Pr esident's Message When my future wife, Laur a, and I walked out of the door s of Mater Dei High School in 1980, I never envisioned retur ning to ser ve in this role that I have been blessed with. Throughout the year s, we spent countless hour s at Mater Dei attending spor ting and extr acur r icular events for our three sons, while I ser ved on numerous boards and committees at Mater Dei and in our Catholic community. Little did I know that God?s plan was for me to one day ser ve in a greater capacity. It is with great joy and enthusiasm that I am now in a position to ser ve the families in our Mater Dei community in this greater capacity. I have made it my mission to lead us to greater heights, with a special focus on the spir itual and academic for mation of the young adults we ser ve. In order to achieve this mission, I believe it begins with listening to the needs of this great community. Pope Fr ancis opened a Synod on Synodality (?jour neying together ?) initiative in October 2021. Local dioceses are cur rently completing listening sessions to suppor t the Synod?s objective of listening, as the entire People of God, to what the Holy Spir it is saying to the Church. Pope Fr ancis noted that Jesus frequently accompanied people on a jour ney, walking alongside them and listening to them as a means of meeting them where they were. He encour aged us to embody Jesus?style of encounter ing other s, listening to them, and discer ning what is in our hear ts. In the few months I have been in my role, I have embarked on my own listening sessions in the Mater Dei community. I have been blessed with many oppor tunities to encounter, listen, and discer n from a var iety of Mater Dei stakeholder s, including: students, parents, faculty, staff, par tner school pastor s and administr ator s, and alumni. The key takeaway that continues to resonate for me from these ongoing encounter s is our community?s deeply held love for both Mater Dei High School and our mission to for m young people in our Catholic faith. Much work remains to integr ate my lear ning's with the insights I am gaining from recent sur veys and focus groups to create a str ategic plan for Mater Dei. While the details of the plan are being worked out, our immediate pr ior ities are focused on three areas: Catholic Identity, Academic Excellence and a Site Master Plan. Like the stated pur pose of the Synod on Synodality for our Church, the objectives of my listening sessions in the Mater Dei community are to inspire people to dream about the Mater Dei High School we are called to be, to make people?s hopes flour ish, to stimulate tr ust, to weave new and deeper relationships, to lear n from one another, and restore strength to our hands for our common mission. If you would like to join me on our jour ney to develop and achieve this mission, I encour age you to contact me at dtniemeier @evdio.or g. In Chr ist, Through Our Blessed Mother,
Bishop Joseph Siegel appoints Father Chr istopher Dr oste as the Pr iest- Delegate at Mater Dei High School. Father Dr oste, a 1998 gr aduate of Mater Dei, was or dained to the pr iesthood on June 8, 2013. He is cur r ently ser ving as pastor of St. Boniface Par ish, Evansville. He will exer cise the pastor al over sight of the Mater Dei High School community under the author ity of Bishop Siegel. Please join us in welcoming Fr. Dr oste as our new Pr iest- Delegate!
Dan Niemeier ?80 President of Mater Dei High School
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