Confirmation! Check!

Our 8th graders are a step closer to graduating. With less than four months to go, another rite of passage has been checked off the list for these young folks. This past Friday evening in a beautiful Mass celebrated by Bishop David Talley, these students received the Sacrament of Confirmation.

They have been Baptized, participated in Reconciliation, received First Communion, and sealed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit better known as Confirmation. They are the recipients of four of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church. It will be awhile before they receive anymore sacraments (let's hope).

To me, Confirmation becomes a crucial time in the lives of our Catholic youth. Will they be strengthened for service to the Body of Christ or will they fall away from their faith? With all my years in Catholic education, I have seen both. Some of the students go through Confirmation because that's what they are supposed to do as Catholics, and afterwards no longer have a faith life. For some, it is a sacrament that brings the confirmandi a renewed sense of purpose in their faith and a dedication to the Church.

Here are a few tips for anyone reading this blog as well as our newly confirmed youth about living a life of faith. Keep in mind that our actions will have the biggest impact on promoting faith in ourselves first and then to those around us. Set the example and be intentional in your actions. Develop your faith for you.

Develop your faith by studying and reading about your faith. If you don't know where to start, check out what Dynamic Catholic has to offer. Their books are fantastic, simple to understand, inexpensive, and easy to get your hands on.

Read or listen to the daily Mass readings. You can receive the daily readings via email from the USCCB every morning. They also have podcast readings and reflections if you prefer. The reflections will help you better understand the readings.

Develop a prayer life. Prayers don't have to be complicated, memorized, nor long winded. Most of my prayers consist of "Thank you," "I'm sorry," "Help me do Your will," and "Lord, keep me from screwing up." I pray that last one often. 

Participate in Church activities and organizations. Click here to find out all that St. Ann offers. Don't stand on the sidelines. Get in the game!

Go to Mass wherever you are. I use MassTimes website and app to find a Mass near me whenever traveling. I have a goal of attending Mass in every state I visit.  I'm doing pretty well but not batting a thousand.

Set the example by making Mass an event to look forward to. Take the family. Go to lunch or dinner afterwards. Be happy and make it joyful. Going to Church should be a "want to" and not a "have to." As Thomas Aquinas once said, "The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross."

I will end by saying: Don't just go to Church, be the Church. Live the Church in your heart, mind, and actions.

God bless and love you, Didier Aur

www.sascolts.org

Patience and Compassion

Having Coffee With Mom

I want to share one of this week's teachable moments with you, and the lesson I learned about patience and compassion.

Life Happens! And, when it does, we should do our best to learn from those moments. Many times the good moments are taken for granted and the bad moments stick with us. The bad moments tend to become fodder for complaints and opportunity for us to curse our bad luck.

We should all be on a constant lookout for teachable moments especially when the negatives pop into our lives. These moments are to be used to first teach ourselves a lesson so that we can help others learn from a misfortune. Kind of difficult to teach something we haven't learned ourselves.

As educators, we are on a constant lookout for teachable moments in order to help our students grow. When the bad happens, those are perfect opportunities to teach a lesson because, unfortunately, the bad moments stick out in our minds more than the good moments.

I was the recipient of a teachable moment this week that came to me from Dr. Mary McDonald, former Catholic Schools superintendent. As we shared family updates, I asked what was to be learned from both my mother and mother-in-law being in memory care facilities? Why do the latter years have to be a struggle for our parents and cause so much stress to the families? Without missing a beat, Dr. McDonald said, "The purpose is to teach you patience and compassion." Whack! That hit me right between the eyes. She took that teachable moment and put it in the upper 90. For you non-soccer people, that means she hit a home run. Patience and compassion are much needed and definitely missing in many parts of our lives.

Let us look to our aging parents, if we are still fortunate enough to have them with us, with more patience and compassion. Let us not curse their situation and be agitated with them because they didn't choose their fate. Let us not be angry with God, He has His plan which is beyond our comprehension. Instead, let us treat those around us, especially the ones most in need, with patience and compassion. Let us replace agitation and judgment with patience and compassion.

If you have elderly parents, don't argue with them and constantly correct them when they are confused. It is not their fault. Try to do more listening than talking. Just be present in the moment. Nod your head in agreement and smile. Hold their hand. Bring them a little gift especially your presence. Be loving, patient, and compassionate. I am a strong believer in what goes around, comes around - Karma! Soon enough, we will be the ones sitting in their place.

