Reliance on Divine Providence
- God is present and active in our world.
We accept God’s grace and action in our vocation as educators. We remain faithful to God’s will. Very simply, in our heritage, providence represents the presence and activity of God among us. In his manuscript Christian Education, Blessed Basil Moreau said, “Let us not forget that the development of the work entrusted to us depends upon our acceptance of the inspirations of grace and our fidelity in seconding the designs of Divine Providence.” And so we are called to teach young people entrusted to us with God’s help.
Excellence
- Empowering each student to become a lifelong learner
The Holy Cross school experience is characterized by formation and transformation. Development of the whole person is encouraged through a supportive atmosphere of academic excellence, athletic achievement, and a variety of cocurriculars. Hoban empowers each student to mature intellectually and to become a lifelong learner. Blessed Basil Moreau said, “We do not want our students to be ignorant of anything they should know. To this end, we shall avoid no sacrifice. The mind will not be cultivated at the expense of the heart.”
Cultivation of the Heart as Well as the Mind
- Positive values influence knowledge and put it to good use.
“The work of education in the schools of the Congregation has the following goals: the formation of the hearts of young people and the development of a positive response toward religion within them. I have always been convinced that the first duty of any teacher is to produce Christians; society has a greater need for people of values than it has for scholars. Knowledge itself does not bring about positive values, but positive values do influence knowledge and put it to a good use.”
(Moreau, Christian Education 1856)
Inclusiveness
- We value each person and welcome one another
We celebrate our diversity, value each person, and welcome one another with the hospitality of Christ. Blessed Basil Moreau writes in
Christian Education, “It would be a serious mistake to open a school imagining that all the students will be alike in character and conduct. In the group of students given to you there are no two who have the exact same mind and heart. Never forget that all teaching lies in the best approach to an individual student, that all the successes you will find will be in direct proportion to the efforts you have made in this area.”
Discipline
- We challenge each student in mind, spirit and body
Within an orderly learning environment we are committed to challenging each student in mind, spirit, and body. There is an attitude of respect that draws out potential and encourages change and growth. It is based on building relationships more than control. Blessed Basil Moreau said, “In order to influence the minds and hearts of the students, and consequently to lead in school, the teacher needs gentleness.
Without the gentleness of which we have spoken, never, in fact, will you obtain from your students the love of work, application, and good behavior which are the essential conditions for success.”
Option for the Poor
- Our students hold responsibility for the future.
Holy Cross educational ministries strive to enable students to critique society’s values, priorities and hopes in light of the gospel message. We seek to integrate gospel values, Catholic traditions, moral decision-making, sound and challenging pedagogy, and generous community service to facilitate a synthesis of faith and life for our students. As educators with hope to bring, we understand our students hold responsibility for the future and work assiduously to prepare them for this responsibility.
Hope
- We hope for a world where justice and love prevail.
Spes Unica. Our only hope is in the cross of Christ. The Holy Cross Constitutions state: “As disciples of Jesus we stand side by side with all people. Like them we are burdened by the same struggles and beset by the same weaknesses; like them we are made new by the same Lord’s love; like them we hope for a world where justice and love prevail.” This hope we bring comes in serving meals at a soup kitchen, swimming with a mentally challenged child, sharing our faith with students in Mexico, collecting over 47,000 canned goods for the poor. These are lessons of hope for life.
Family
- Guides and companions on the journey of learning and becoming
To be educators in the faith is to walk with our students in their journey as they try to be all that their God calls them to be—to be guides, to be supportive companions on their journey of learning and becoming, and to be supportive of all good people, especially each other, as we accept this blessing and responsibility. It is not a question of the same church, but of the same will, the will to see all that Jesus taught come alive and become vibrant in this community and in this world.
Integrity 
- True education fosters the formation of hearts
“We will place education side by side with instruction. Instruction transmits particular knowledge and skills, while education of the heart fosters the values, attitudes, and behaviors which will use that knowledge and those skills appropriately and productively. The quality which defines the students of a Holy Cross education is the training of the hearts as well as the minds. True education is the formation of the hearts and transforming of values in people.”
(Moreau, Christian Education 1856)
Zeal
- The convictions of our hearts are translated into the actions of our hands
Zeal is a hunger for mission, a passion to continue what Jesus of Nazareth began through His life, teaching, and example. Zeal is that flame of ardent desire that one experiences to make God known, loved and served, and by that to save souls. Zeal is that power, that grace through which the convictions of our hearts are translated into the actions of our hands and directed toward love of others. Zeal takes energy and effort. Zeal is in doing. Zeal responds to the needs of others in generosity and love.