I am spellbound reading your story. I am awed by the strength of your faith.
People will not understand the depth of your anguish unless they had gone through a similar suffering. This is also where our perception of our limitations and boundaries are stretched and defined, and ability to see from new kind of eyes to see reality.
Hello Mr Barker. Yours is a story which LifeSiteNews would very likely wish to publish and if you would like to tell it yourself, do get in touch. Frankwrighter@pm.me
A.J., this was an excellent read. It also is a stark reminder that even the Catholic schools are not a safe bet for my children (which gives me great sorrow to write) - given that views like yours, which align largely with my own, aren't even safe to hold.
I pray that God grants you, your wife, and your children some peace and eyes for the beauty that will undoubtedly unfold as a result of this travesty.
I think the answer of the Church is the same as it's always been: if many of us align with these views (as I too believe do), and they are of God, we will be able to spring up institutions around it within our Church and they will bear fruits not only for us, but for those estranged in our modern world seeking a more meaningful way of life. That's what this faith/this understanding did for me 🙏
It seems evident, at least to me, that the modernist views that underpin the beliefs of your persecutors, cannot be of God. Keep using your voice and those ideas will prevail in the long run. Keep your head up, brother.
"Desires for vengeance, for self-justification, for glory, and personal enrichment. Major blows were leveled at my marriage: disgust, doubt, cynicism, anger. This fueled the desire for vengeance even more, for self-justification, for self-aggrandizement."
I am deeply sorry, my brother. I too struggle with the desire for revenge. I have gone through similar experiences in life as you. I sometimes think the Lord has planned our chastisements from long before. Praise His Holy name, forever.
I salute you for acting valiantly during this trial. I only hope I would do the same in such a predicament.
The spiritual warfare has reached a very high pitch, and you likely got on the enemy's radar. He often acts through unwitting vessels. May God rebuke him and cast him out of our Catholic institutions, which have sadly been captured.
"Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."
You are very admirabile person with great achievements behind you.
We are of similar age, but from my perspective, you have invested your talents much better than I have, and so I have a great respect for your principaled (pun unintended) actions.
I am sorry that you have to endure such intensive difficulty, but on the other hand, happy for you that Lord takes you as a serious partner.
Will have you and your family in our family prayers.
Take solace in that you live a Biblical archetypal struggle:
PS 27:
10 Though my father and mother forsake me, Yahweh will gather me up.
11 Yahweh, teach me your way, lead me on the path of integrity because of my enemies;
12 do not abandon me to the will of my foes -- false witnesses have risen against me, and are breathing out violence.
13 This I believe: I shall see the goodness of Yahweh, in the land of the living.
14 Put your hope in Yahweh, be strong, let your heart be bold, put your hope in Yahweh.
Mr Barker - your article was beautiful- and sad - it speaks to the situation in the Church at the moment where mouthy and shouty parishioners boss the priests around and re-shape the Church into something that makes them comfortable. I’m reluctant to assume - but you might be TLM? If so, it is an empirical example of the reason that the generation who vandalised the churches want to crush it- it leads to the Truth. Your Faith will carry you through - it was quite enlightening to read your journey through your persecution. You have courage and integrity and a loving wife - that’s all you need in life.
I read the first few lines of the article and was as shocked by the news as if I was hearing it from a close friend or family member. I listen to AJ on podcasts often and really enjoy his takes. Terrible situation for AJ and his family, terrible loss for what the school could have been. Praying for quick resolutions to your current woes.
This was moving to read. Your humility is especially striking, when there's all temptation not to have any in this awful situation. I will pray for you and your family.
I'm trying to help bring Catechesis of the Good Shepherd to a Diocesan Catholic school, and though we're a few months in and the children have such peace in the Atrium and we have full support of the pastor, the Diocesan school office is battling hard against having CGS in the school. On the other hand, my daughter's school, a private Catholic non-diocesan school which a bunch of Catholic homeschoolers made themselves, has had CGS for five years. They immediately changed their whole school schedule to allow for two hour Atrium sessions and to add Adoration into the school week starting in preschool.
Have you heard of the network of Chesterton Academy High Schools? They are private Catholic schools. I think you may find many friends among the people sacrificing to make Chesterton Academies exist.
