Dear Friends,
Our CTK School has been strong even during the pandemic while it is completely a new and unpredictable reality
. I am so proud of our school principal and his team. I can speak to you from the perspective of our Church and the efforts that we have made to maintain our sense of community and worship. Every day is a new day, and we have to be flexible, open, resourceful and creative. And these traits exhibited by our parish staff and leadership team have carried us so far. We will continue to evolve. I would like to thank Mr. Silveira and his leadership teams for working so hard. I salute our teachers and their supportive staff for embracing this new reality with courage and a sense of mission. Thank you to the office staff for your dedication to catholic education. I am grateful to the larger school community- students and parents. I know these are challenging times and I thank you for working with our school administration to bring out the best in all of us. You have all made our community proud.
The pandemic has not stopped the drive for excellence at our school. With the current Shelter-In-Place orders requiring distance learning, we have been able to get a jump-start on our exciting classroom technology project to bring our classroom presentation and lesson delivery systems into the second decade of the 21
st
Century. We are replacing all of our former Promethean Panels (projector and screens) with new Promethean Panels. The original Smart boards, projectors and devices were donated to Saint David School in Richmond, California.
This week, the technology team hired by the school, D&D Security Resources, Inc.
installed 86” Promethean Panel in the Fr. Joyce Room with two Dry Erase Boards on either side. The school will use the Fr. Joyce’s room in the Ministry Center for mathematics class from 8-9.00am on a daily basis. I am so happy to share this room, as well as our chapel and the meeting facilities with the school at any time. In addition, the deck behind the Ministry Center is a great hangout outdoors for the staff (both school and parish).
We are still a nation at risk with the pandemic here to stay for some more time.
We need a paradigm shift, where we look at our goals and aspirations for education, and figure out how best to restore a learning environment
in our school, regardless of how and where learning takes place. With no playbook for how best to respond to the rapidly evolving concerns about the novel coronavirus, Covid-19, many decision makers are grappling to strike the right balance between prudent cautiousness and panicked over-reaction. With so many unknowns, playing it “extra-safe” is arguably a sensible response. Yet playing it too safe comes with its own risks.
It is my hope that our community can move ahead with more calm and courage, less panic and fear.
This Thursday, June 4, we will commence a special devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help at the 6pm Mass.
We will continue to do this devotion every Thursday. The devotion will be interwoven into the mass with appropriate Marian hymns and prayers of intercession and gratitude. Fr. Brian Timoney will give you a talk on the meaning of the Perpetual Help icon on Thursday.
This Friday, June 5, is First Friday, when we celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
We shall expose the Blessed Sacrament in our Ministry Center Chapel at 4.00pm followed by Benediction at 5.45pm outdoors and mass at 6.00pm.
There was a question as to why the ministers of communion are not wearing gloves.
I was informed that gloves couldn’t be sanitized if they come in contact with another person. That is the reason we are asking everyone (both recipients as well as the ministers of communion) to sanitize the hands. If you are incapable of getting out of the car, without undue effort and risk, stay in your cars, but open the door.
As I was growing up as a teacher, I was always taught that it is not enough that I love my students; they must KNOW that they are loved. My students can be bright or not so bright; they may be hardworking or lazy; they may turn in their assignments on time or they may not. Regardless of how they respond, I must love them, and they must know they are loved.
There are many people in our nation that feel they are not loved; that they are not respected. There are lots of our folks that feel they are treated with disrespect and racism; that they are unfairly poor and unhealthy.
Mary took an infant church in tatters, and wrapped her in swaddling clothes of love and tenderness, just as she took the infant Jesus and wrapped him in swaddling clothes. And that is what we must do as a Church, not hide behind walls, not stay silent, but get dirty and wounded ourselves. Our church should be on the streets, taking these wounded children in our arms, holding with wrapped in the swaddling clothes of tenderness.
Blessings,
Fr. Paulson
