Welcome Back and Happy Easter!
While we hope the children enjoyed one extra day of Easter break, the faculty and some of our staff members enjoyed being with 8,000 other Catholic educators from around the country who have descended upon St. Louis for the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) Annual Conference!
A beautiful opening liturgy at the America’s Center was followed by workshop options, a keynote address, an opening ceremony, and opportunities to wander a hall filled with exhibitors displaying educational publications, products or resources.
While these few days have been a wonderfully rich professional development moment for us, it has also been an opportunity for the Society of the Sacred Heart, the Shrine of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne and the Academy of the Sacred Heart to educate others about our local saint—Rose Philippine Duchesne. To that end, the Shrine has a booth on the exhibit hall floor. Handing out “Flat Philippines” (with links to some websites with more thorough resources regarding Philippine’s life, loves and legacy) has become educational, engaging and fun!
Happily, we have been proud of our saint and our school, both of which, on this national stage, were highlighted multiple times: in Archbishop Carlson’s homily, in Archdiocesan Superintendent Kurt Nelson’s opening remarks, and in a video which was shown in the opening ceremony.
Because of St. Philippine, not only is this school on the verge of celebrating 200 years since its foundation, but this Archdiocese is celebrating 200 years of Catholic education and, as Dr. Nelson noted in his opening remarks, every Catholic school west of the Mississippi can participate in the anniversary as we can also celebrate 200 years of Catholic education west of the Mississippi!
We are humbled by our holy and historical heritage!
—Sr. Glavin, rscj