As my mission trip students used to say, "See the face of Christ in those you serve. Be the face of Christ in those you serve."

God bless and love you, Didier Aur 

8th Grade Confirmation

My favorite part of the school day is when I remove the administrator's hat to enter the classroom as an educator. For one class period per day, I can fulfill the reason why I got into education in the first place; to teach.

My teaching assignment is predicated by need; I teach the class and subject where we would have to hire a teacher to teach just one class period. This year, I am teaching 8th grade religion. Whatever I teach, I spend the summer before the new school year prepping for that class. Since most of my outside reading is religion/faith based, prepping was something I looked forward to.

The focus of 8th grade religion is Confirmation prep. What is cool about Confirmation prep is that it is so much more than being "sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit." It is also about being "strengthened for service to the Body of Christ."

With Confirmation only two weeks away, my students have led several service projects (Catholic Charities and Dorothy Day House), studied the Sacraments and the Mysteries of the Rosary, learned the purpose of patron saints and sponsors, discussed the Sunday gospel readings, and spent every class period reflecting and writing. Most importantly, the students are focusing on God's love for them and their love for themselves.

As we learn everyday in class, we cannot take care of others until we can take care of ourselves first. And, we cannot love others until we love ourselves first. If I am not the person I want to be, it is up to me to become that person.

Our hope isn't just for the Sacrament of Confirmation, it is for a lifetime of service to the Church. As Fr. Dexter said in his homily at Mass yesterday, "Our duty as Christians is to lead others to God." As we continue preparation for Confirmation, your prayers and support are much appreciated. 

Enjoy your week, and see you on January 27th for Confirmation.

God bless you, Didier Aur

https://www.sascolts.org/

Begin Again

A former CBHS student and soccer player of mine, Andrew Holliday, started an accountability group focused on marketing resources to help folks combine the principle of commitment and consistency with resource and support to drive progress. Andrew has created an accountability board where members make public their commitment for the action each member will be taking to drive growth. Since the growth I posted has everything to do with St. Ann, I thought I would share my six commitments with you via my blog, especially since returning to blogging is my number four commitment. So, here go my commitments. I'm hoping each of you reading this blog helps to keep me on track to these commitments.

1.  Focus on posting appropriate (professional) news worthy information on LinkedIn at least once per week. The information we post needs to touch hearts since it is geared to friends and alumni. We already post daily on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

2.  Increase LinkedIn followers from 150 to 200+. We will reach out to friends and alumni on LinkedIn and invite them to follow. We went from about 50 to 150 in the past year and a half.

3.  Reach out personally to one alumni and/or donor per day via email, post card, or messaging (LinkedIn, Facebook,...)

4.  Return to posting a weekly personal blog. I stopped blogging about two years ago. The blog received good response but was just too time consuming. The blog needs to be a shorter, more focused blog that is informative and less time consuming.

5.  Develop a campaign to reach out to more potential families outside of our parish. Our main source of student recruitment has been on reputation and word of mouth.

6.  Focus on larger campaigns (annual giving and major fundraising events) and not nickel-and-diming events.

Thank you Andrew for inviting me to be a part of the accountability group. You can learn more about Andrew Holliday on his website, https://specialsaucebranding.com/about-us/

God bless you, Didier Aur, Principal, St. Ann Catholic School https://www.sascolts.org/

A Visit to St. Ann

Imagine a beautiful spring day. A young family comes to visit St. Ann. They have a 4-year old daughter walking in with them. The father is busy trying to control and entertain their 2-year old son in his arms. The mother has a beautiful newborn baby girl strapped tightly and sleeping quietly against her chest. They are new to the Bartlett area and looking for a Catholic home for their family. They are filled with excitement and some anxiety as they look for just the right school. Their daughter has not yet attended school because of the unknowns brought about from the pandemic. Now, it is time to let go and do something they have looked forward to yet dreaded for the some time now.

As they enter the school, Mrs. Westrich is the first to greet and welcome them to St. Ann. They have spoken on the phone in setting up the visit but have never met. They are quickly off on a tour where the parents meet Mrs. Morgan and Ms. Farm, our PK4 teachers. They see the PK4 students busy at work in the classrooms. As they are walking down the hall, they meet Mrs. Slattery in the computer lab where she has a wonderful and hilarious St. Ann story to share. They hear the children singing in Mr. Cooper's class and see them drawing in Ms. Lola's. A quick peek in the gym and they see Coach Angotti leading her students through a stretching exercise. They meet Fr. Ernie as he is heading back to his office after morning Mass. They are so thrilled and excited about their child attending at St. Ann.