It's great that you have an Atrium that has been going for five years!
You may want to consider letting the Diocese do what it wants to do, preserving your program as a living alternative, a witness, that delivers results that the diocesan program will never deliver.
The Chesterton curriculum looks very good! Thanks for that reference.
I'm sorry you had to go through this Mr Barker. It sounds like a terrible ordeal but one you are working your way through with some grace. I wish you only the best.
In that light I tentatively offer this advice. I don't know all of the details of this incident so please ignore what may be presumption on my part. It's clear that there is something going on in our country. Intolerance to views outside what we might call the liberal sphere have been growing for some time. "Cancel culture" and the culture of vitriol have taken ahold of far too many. Wisdom is rare. Perhaps it always was but this era seems particularly benighted.
That said, perhaps a gentler approach might serve more effective when dealing with a school community such as the one you have essentially been cast out of. Sport is a hierarchy. I know because I was an athlete as a young man. There is a coach, a team captain, perhaps an assistant and the team follows their orders. It's akin to the military in many ways.
A school community has concerned (often over-concerned) parents, a teaching staff, administrators and students. It has a hierarchy of sorts but is more like a complex ecosystem - very different from sport or the military. Many voices have to work in harmony to make a school work. Perhaps in future you might keep that in mind and take a slower, gentler approach.
From your description it sounds like you made many changes immediately without getting to know the community before you began. As a principal your job is political as well. Getting to know the people who participate in such a complex community - and giving them a chance to get to know you - is vital to effectively carry out your vision. I understand your desire to lead decisively but within a school community that approach can be counterproductive and lead to intense reactions such as what you experienced.
I am not familiar with the podcast you went on but guilt by association has become all too common these days. It's not clear whether the podcasts or the changes at school were decisive but clearly some didn't like the changes and the podcasts were used as additional fuel, or vice-versa.
When something goes wrong at work, and it happens more often than I'd like, I try to consider my role in the bad outcome and strive to improve my performance. Oftentimes that means improving communication and dialog with my coworkers or subordinates. I find that more productive communication often resolves issues before they become errors. In your meditations about what occurred - and again you have my empathy, many of us have been through simliar incidents at one point or another - I hope what I wrote is helpful to you.
You are a lucky man to have the most important things in life - a loving, devoted wife and children. The best of luck to you.
In the first experience, I wasn’t the boss, I was the gofer. There were expectations on me that I didn’t meet but at the same time, I was being sabotaged unknowingly until someone who supported me made me aware. I don’t know why I was singled out but I have my suspicions. In both experiences, I know I wouldn’t be true to my Catholic Faith. I don’t know if I’m glad it all happened.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I have a similar experience but not the same. I understand what you’ve been through but I admire your insight which I didn’t have when I lived it and after that. The interesting part is I experienced it twice and I questioned who I was, I didn’t think it was God’s way of teaching me some deep truths. I knew I had my flaws and I didn’t know how to maneuver through them. As you related, you knew that you might get fired but you hoped not. That’s exactly what I felt, too. Indeed, I realized that some of the things I tried to implement which was to streamline the work of everyone was causing people anger and they all banded together against me. I rocked the boat and they didn’t like it or understood the change. Like you said, I did it too fast, too soon. This was the second experience.
If you could tell me where, or in what way, and it tracks, I could try to fix it. If not this is an unjust accusation and I'd encourage you to repent, stop doing this to whoever you are compelled to do this toward, and get right with the Lord.
I ask people to subscribe to a service that I offer--my works on substack. I actually didn't set up a donation page for that specific reason. You just outted yourself.
I am spellbound reading your story. I am awed by the strength of your faith.
People will not understand the depth of your anguish unless they had gone through a similar suffering. This is also where our perception of our limitations and boundaries are stretched and defined, and ability to see from new kind of eyes to see reality.
We are brothers in Christ.
Thank you. You have no idea how much consolation your comment gives me. May God bless you and your faith. 🙏
Hello Mr Barker. Yours is a story which LifeSiteNews would very likely wish to publish and if you would like to tell it yourself, do get in touch. Frankwrighter@pm.me
You can see my work for LifeSite here.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/author/frank-wright/
A.J., this was an excellent read. It also is a stark reminder that even the Catholic schools are not a safe bet for my children (which gives me great sorrow to write) - given that views like yours, which align largely with my own, aren't even safe to hold.
