2013-Spring-DU-Magazine

around, yet for Weaver the gathering had meaning
beyond addressing issues of educational injustice. Strong
communities as well as community service, she explains,
depend on the willingness to listen and collaborate, a
willingness that she calls a “uniquely Spiritan” approach.
Community leaders echoed the wisdom of that approach
when they gathered for the closing dialogue of the series in
the Africa Room of the Duquesne Union on April 2.
“It’s easier to talk about what to do with abandoned
structures than it is to talk about human development,”
observes Paul Abernathy, director of Focus Pittsburgh, a
Christian service organization. Asserting that by ignoring
human development we are hobbling our chances to
achieve lasting improvement, he called the Community
Trauma event in the Rice on the Road series, at which he was
a panelist, a “milestone for our community” because it
“gave us a chance to discuss the issues that destroy us at
our core, the matters of the heart that require a great deal
of healing.”
Pastor Tim Smith of Center of Life Church, a panelist
in the Hazelwood event, lauds Duquesne and Rice on
the Road for adopting a people-centered approach to
problem solving. Referring to a foundational value of
the Spiritans—of growing and learning with people in
a community in order to achieve social justice in that
community—he points out that, “It’s almost like we
have to get back to something basic so that we can move
forward.”
Exemplifying the Spiritan ideal of treating those we
wish to serve as partners and collaborators was one of
the primary goals that Weaver hoped Rice on the Road
could achieve, not simply for the sake of effective problem
solving but because it is the approach that promises
personal and spiritual growth for all concerned.
“We live in a world where acts of charity can be done
from a distance, sometimes just by clicking [a mouse], but
that is no substitute for being in relationships with others,”
says Weaver. “Being in a relationship is where the real
possibility for transformation occurs.”
RICE oN ThE RoAD
“It’s almost like we
have to get back to
something basic so
that we can move
forward.”
–Pastor Tim Smith
www.duq.edu 21