Page 32 - Alumni Horae: Vol. 93, No. 3 Spring 2013

“In a world that is all-too-often divided by polarization
and a fixed perspective that shuts out communication,
St. Paul’s School must affirm the commitment to model
active engagement with a diversity of perspectives and
beliefs. This commitment to understanding and civil
discourse is most explicitly realized in the programs
of the chaplaincy and the communal spaces where the
School gathers most frequently. We need to actively
emphasize the importance of listening and respect for
others, particularly with regard to those who challenge
our own ideas and perceptions. While we are an Epis-
copal school founded in the eighteenth century, we
continue to live into what it means to be a 21st-century
Episcopal school, committed to the central and enduring
values of our School Prayer and the work of reconciling
and healing differences in pursuit of the common good.”
Parents, it seems, have embraced this open discourse.
Charlotte Scott, mother of Robert Kopf ’13, describes
how she initially drove from New York to Concord on
Easter to accompany her son to Roman Catholic services
away from the School.
“I thought it didn’t count unless we went to a Catholic
church for services,” she says. “Four years later, Chapel
is a very full part of his life and he feels such a part of
that community that the idea of going someplace else
for services is just crazy. I would say that the religious
tradition at St. Paul’s is more about finding and under-
standing based on a passion for truth with respect for
everyone’s personal beliefs.”
Sikh parents Surinder and Minu Saini sent their daugh-
ter Mannat ’09 to St. Paul’s without reservation, noting
that Mannat “learned a lot about other faiths while
becoming more confident in her own faith.” The family
was impressed with the School’s openness to religions
outside of Episcopalianism. Mannat was instrumental
in the planning of India Week in the spring of 2009, dur-
ing which she was invited to share traditions from her
culture and her faith, including leading a Sikh Chapel
service. “It showed her open-mindedness, which was
self-assuring,” says Minu Saini, Mannat’s mother. “It’s
a positive environment where kids can explore their
own religious beliefs.”
But not everyone believes that an Episcopal school
should embrace such openness as a response to a plur-
alistic society. Zach Allen ’56 recalls the days when the
boys of St. Paul’s attended Chapel every day and twice
on Sundays. “What it did, whether we liked it or not,” he
says, “was it grounded us in the traditions of the Epis-
copal Church. It taught us a discipline.”
Allen has remained active in School life as a volunteer,
and in that capacity was a visitor to St. Paul’s for Alumni
Volunteer Weekend in the fall of 2011. At a Chapel service
held for the visitors, Allen was not impressed with the
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