I pray that God grants you, your wife, and your children some peace and eyes for the beauty that will undoubtedly unfold as a result of this travesty.
Thank you, Luke. These are such generous words.
I think the answer of the Church is the same as it's always been: if many of us align with these views (as I too believe do), and they are of God, we will be able to spring up institutions around it within our Church and they will bear fruits not only for us, but for those estranged in our modern world seeking a more meaningful way of life. That's what this faith/this understanding did for me 🙏
It seems evident, at least to me, that the modernist views that underpin the beliefs of your persecutors, cannot be of God. Keep using your voice and those ideas will prevail in the long run. Keep your head up, brother.
"Desires for vengeance, for self-justification, for glory, and personal enrichment. Major blows were leveled at my marriage: disgust, doubt, cynicism, anger. This fueled the desire for vengeance even more, for self-justification, for self-aggrandizement."
I am deeply sorry, my brother. I too struggle with the desire for revenge. I have gone through similar experiences in life as you. I sometimes think the Lord has planned our chastisements from long before. Praise His Holy name, forever.
I salute you for acting valiantly during this trial. I only hope I would do the same in such a predicament.
The spiritual warfare has reached a very high pitch, and you likely got on the enemy's radar. He often acts through unwitting vessels. May God rebuke him and cast him out of our Catholic institutions, which have sadly been captured.
"Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."
I will be praying for you.
You are very admirabile person with great achievements behind you.
We are of similar age, but from my perspective, you have invested your talents much better than I have, and so I have a great respect for your principaled (pun unintended) actions.
I am sorry that you have to endure such intensive difficulty, but on the other hand, happy for you that Lord takes you as a serious partner.
Will have you and your family in our family prayers.
Take solace in that you live a Biblical archetypal struggle:
PS 27:
10 Though my father and mother forsake me, Yahweh will gather me up.
11 Yahweh, teach me your way, lead me on the path of integrity because of my enemies;
12 do not abandon me to the will of my foes -- false witnesses have risen against me, and are breathing out violence.
13 This I believe: I shall see the goodness of Yahweh, in the land of the living.
14 Put your hope in Yahweh, be strong, let your heart be bold, put your hope in Yahweh.
Mr Barker - your article was beautiful- and sad - it speaks to the situation in the Church at the moment where mouthy and shouty parishioners boss the priests around and re-shape the Church into something that makes them comfortable. I’m reluctant to assume - but you might be TLM? If so, it is an empirical example of the reason that the generation who vandalised the churches want to crush it- it leads to the Truth. Your Faith will carry you through - it was quite enlightening to read your journey through your persecution. You have courage and integrity and a loving wife - that’s all you need in life.
Seems like lots of faithful people are in "scary" places. Godspeed.
You've got a great wife. She's all ruby.
This is the best i have read so far. Inspired. Moved. All in one article, the life, Love for Lord. Keep up the good fight brother.
✝ Psalm 134:3
"Praise ye the Lord, for the Lord is good: sing ye to his name, for it is sweet."
I read the first few lines of the article and was as shocked by the news as if I was hearing it from a close friend or family member. I listen to AJ on podcasts often and really enjoy his takes. Terrible situation for AJ and his family, terrible loss for what the school could have been. Praying for quick resolutions to your current woes.
God bless you!
This was moving to read. Your humility is especially striking, when there's all temptation not to have any in this awful situation. I will pray for you and your family.
I'm trying to help bring Catechesis of the Good Shepherd to a Diocesan Catholic school, and though we're a few months in and the children have such peace in the Atrium and we have full support of the pastor, the Diocesan school office is battling hard against having CGS in the school. On the other hand, my daughter's school, a private Catholic non-diocesan school which a bunch of Catholic homeschoolers made themselves, has had CGS for five years. They immediately changed their whole school schedule to allow for two hour Atrium sessions and to add Adoration into the school week starting in preschool.
Have you heard of the network of Chesterton Academy High Schools? They are private Catholic schools. I think you may find many friends among the people sacrificing to make Chesterton Academies exist.
God bless you.
