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Happy Feast of Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne!
 
As we anticipate one of the special days of our school year, let us remind ourselves why we celebrate her with such enthusiasm. Among the reasons, I include:           

She is the foundress of our school! She arrived here before Missouri became a state, having left her home, family, country and culture, knowing full well she would never see them again given the arduous and lengthy journey.

She is the foundress of Catholic education in our Archdiocese! She opened the FIRST Catholic school in the St. Louis area, in a little log cabin on these grounds on Sept. 14, 1818.

She is the foundress of the oldest operating school in the St. Louis metropolitan area!

She is the first Religious of the Sacred Heart to open a Sacred Heart school in the United States (we can even say the first in the Western Hemisphere) and is thus considered the foundress of all our educational establishments in the current Network of Sacred Heart Schools in this country.

She is considered one of the pioneer missionaries in the growing 19th century American frontier, and is certainly one of the most famous pioneer missionaries of this Archdiocese. As such she has great historic significance. In fact, her visage is among the bronze busts on display in the Hall of Famous Missourians in the Capital in Jefferson City.

She is currently the only canonized saint in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area and in the State of Missouri!

Additionally, we celebrate our dear Mother Duchesne with such vigor because of her exemplary life. Of her many beautiful and inspirational qualities and characteristics which we celebrate, the following are among them:

Her contemplative example:  Philippine was drawn to spend hours each day in the quiet depths of her prayer. In those hours, Philippine longingly lingered with the One Whom she loved. In this context, over time, God’s Love filled her. Given the hours she spent in prayer, the Native Americans were inspired to call her The-Woman-Who-Prays-Always.

Her unflinching generosity:  Philippine beautifully and exuberantly reflected the Heart of Christ, which is the Love of God, in her work, her efforts and her actions. This is exactly what drew people TO her―especially the children! Stories abound of how the children wanted to be sent to her “when they were naughty.”

Her deep humility:  Apparently Philippine was not aware of HOW MUCH she reflected God’s Love to others. She was so focused on others or on God that she did not dwell on the good she was doing. She only saw the good she wanted to do. And if anything, this caused her heartache, an interior suffering which often came out as self recrimination or self-deprecating comments in her letters! (This is one of the reasons I rarely quote Philippine herself!)

This Academy is so very blessed to be able to claim her as our special, holy foundation stone:

We are blessed by her holy example.

We are blessed by her heavenly intercession.

We are blessed by her ongoing presence among us even to this day.

We have so much to be thankful for and so much to celebrate. May we do so, not only with the exuberance due this historic woman, but, let us celebrate by trying to live lives of prayer, generosity and humility!

Happy Feast of Philippine Duchesne, everyone!

Maureen Glavin, rscj

As I stated at the General PCC meeting, we all agree that we want our children to be kind, compassionate human beings.  We want them to be people who engage in service throughout their lives, helping to make this world a better place.

How do we do that? The BEST way to do that is to simply INVITE our children to “do” things for others. 

Recent examples of activities which have provided our students the opportunity to serve others include:

• Fourth and Fifth Class students have wrapped gifts and bagged candy for an organization called Santa’s Helpers which distributes Christmas gifts to families in need.
  
• Fifth Class students are visiting our elderly friends at Mount Carmel Home monthly.
• Sixth Class students have been going in small groups each month to Sts. Joachim and Ann food pantry.
• Sixth Class students hosted a bake sale to help purchase toys for Sts. Bridget and Theresa Parish in St Louis.
• Seventh Class students have spent a number of Saturday mornings interacting with “young athletes” from Special Olympics here at ASH. In addition, some of these same students are volunteering on additional weekends at other Special Olympics events.
• Eighth Class students have planted, nurtured and harvested their own gardens, the produce from which has been (and is being still) distributed to soup kitchens.
• Plans for Adopt-a-Family in Seventh and Eighth Classes are in progress for Christmas.
• Social Justice Committee members have stayed after school to make pillowcases for children with cancer.
• The whole school community (with the help of the Social Justice Committee) contributed to our Mater Feast Day collection of children’s items for Sts. Joachim and Ann Care Center.

Harnessing and observing the natural generous energy that most children have is supremely satisfying.

Equally satisfying is to observe our students come to the realization that it is as joy-producing to DO something for someone as it is to receive something from someone. 

May the growth continue!

Maureen Glavin, rscj

Dear Parents,

Thank you so much for all of you who attended the General Parent Coordinating Council Meeting this past Tuesday evening. And thank you for the wonderful feedback regarding the evening’s program!

Because the feedback indicated that people seemed to appreciate the presentation, I am going to post the evening’s PowerPoint on the Parent Portal, AND I am going to take the content of the comments and periodically include portions of it in upcoming Thursday Mails.

Let me begin here, today, by outlining my assumptions and my thesis.

Included among my assumptions were three points:

1. We all have common hopes and desires for our children.
2. We have common struggles in the difficult task of helping our children achieve what we hope for their lives (more so today than in previous generations).
3. But, we don’t necessarily have the skill set or the knowledge base to make the right moves at the right time to help our children navigate through childhood in a way which allows them to be the kind of adult we hope and want them to be. In fact, sometimes we do things, as parents and as educators, which we THINK will accomplish our goals for our children, but which are NOT helpful.

Why would we do something which is not helpful to the formation process?

This is my thesis: we do not want our children to suffer. We don’t want them to suffer in the short run OR the long run. But our inability to allow them to suffer in the short run, ultimately does damage to them in the long run.

Allow me to make this point in a slightly different way: we, as adults, are too quick to alleviate what we think will be uncomfortable for our children (frustration, boredom, anxiety, angst).  In doing so, we often take away the golden opportunities which help them develop the capacities and insights which will allow them to be who we ultimately hope/want them to be.

Report card time is a particularly key moment for not rescuing our children. To this point, a grade which might be disappointing can be a springboard into a wonderful, self-reflective conversation.

As you engage in these conversations you might consider the following type of questions:

• What are you most proud of?
• What are you most disappointed about?
• What surprised you? Why?
• What do you want to do differently next quarter in order to achieve your personal best?

Conversation starters which I would not recommend include, “I am so disappointed in you” or “I am so proud of you.” Why? Because when we make statements such as these, the focus is on the adult, not the child. We don’t want our children doing or not doing something BECAUSE it makes US happy or proud or sad or disappointed. A child who does things to please an adult becomes the adolescent who does things to please his or her friends (not something any of us want).

When looking at the character traits (a VERY important aspect of the report card), invite your child into a conversation with questions such as:

• Is this consistent with who you are?
• Is this consistent with who you want to be?
• If not, what do you want to do differently to be the person you want to be?

May these days of conversation, reflection and introspection be helpful in the ongoing process of growth!

Maureen Glavin, rscj