Keeping Us Connected Newsletter
February 5, 2021
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Teach them to observe everything I have commanded you.
--Matthew 28:20
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Dear Saint Mary Friends,
Two things for this Newsletter: First, January 31 – February 6 is Catholic Schools Week, and so with all respect to the various schools and the programs and activities they offer in our area, the column below celebrates what makes Catholic Education unique. Indirectly it also calls to mind the essential nature of parish religious education for students in non-Catholic schools. Second, February is Black History Month. What follows after the column are videos on some great, yet little known, Black Catholics in America.
Many blessings,
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Monsignor Royal
Praised be Jesus Christ!
Now and Forever
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Are We Educating for Freedom?
– Fr. Robert Mcteigue, SJ
(Aleteia.org)
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Saint Mary Graduating Class, 1960
What if you saw this sign on the lawn of your school? Together We Are Empowering All Students To Pursue Their Passion And Succeed In A Changing World. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? After all, who could be against empowerment, right? They’re going to empower all students…, so that’s a plus, isn’t it? Students are going to pursue their respective passions—well, what’s the alternative? Not pursuing passion? That can’t be good, can it? …And they want the students to succeed! If the only alternative to success is failure, then succeeding is clearly superior, isn’t it?...So the message of this sign is unassailable! Or is it?
This view of freedom focuses on being unconstrained, and does not talk about what one ought to use one’s freedom for. “I can do whatever I want!” is a declaration that needs to be followed immediately by the question, “What should I want?” or trouble will surely follow. The appeal of the sign is that it gives one a momentary rush of emotional tingles (“We’re empowering the kids!”); the danger is that if one empowers but doesn’t guide or train, then the school is failing while smiling….
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Saint Mary Graduating Class, 2020
What does it mean to empower students? Does it mean giving them an iPad? Does it mean giving them a slogan? Does it mean cheering them on, regardless of their direction or consequences of their actions? Real education doesn’t mean simply handing over technology and chanting happy hymns of self-esteem. Real education does include giving students information, of course. It also includes formation and transformation. Formation is the process of taking the student’s good potentials and possibilities and actualizing them, making them real. In addition, real education includes transformation, that is, taking what was incomplete, imperfect, or incorrect and reshaping it and growing it rightly….
That brings us to the question of passion. Students can do more when they are passionate; they also have to learn to do their duty even when they don’t feel like it—especially when they don’t feel like it. They also have to be taught what to do when they passionately desire what isn’t good for them.
That brings us to the question of “success.” What does it mean to succeed? Graduation? Career? Wealth? Fame? St. Ignatius of Loyola spoke of the First Principle and Foundation: “Man is created for the praise, reverence, and service of God.” Achieving that end is the only real success; failing to achieve that end is the most complete failure. In other words, the education that students need most is to learn how to orient themselves towards what the Creator created them for, namely, Himself.
The sign above is correct. We do live in a changing world….A sound education will help the student to learn how to be a learner. A sound education will also help the students to hold onto what is unchangeable: Do good and avoid evil; love God and neighbor as yourself; only God can fully satisfy the human soul. It seems to me that the school that posted the sign on its front lawn offers the students neither map nor compass, but promises to help them get to wherever they choose to go—whether it’s good for them to go there or not. I think that schools can and should do better than that. And our students certainly need better.
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Also in today’s Newsletter: |
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OUR LADY OF LOURDES
THIS MONDAY
Monday, February 8
7:00 - 8:30 PM
Witness: Meg Whitbeck
(visited Lourdes - May 2019)
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Walking with Purpose
Beholding Your King
Thursday evenings via ZOOM starting
February 11th.
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JOIN US!
Book Study
Meeting via Zoom 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the Month
First Session: February 18 at 7:30 PM
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A Biblical Walk Through Christ's Passion
Virtual 5-Week Study beginning February 23
Tuesdays at 7 PM
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ST. MARY PARISH
MEN’S MINISTRY
Try us out this Lent!
ZOOM from anywhere to join us on Saturday mornings!
Meetings inspire us for the whole week!
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MASS REGISTRATION
Saturday, February 6
Sunday, February 7
If you need to cancel your reservation, please make every effort to cancel well before closing so others have an opportunity to take your spot. Thank you!
11 AM Sunday Mass will be livestreamed
First Saturday Mass, February 6
8:00 AM in the Parish Hall
No Registration Required
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Nancy Bossidy Rec Center (GYM)
Monday, 12:30 PM
Tuesday, 5:00 PM
Wednesday, 12:30 PM
Thursday, 5:00 PM
Friday, 12:30 PM
No Registration Needed
Please do not arrive earlier than 12:15 PM to the 12:30 PM Mass
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Tuesdays - 4:15 PM
Saturdays - 3:30 to 4:15 PM
Nancy Bossidy Rec Center (GYM)
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Please remember to wear a face mask
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Adoration Chapel
OPEN DAILY
10:00 AM- 4:00 PM
Limited to 4 people at any one time
If the 4 places are full, a visitor must wait outside or return at another time.
Chairs and kneelers are safely distanced and the air conditioning and air circulation system works well.
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Many thanks for your continued support of our Parish! |
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Your support helps maintain our Parish facilities and bring the Eucharist and God's Word to our community - plus it helps those in need through our many ministries.
WAYS TO CONTINUE YOUR WEEKLY OFFERTORY
Online Giving is an easy way to give with a click of a button.
You may mail your offertory to the Parish office as well; mail is picked up every day. St. Mary Parish, 55 Catoonah Street, Ridgefield, CT 06877
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