After watching the Cubs celebrate their collaborative comeback victory on Tuesday night, I realized that the secret to the Cubs' success is their versatility of talent, communicative skills, and a sense of belonging to a "family" who is building a future based on faith in their mission and each other.  Similarly, our St. Cletus family is striving to build a great future for its school, parish, and community, which is also driven by the mutual faith and commitment by its many gifted members.

 

Early the next morning, I found myself reflecting on several thoughts while attending a principals' meeting at the Quigley Center in Chicago.  First, I was regretfully missing our school Mass and band who played the National Anthem and "Go Cubs Go" in our hallways. Then, as I walked through the hallways of the Quigley Center, I reminisced about the time I was a faculty member in the building and part of that family of faith.  Some of my high school teachers taught me there, and one of them is the priest who celebrated my wedding and knows my family personally. He still works at the Quigley Center and was recently a reference for me when I applied to the Archdiocese and St. Cletus School.  I thank him and God every day for helping me become your principal.   As I sat with other Catholic school principals talking about their schools, I praised and gave thanks for our great school comprised of very caring parents, conscientious teachers, and charismatic students.

One of my best meetings this week was with some very special students--your student council officers and leaders of our school. They impressed me so much by their maturity, passion and concern for providing social and charitable events for the school.  I also challenged them to help me create some ideas that will help strengthen our learning community by addressing parent and student concerns such as bullying and bystander behavior. I truly appreciate the work of our student council officers and their moderators.

 

I must conclude this entry for The Scoop, as I am gathering some recipes for the cookbook project in support of St. Vincent de Paul.  I am sharing a secret recipe called "Celebratory Sausage Stars" from my family's holiday appetizer favorites. Please support our Social Concerns Ministry by submitting a recipe and/or buying a cookbook for the holidays.

 

Happy days to all, as the holidays will be upon us before we know it. Regardless of the day, remember it's always a great day to be a Cardinal.