This
weekend I would like to share about education in our area. In my own life, learning has been an
important part of each day. Both
of my parents taught public school in McGregor, Minnesota for over thirty
years. Inspired by their
profession, I completed my Bachelor’s degree and teaching license from The
College of St. Scholastica, Duluth to become a high school math teacher. Education is essential. Receiving a high quality education from
caring teachers in my formative years was an immense blessing.
We, too, in the North Country have
much to be grateful for. As I said
during the Mass at our Catholic School Week celebration, you, dear teachers (as
well as administrative, coaches, helpers, volunteers, etc.): you are awesome. St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Columban
churches have several teachers that work here at St. Thomas Aquinas, as well as
Falls, Littlefork-Big Falls and Indus schools. Praise God for the vocation of teaching in your life! You are a blessing to the children of
our area, and your expertise in education gives glory to God. Let us continuously raise grateful
hearts to Jesus, the best teacher, ask his continued blessing upon our
community schools.
As
I write these, a crucial belief of our Catholic Church is that the parents must
be the best teachers of their children.
This is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “Education in the faith by the parents
should begin in the child’s earliest years. This already happens when family members help one another to
grow in faith by the witness of a Christian life in keeping with the Gospel”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church #2226).
As you parents determine how your children are educated—whether within public
or private institutions, or if you choose to home school, seek God with prayer. As
your pastor, I would like to share few points of pride that our Catholic school
at St. Thomas Aquinas offers:
1.)
Jesus
Christ: I often use the verse
over and over about children: “Jesus said,
‘Let the children come to me…’” (Matthew 19:14a). Jesus Christ taught while he was
on earth. He has been the best
teacher of humanity. Period. Now, through his Church and parochial
schools around the world Jesus continues to teach through his brothers and
sisters in Baptism. Any good that
comes from a Catholic education is through his grace (and our cooperation with
his abundant grace).
2.)
Faith: In addition to designated religion
classes, students of St. Thomas Aquinas are able to translate the head
knowledge of the faith into heart knowledge. Through Jesus Christ, the children learn to pray well and to
pray with His heart. Our children
pray several times each day in class, before lunch, before the end of the day, when
they hear sirens of emergency response vehicles passing by the school. Most importantly, the Mass, the
greatest of prayers, is celebrated at least once a week. Prayer is a reflexive and authentic way
of life for the students of St. Thomas Aquinas.
3.)
No Bullying: As a big issue in all schools, we
believe that bullying must be cut out.
The way we do it at St. Thomas Aquinas is by focusing on the dignity of
each person. By helping children
learn about their dignity and the dignity of each other as sons and daughters
of God, lessons from the Bible are given an immediate and practical
application. Our children learning
about sin, forgiveness and love are necessity from our school.
4.)
Pre-School will be free next year: We, too,
would enjoy more children at St. Thomas Aquinas. Our pre-school will be especially for our members of our
Catholic church, as well as families who have already have children here for
school. As we would like many
families for children of pre-school we will be setting our maximum of a single
teacher.
5.)
Alumni
relations: We are proud of our
school, and recognize that generations of students have gone on to do wonderful
things in their lives and communities.
We are working through an idea to bring our alumni to help St. Thomas
Aquinas School as well. We will
continue to work hard to get our school family back together! As we work on improving our alumni
network here are some questions for you to pray about: Are there families,
friends or coworkers you can invite to check out our school? Do you know people who would like to
visit the school to check out pre-school or another grade? Do you have any other ideas that I, as
well as our principal would love to hear?
We give God praise and thanks for
the good work he has begun at St. Thomas Aquinas School. Please continue to pray for all
involved in continuing a tradition of academic excellence while forming the
hearts of our children to live as intentional disciples of Jesus.
God Bless!
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