Principal's Corner

Dear Parents/Guardians,

April in Pennsylvania is becoming a busy political arena with people turning out in record numbers to greet the candidates. It makes us wonder whether these same crowds would have gone out of their way to follow the most controversial person to have walked the earth ~ a revolutionary thinker who proclaimed a message of love, love for God above all else and love for neighbor including our enemies. As true followers of Christ we are called to live Jesus’ lesson of love.

            The inspiration for this month’s newsletter came to me last weekend during the familiar scripture reading at a wedding liturgy, 1Corinthians 13: Love is patient, love is kind…it rejoices with the truth.  The homilist drew an interesting correlation between love and communication. Love must be communicated by our actions: Love is not selfish…and it does not judge.

            In less than two weeks, April 13-16, many aspects of our school will be judged, such as our facilities, the curriculum, current resources, and future planning. However, unless the evaluators observe an abundance of love and respect for, between, and among our students, faculty, staff, administration, parents, and parishioners we should not consider our work complete. Our mission as a Catholic school is to denounce hatred, bullying, gossiping, and sin in all its forms. It is our mission to build up the body of Christ in the community we call St. Columba School by working together for the benefit of each and every one of God’s children.

            I believe that the Middle States team will find many wonderful qualities that make our school outstanding especially our hard working teachers, dedicated parents, and generous benefactors. No school is perfect. We may also expect the evaluators to find areas of weakness in addition to many areas of strength. And if they do, we will simply roll up our sleeves and work a little harder to meet those challenges and to become an even better example of what a truly Catholic school ought to be.

            As April weather begins to clear up, please do not lighten up on your high expectations for your children to show respect, manners, and good choices. There are still two more months left in this school year. Please encourage your children to stay focused throughout the remaining weeks.

            Thank you to all who have contributed in so many ways to the success of our self-study. Your commitment to Catholic education is invaluable.

God bless,

Mrs. Venarchick

Principal's Panel Minutes