THOUGHTS FROM OUR HEAD OF SCHOOL, JOSEPH VORBACH:
Merry Christmas everyone!
Working in schools provides educators the unique benefit of being around the spirit, energy and idealism of young people everyday. We are also blessed to watch young men and women figure things out on a daily basis. We see it in laboratories, classrooms, athletic fields and courts, and in the performing arts. At Christmas time, we are blessed with Christmas concerts - always joyful, with beautiful selections beautifully performed. For me, the Christmas concert has often been a key moment for getting into the Christmas spirit - a reminder of how blessed I am to be involved in Catholic education at Bishop O'Connell with incredibly dedicated colleagues and amazing students. I can leave aside whatever the concerns of the day are and be reminded by our student performers of the miracle of Christmas.
Yesterday morning all of us on the faculty and staff at the school were spoiled by the PTO and the FLIK team at the school with a wonderful Christmas breakfast. We are very grateful for the support of the parents in our school community and I extend, on behalf of the whole team here, a heartfelt thanks for the thoughtfulness and generous spirit that made that breakfast possible.
I ask you all, as you begin your Christmas holiday, to offer a special prayer for our community of Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Tonight they will spend their first night together in their new convent just a few blocks from the school. It is a beautiful new home, but as anyone who as ever moved knows, there are both physical and emotional challenges to moving. We've tried to help make the physical aspects of moving as easy as possible for the Sisters, but we know that they are closing a convent at the school that has over the years been home to hundreds of Sisters who have served Bishop O'Connell. We pray in thanksgiving for all the sacrifices of those Sisters in support of Bishop O'Connell and in hope that their new beginning marks a fruitful new chapter in the continuing relationship between the school and the IHM Community.