Dear Families,
Our school continues to gather national attention, and most recently, even some international attention. A school leader from Australia emailed me just yesterday asking to visit us during May. Our school was also spotlighted in a publication from the NCEA entitled, "Your School's Catholic Identity". Although I have yet to read it, it is my understanding that the report is primarily based on an interview with a former high school student. I find this most humbling since sitting in my position, I can see where there are opportunities for improvement.
At a conference a coupl...
Read More
Dear Families,
Data often overwhelm us. There are infinite ways to measure anything and everything.
Anyone with an infant knows this truth. Each visit to the pediatrician yields endless measures and metrics: percentiles for weight, height, and head circumference. Behavioral measures: at what day and month did your child sit up, stand up, walk, grasp objects with one hand?
Any institution or business has an equal number of metrics and feedback loops: customer satisfaction, increase in profits, decrease in expenditures, growth in distribution, and more.
And then there are schools. There are nor...
Read MoreDear Families,
This week we had a couple of families visit our school discerning whether or not to move here to join our school community. I can tell you this is not uncommon. I try not to be a salesman nor overly haughty about what we do here. That is no easy feat. But as I reflect on some of the idioms that continually come out of my mouth, I always wonder how true they are.
Common questions we field are: Why is this school thriving? What is the long term sustainability? Why do families choose us over other schools? Where do you think the school needs to improve? --- gosh, these are hard qu...
Read More
Grade 6
Headmaster’s List: Francis Fryckowski
High Honors: Matthew Bissah
Honors: John Breisch, Jurgen Gannon, Taylor Goodspeed, Blaise McMenaman, Grace Parige
Grade 7
Headmaster’s List: Dominic Dorman, Luke Moorehouse
High Honors: Melody Heacock
Honors: Amelia Caravan, Nora Walsh
Grade 8
Headmaster’s List: Joshua Bissah, Lauren Dustin, Brennan Walsh
Honors: Peter Hogan, Katherine McMenaman
Grade 9
Headmaster’s List: Nonah Dowsett, Luke Kalpakgian, Anya Moorehouse, Julia Stout, Annemarie Sweet
Honors: Alice Breisch, Dylon Bugbee, Brian Heacock, Susan Kanu, Maryrose McL...
Read More
The attack on human life and the family goes all the way back to the beginning. When the “father of lies” led Adam and Eve to question our true Father’s warning, he was attacking the fundamental truth that we are created for life and family. Death was the result of that first sin and it remains true to this day.
Life requires faith. Faith is trust in our loving Father and His guidance despite whatever fears we face in the moment. The truth is there is no threat or danger or hopeless moment that cannot be faced with love. Love for the life we are given and the lives we are entrusted with is th...
Read More
Dear Families,
Tomorrow morning, before most of us have even had our first cup of coffee, our high school students-- and several brave chaperones-- will be boarding a bus for the long drive to Washington, DC. Each year we march in solidarity with those who believe in the sanctity of life-- all life. We march to remind people that in America, sadly, those most vulnerable among us, are most in danger. While speaking at a National Prayer Breakfast in February 1994 Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta spoke the following words:
“...I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, becau...
Read MoreDear Families,
I am fairly confident that anyone who knows too much about me and my personal quirks would speculate that this month's virtue is a favorite of mine. If so, you are on to something. My wife and children would attest to it as well; as soon as I get home, I morph into a drill sergeant of sorts summoning the children to pick up after themselves. I do not purport to enjoy this part of my personality, because if it becomes disordered in any way it can be destructive. There is a right and a wrong way to politely ask someone to pick up and prepare their own belongings.
Orderliness is th...
Read More
Dear Families,
The world is increasingly full of information and advice, facts and figures. Everywhere you turn the tv, radio, newspaper, and more continually spout an endless cacophony of information pertaining to…. everything! It is overwhelming to listen to, and maddening to figure out what we are supposed to do.
Which is why it is good to remember God’s advice: "Be still and know that I am" (Psalm 46:10). Or that in quiet His voice is found: "...but the Lord was not in the earthquake… but the Lord was not in the fire…” (1 Kings 19:11-13). We only need to look inward to know what to do. ...
Read More
Dear Families, Faculty, and Friends,
The Christmas season has only just begun! I find it very fitting that the Christmas season is filled with so many feasts and solemnities. While the secular world deliberates what type of resolutions can be made at the turn of the calendar year, our liturgical calendar points us to the truest type of resolution: the resolution to accept the gift of life and mission from God, evident in the lives of these Christmas saints. This is not a once a year type of change, but instead the transformation of living a life of meaning that resolves to live each day bette...
Read More
Dear Families,
The season of Advent inspires us to be awed by simplicity. God's power is not evident in where we perceive it to be; I think of so many prayer intentions offered that have yet to be answered. Much like the people of Israel who were awaiting their preconceived politically messianic figure, I find my own prayer intentions outside of God's plan in the here and now.
This makes me ponder, what are we to do with the here and now then? The Church speaks to us on this occasion the words of St. Leo the Great. In his homily we come across a very famous exhortation. Perhaps the greatest ...
Read More