My Child Went to a Muslim School

Our home school co-op was looking for space to rent. There had been several reiterations and reinventions of real estate that I’m not sure where this location fell in the chronology of her education. It was pre-9/11.

The space had formerly been a girls Catholic high school with an attached convent—so it occupies a huge footprint in the Lakeview neighborhood. And, because it was designed by a FL Wright apprentice it received Landmark status. Thus, it couldn’t be torn down—though today it would have been turned into condos.

There wasn’t much the Catholic hierarchy could do with the building—it was designed to be a school. So parts of it were rented out—to our home school collective and to a burgeoning French school, and to the Muslims. Of the three—only the American Islamic College continues to inhabit the space. They might actually own it.

This reminds me of the Temple of Minerva in Assisi which now is the church home of Santa Maria. Archeology is full of stories of one culture/religion/civilization building on top of the other. It’s why in ancient cities such as London and Rome city managers find it hard to build new subway tracks because they keep discovering another layer of who they once were.

Anyway, after the recent attacks in New Zealand the fact hit home—that if my child still attended classes at that location she’d be in danger—not that schools are the safest places these days. Just more in danger. Just like the Jewish school I walk past on Broadway is built like a compound and employs security. I often see armed guards around Jewish institutions.

I could empathize with the victims of the attack in Christchurch without making it personal—but it did feel personal. I was reminded that my child attended a Muslim school and it could have been my child targeted, my faith under attack.

It wasn’t; I was thousands of miles away. Nevertheless, it hit home. What a crazy, crazy world this is.