Back To School We Go

Kirsten Shrewsberry, Editor and Diocesan Director of PR

I Love The Potential Of A New School

YEAR. Fresh notebooks, sharpened pencils, markers that haven’t dried out from losing their caps in the chaos of heading to lunch, it all makes me feel hopeful and idealistic about the year to come.

Growing up I was fortunate to attend some pretty incredible schools, but I never had the opportunity to attend Catholic school. As soon as my son was old enough, we enrolled him in K3 at St. Joseph Catholic School to give him the lifelong gift of a Catholic education. It’s been such a blessing to see the way Catholic schools are uniquely qualified to raise students to be virtuous and teach them to strive for sainthood.

This year I’m excited for the new backpacks, the markers that still have all their colors (and caps) in the set, but I’m most excited for the new opportunities to grow closer to Christ. I’m excited for each and every one of us to reinvigorate ourselves with the excitement of the opportunity to deepen our understanding of the Faith.

Inside this month’s Catholic Connection , you’ll see a lot of exciting news from our Diocese and hear from many different contributors on their tales on back to school. Whether it’s highlighting one of our incredible Diocesan Catholic schools or hearing from our seminarians as they prepare to head back to school, this month we’re so excited to talk all things back to school!

Whether you’re going back to school yourself, or you’re helping your niece, nephew, children, or grandchildren prepare for back to school, I hope this new school year brings new renewal and fresh joy into your life.

Happy back to school season. Please join me in praying for all of those who will be returning to school this fall - whether to learn, to teach, or to help facilitate in any way. We are so grateful for this season.

I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED THE SUMMERTIME. Ever since childhood when school closed, and family visits to the “shore,” (the Atlantic Ocean), summer always felt like a breath of fresh air from the frenetic activity of the rest of the year. Looking back on summers as a child, we were given two months to transition from one school year to the next and enjoy a sense of freedom we had longed for.

As I grew older, especially in my priesthood, I discovered the summertime as a time of spiritual refreshment, a time of retreat, and a time to anticipate new days to come. For most of my priesthood, summertime included a spiritual retreat at a monastery, and a renewal of spirit with ample time for prayer and “things of God.” There was more time to pray, to ponder what God had in mind for me, and ample time to relax.

One of the things my parents reminded me of with the onset of summer was that there was “no vacation from our vocation,” a lesson drilled into me during my seminary years, and the continuum of religious practice: prayer, going to Mass, and never forgetting who we were as children of God. The “no vacation from our vocation” was a constant theme my parents reminded us of – and our seminary spiritual directors instilled in us. It gave us a sense of identity that was not supposed to be lost during the two sacred months of summer. Interesting enough, over my lifetime, that’s exactly what happened to so many around me, my friends, my companions, my classmates: summer became a time to “vacate” from the spiritual practices of the faith, only to try a weakened attempt to resume them when September rolled around. We had the school and the Church structure