survival, reputation, commitment and well being of the TCDSB in carrying out its mission of Catholic education.

I am here this evening as a representative of these dedicated Catholic school supporters of the TCDSB. I was educated in the Catholic school system as was my wife and two children. I believe with all my heart in the close partnership of the priest, parent, teacher, and trustee in carrying out the mission of the Church in the education of the children under their care. Like you, the trustee, I am one of the partners. I am aware of my responsibility as outlined in the Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education’s publication “The Catholic School.” I quote:

“The Catholic school … is a genuine community bent on imparting, over and above an academic education, all the help it can to its members to adopt a Christian way of life. … A policy of working for the common good is undertaken seriously as working for the building up of the Kingdom of God. The cooperation required for the realization of this aim is a duty for all the members of the community – teachers, parents, pupils, administrative personnel and trustees.”

Hopefully all trustees understand this mission statement. The OCSTA publication, “Catholic Trustees, Advocates, Stewards and Guardians of Catholic Education” states that trustees “recognize their vocational call to trusteeship as a ministry of service within the Church” and “serve as role models by the way they conduct themselves individually and collectively in their educational vocation and ministry.”

That same OCSTA publication also states that trustees should hold sacred “know and celebrate the long and distinguished history of Catholic education in Ontario.” Dr. Robert Dixon was commissioned by this very group of trustees to chronicle this history in regards to our board. It is a history of trustee dedication in the face of financial, legal and personal hardship and other significant obstacles over 150 years. It is my sincere hope that when it is time to write the next chapter in our board’s history, that the troubles endured over the last two years represent only a temporary and untypical blip in this boards history and that the present dysfunctional climate will have ceased to play a role with tonight’s vote. We all pray that you, our trustees, will through renewed dedication, steadfastness, unity and good example be restored once again to a position of trust and confidence all while garnering a leadership role acting for the greater good and for the benefit of Catholic education and our precious Toronto Catholic community?

Tonight’s meeting is surely a defining moment in this board’s history and could be a significant turning point heralding a great future for the TCDSB. Trustees, in carrying out their sacred job, are entrusted to guide the children in their care to learn about God and to do this they must work to unite home, school and parish. This is the commission which you received in Baptism, the gifts of the Holy Spirit which were later reinforced through Confirmation. This unity is essential for the good of the system. Wonderful good can result can emerge from this crisis. We can yet achieve a good result if we are willing, all of us, to let the Holy Spirit work.

This is also your defining moment. This is your opportunity for a fresh start, a rebirth, a new springtime so to speak. How you are remembered, how this group of trustees is judged and how this chapter in the TCDSB’s long history is finally written is in your hands. As trustees it is your responsibility to act in the board’s best interest and for some of you that may mean putting personal feelings and interests aside or require you to disappoint a friend and colleague. You must do the right thing. You have an obligation, a responsibility, to elect TCDSB’s new leadership on the basis of those fundamental Catholic/Christian values that govern us all. Remember your Baptism and Confirmation and please, in the name of the Holy Spirit, I beg you, don’t again let our Catholic community or education down.

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