It's great that you have an Atrium that has been going for five years!
You may want to consider letting the Diocese do what it wants to do, preserving your program as a living alternative, a witness, that delivers results that the diocesan program will never deliver.
The Chesterton curriculum looks very good! Thanks for that reference.
I'm sorry you had to go through this Mr Barker. It sounds like a terrible ordeal but one you are working your way through with some grace. I wish you only the best.
In that light I tentatively offer this advice. I don't know all of the details of this incident so please ignore what may be presumption on my part. It's clear that there is something going on in our country. Intolerance to views outside what we might call the liberal sphere have been growing for some time. "Cancel culture" and the culture of vitriol have taken ahold of far too many. Wisdom is rare. Perhaps it always was but this era seems particularly benighted.
That said, perhaps a gentler approach might serve more effective when dealing with a school community such as the one you have essentially been cast out of. Sport is a hierarchy. I know because I was an athlete as a young man. There is a coach, a team captain, perhaps an assistant and the team follows their orders. It's akin to the military in many ways.
A school community has concerned (often over-concerned) parents, a teaching staff, administrators and students. It has a hierarchy of sorts but is more like a complex ecosystem - very different from sport or the military. Many voices have to work in harmony to make a school work. Perhaps in future you might keep that in mind and take a slower, gentler approach.
From your description it sounds like you made many changes immediately without getting to know the community before you began. As a principal your job is political as well. Getting to know the people who participate in such a complex community - and giving them a chance to get to know you - is vital to effectively carry out your vision. I understand your desire to lead decisively but within a school community that approach can be counterproductive and lead to intense reactions such as what you experienced.
I am not familiar with the podcast you went on but guilt by association has become all too common these days. It's not clear whether the podcasts or the changes at school were decisive but clearly some didn't like the changes and the podcasts were used as additional fuel, or vice-versa.
When something goes wrong at work, and it happens more often than I'd like, I try to consider my role in the bad outcome and strive to improve my performance. Oftentimes that means improving communication and dialog with my coworkers or subordinates. I find that more productive communication often resolves issues before they become errors. In your meditations about what occurred - and again you have my empathy, many of us have been through simliar incidents at one point or another - I hope what I wrote is helpful to you.
You are a lucky man to have the most important things in life - a loving, devoted wife and children. The best of luck to you.
I have a different intuition toward leadership--but I recognize the sincerity in your comment, so thank you. 🙏
I listened to the podcast.
I am a fan of AJ, and everything HE said was on point.
It's unfair that they would fire AJ for something he did not even say.
It is a difficult time to be Catholic for real, which is why we must be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves."
What did they say they fired you for precisely?
In the first experience, I wasn’t the boss, I was the gofer. There were expectations on me that I didn’t meet but at the same time, I was being sabotaged unknowingly until someone who supported me made me aware. I don’t know why I was singled out but I have my suspicions. In both experiences, I know I wouldn’t be true to my Catholic Faith. I don’t know if I’m glad it all happened.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I have a similar experience but not the same. I understand what you’ve been through but I admire your insight which I didn’t have when I lived it and after that. The interesting part is I experienced it twice and I questioned who I was, I didn’t think it was God’s way of teaching me some deep truths. I knew I had my flaws and I didn’t know how to maneuver through them. As you related, you knew that you might get fired but you hoped not. That’s exactly what I felt, too. Indeed, I realized that some of the things I tried to implement which was to streamline the work of everyone was causing people anger and they all banded together against me. I rocked the boat and they didn’t like it or understood the change. Like you said, I did it too fast, too soon. This was the second experience.
Time to update your bio. I read it and all I see is vanity.
If you could tell me where, or in what way, and it tracks, I could try to fix it. If not this is an unjust accusation and I'd encourage you to repent, stop doing this to whoever you are compelled to do this toward, and get right with the Lord.
A.J. is the opposite of vain. He has accepted this suffering with humility, joy, and trust in the Lord. Please try to show him some of the
Christlike charity that he so eloquently describes
This is very generous of you to say, Roger. Thank you 🙏
Christlike charity would be seeking donations for others, not oneself.
I ask people to subscribe to a service that I offer--my works on substack. I actually didn't set up a donation page for that specific reason. You just outted yourself.