Hope Never Disappoints

This paraphrase of Romans 5:5 will serve as the scripture theme for Holy Family this school year, and it could not be more appropriate!  

Many of you have likely heard a homily or two, perhaps at a wedding, about how love is not simply a feeling but that Christian love needs to be an action.  I would also like to make the case that hope is not simply a feeling, but Christian hope needs to be an action.  It is not merely a sense of optimism, which certainly has a place, but it ought to be visible in our behaviors.  I would further argue that the staff at Holy Family is showing us why hope never disappoints.  When we act on our hopes, instead of our frustrations, fears, and anxieties, our work bears fruit!

Since March, we have been enduring the challenges and unknowns caused by Covid-19.  Everyone focused our efforts on the children, in order to make their experience as positive and productive as possible.  As we move forward this fall, we will have several professional learning sessions to strengthen our capacity to continue such efforts.  Grant Wood will help us with specific strategies for engaging students with the limitations of distaning and remote learning.  Jess Wermer, PhD will train our staff in student emotional wellness support.  The staff sent postcards to each family to ensure they knew we were excited to see them and start the year safe and positively.

With our resolve strong and determined, the derecho struck on August 10.  As I write this, power and internet are still limited, but what I have gathered is that our team remains resolute.  We hosted an impromptu campus clean up just three days after the storm.  Dozens of teachers, students, alumni, parents, and staff showed up and worked tirelessly for hours.  We have seen the same at our parishes and with Xavier High School who are working diligently and creatively to clean up and to serve the community.

Indeed all of these are examples of hope in action.  As a Catholic school community, we share a belief in something more than we can see.  We hope together! 

This fall certainly includes a great many uncertainties and difficulties, but as we continue to hope together as a community, we will undoubtedly continue to witness the fruit of our hope.