Dear Alumni and Friends,
While we all continue to deal with this terrible pandemic, I sincerely hope that your families are together and well. The Oblates and our administrators offer our daily prayers for your safe-being.
As you know, COVID-19 has produced utter disruption in the world we live in, and it has affected every family in our school community in some way. Along with my family, the students of Father Judge High School are my most important concern, and I have spent the last few weeks conferencing with our administration and members of our Board of Directors, assessing plans for the critical and strategic functioning of the school upon reopening. Yes, our buildings are presently closed, yet our primary concern and our essential mission remain unchanged, to help our current and incoming Crusaders “
bloom in place
.” Our patron, St. Francis de Sales, used that phrase when he was the Bishop of Geneva; writing…
“Truly, charity has no limit; for the love of God has been poured into our hearts by His Spirit dwelling in each one of us, calling us to a life of devotion, and inviting us to bloom in the garden where He has planted, and directing us to radiate the beauty and spread the fragrance of His Providence.”
To give honor to his words, I have established the
Salesian Shield Fund
, a new fund that will provide additional financial assistance, enabling our upperclassmen to return in the fall, and aiding our freshmen entering for the first time. With more than 800 students expected on the first school day in September, I hope that you will support this emergency initiative.
The Friends of Father Judge High School, Inc.
will add to your donations, to assist those families paying for meal plans, purchasing uniforms, incurring sports or activity fees, and more non-tuition costs. We are keenly aware that our hard-working parents already make great sacrifices to send their sons to Father Judge, and we do not want the pandemic to deny their sons the many opportunities available at 3301 Solly Avenue.
The
Salesian Shield Fund
is designed to function just like a shield; providing passive protection by closing one or more lines of engagement during combat. To that end we will shield and assist our current students as they and their families move to fight and rebound from the economic impacts of the pandemic. Our incoming freshmen class of 196 students, from 42 zip codes, constitutes our third year of rising enrollment, and the largest incoming freshman class in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. These young men want the Judge Experience; they want to be Judge Guys, and they need our protection. So, I ask you to make a donation, of any amount, to the
Salesian Shield Fund.
With your support, our students can
bloom where they have been planted,
and go out to make the world a better, safer place.
I hope you will consider making a donation as any level of support will make a tremendous impact on our students and their families. You can make a gift by visiting www.friendsoffatherjudge.com/ShieldFund. In the meantime, please keep the 191 seniors in our Class of 2020 in your prayers. They have had to bear the great disappointment of a final year severely impacted by the pandemic. We are doing our very best to honor them in various ways, like adding their names to the windows overlooking Solly Avenue. Click the video below to see some drone footage of the 191 red and blue window signs honoring our newest "Judge Guys". Non Excidet!
In Crusader Spirit and Salesian Pride,
