PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE

FIRST ANNUAL DINNER DANCE "CELEBRATING THREE YEARS OF GRACE"

MAY 18, 2008

“It is our privilege, through all the years of this our life, to lead from joy to joy:

For we can so inform the mind that is within us, so impress with quietness and beauty, and so feed with blessed thoughts, that neither evil tongues, rash judgments, nor sneers of selfish people, or greetings where no kindness is, nor all the dreariness of daily life, shall ever prevail against us, or disturb our cheerful faith that all which we behold is full of blessings!”

                                                                                                                                              William Wordsworth

Dear Friends of Holy Child Catholic School,

 We are here this evening to celebrate “Three Years of Grace”!  On January 20, 2005 Father McGuinn, Father McKee and Father Sabatini, along with Mrs. Veneziale, Ms. Lucci and I met to discuss the future of the Manayunk Catholic schools.  In less than two hours, our pastors took a giant leap of faith and decided that Saint Mary of the Asssumption, Saint Lucy and Holy Family schools would merge into a new school named Holy Child Catholic School.  We were so fortunate to welcome many children from Saint Josaphat’s and Saint John The Baptist Schools as well.  Toward the end of that meeting, Father Sabatini said, “May we grow in Wisdom, Age and Grace”!  Thus, we chose our school motto:  “Growing in Wisdom, Age and Grace”.

 The summer of 2005 was one of great anticipation, hard work and sheer faith.  However, at the end of the day, all of it can be attributed to one thing:  GRACE!  When any of us look back on that hot summer, no one could ever imagine that the Manayunk schools could merge in such a brief span of time.  Everything we did that summer, we did on our own.  It was the goodness of our families, the faith and financial investment of our pastors and the dedication of our teachers that Holy Child Catholic School came to life.  We must never forget, however, that it was GRACE that strengthened us.

 When the children arrived in September of 2005, there was much apprehension.  After three years of talking about a new regional school, the children arrived to new surroundings, new teachers, new friends, and new uniforms.  The first day of school, I was interviewed by Amy Buckman of Channel 6 news.  She asked me how I would know the school was a success.  I told her that I would see it in the faces of the children.  By Friday of the first week of school, the children were smiling and beginning to feel at home.  We must never forget, however, that it was GRACE that settled in the hearts of the children.

 We merged faculties from five schools.  Those initial faculty meetings were tenuous at best.  I watched our teachers gravitate toward those they knew from their previous schools.  After many meetings, many lunches, many laughs and many tears, we are now one faculty.  We must never forget, however, that it was GRACE that brought these faculties together.

 It was GRACE that brought us thus far; it will be grace that moves us forward.  So, dear friends, it is most fitting that we celebrate three years of GRACE.  We are ever mindful that the blessings that have come to us are from God and God alone.  While all of us have contributed to the formation of this wonderful school, it is because we cooperated with God’s GRACE.  

 Thank you does not seem fitting enough to express my gratitude to our five pastors:  Father Lewandowski, Father Lyons, Father McGuinn, Father McKee and Father Sabatini.  Thank you will never suffice for the sheer gratitude and admiration I have for a faculty that has stood by me, tolerated my craziness and has always strived for excellence.  Thank you will never be enough to a Home and School Board who worked tirelessly to answer the needs of the School.  Thank you will never be enough to our outstanding parents who always have to hear me say, “I have one more idea!”  Thank you will never be enough to our children who are so resilient and so loving.  However, thank you is all I have to give you from a heart that is so humbled to be part of God’s plan.

 “I know what I am planning for you, “says the Lord.  “I have good plans for you.  I will give you hope and a good future.”

                                                                                                                                    Jeremiah 29:11B

HAPPY FUTURE!

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