Welcome to the 2013-2014 school year!
This morning’s first day with our Primary friends added nothing but joy to what was already a beautiful beginning of a year of love and learning. Lots of happy faces (both children’s and adults’) are lighting up our hallowed halls.
Just to provide for you a taste of our day yesterday, besides learning procedures and reviewing routines, our students got acquainted with their teachers, spaces and schedules. Additionally, I had the pleasure of welcoming everyone back (or for the first time) when we met with the whole school community in Rauch Memorial Gym for an opening of the school year prayer assembly.
In the spirit of Sacred Heart education, we launched the assembly by learning some information about Janet Erskine Stuart, rscj. You may be interested to know that the Sacred Heart family worldwide is celebrating the centenary of Mother Stuart’s death throughout the course of this school year. Interestingly, two schools in our Network are named after her: Stuart Country Day School in Princeton, N.J., and Stuart Hall, the high school for boys which is part of Schools of the Sacred Heart, San Francisco. Though we are not named after Mother Stuart, one of our buildings is― the Stuart Center, adjoining the library and home of our Seventh and Eighth Class students. We feel a special connection to Mother Stuart because in 1898 she visited St. Charles in order to begin collecting materials for Mother Duchesne’s canonization process.
So, with Philippine Duchesne, Madeleine Sophie Barat, Janet Erskine Stuart, and Anna Mae Marheineke*, I place this year, our students, our faculty, our staff and our parents in the Hands and Heart of God:
May the courage and fervor of Philippine
fill each of our souls.
May the clarity and wisdom of Sophie
fill each of our minds.
May the earnest pursuit of truth and beauty of Janet
fill each of our hearts.
And, may the passion for the education of children of Anna Mae
fill our classrooms and offices and hallways.
Let this be our prayer for this school year, with a joyful and heartfelt AMEN!
Again, welcome back with affection and joy,
Maureen Glavin, rscj