As they come back into the office to get more information and learn about the enrollment process, there is still one question they have to ask. They know the cost of tuition because they read through the whole website. Being a young family on a single-income, they know they will need financial assistance to be able to afford to send their daughter to St. Ann.  As the father kind of shuffles back and forth, looking down at his feet, it is time for the question they have been afraid to ask. "Is there any financial aid available to help us?" For a few seconds, they hold their breath and anxiously await an answer.

How many of us have gone through exactly what this family is going through? Remember that feeling of not knowing if you would be able to afford to send your child to a Catholic school? How about the conversations regarding the sacrifices we were willing to make to give our children the best education possible? What if there is no financial aid available to help us? What will we do? What if there was no alumni support, no generous friends, no philanthropic families, no giving foundations, no annual fund drive, no fundraising events, and no Fall Fest to help families wanting a Catholic education for their children?

There are so many families who need your support to be able to send their children to a Catholic school. They want what's best for their children, but it is hard for young families to materialize money when they are starting their professional lives, raising children, and working to make ends meet.

Because we do have fantastic alumni support, generous friends, philanthropic families, giving foundations, an annual fund drive, fundraising events, and Fall Fest, we are able to provide tuition assistance to nearly 100 of our students.

Now, back to our question from the young family asking about financial aid. Mrs. Westrich's reply: "Yes, we have financial aid available. When you fill out the online registration, you can also fill out the financial aid form as well. Once we have all the information, we can evaluate and determine the level of financial aid you will need."

Thank you to the many alumni, friends, families, foundations, volunteers, donors, and supporters who come together to make Catholic education a reality for all families. Last school year's donor board is going up on the donor wall this week. As we kick off the fundraising for the 2021-22 school year, we would love to see your name on the donor board. Come join us. We need your love, kindness, and support. You give families hope and all of us a brighter future.

Click on the St. Ann seal to support a St. Ann family.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

The Good We Do

This blog is a thank you to all the incredible people I work with who give and give and don't hesitate to throw themselves into their work especially when things get tougher and tougher as they have these past 18-months. These are the folks who see the beauty in the purposeful work God created them to do. They truly honor God by participating in their faith. 

The poem "As Kingfishers Catch Fire" makes me think about the good we do.  Am I the person God created me to be in doing His work? In this poem, there are two lines in particular that have me asking this question. The lines are "What I do is me: for that I came" and "Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is."

The way I interpret these two lines is if I am truly a participant in my faith, then I am to be the person God created me to be. Since God created me for a purpose and gave me certain talents, shouldn't I put those talents to good use by serving Him in doing His work? Am I to be seen in God's eye as He sees Christ?

The key is not to be an observer in my faith. Instead, I am to get knee-deep in my faith by putting my heart in the work I do. Christ taught us to participate in our faith by being doers of God's will and not observers. In Mark 7:6-7, Jesus recounted Isaiah's prophesy about the hypocrites who honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him. Maya Angelou said, "Life is going to give you just what you put into it. Put your whole heart in everything you do."

This is also how I view James 2:26: "As the body without spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." I can have faith, but if I don't participate in that faith, isn't that a waste of who God created me to be? The good we do is our purpose. "What I do is me, for that I came."

Daily, I witness selfless people participate in their faith by spending countless hours and energy working to better those entrusted to our care. Being Catholic school educators is our ministry. The folks I work with definitely live their faith through the work they do, and get an A+ for participation. God has chosen us to do His work, and it is our responsibility to do our part to help build up the Kingdom of God in the hearts of our students.

Thank you and much love to the faculty and staff of St. Ann Catholic School. The good we do brings our students closer to heaven. You "fulfill your ministry with the affection of your heart." - St. John Baptist de La Salle

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

St. Ann Catholic School

Previous Blog:

https://didieraur.blogspot.com/2021/08/love-your-neighbor-as-yourself.html

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

In this day and age, most everyone is willing to work together especially when things are going their way. When they don't, there's a growing number of people who become angry and uncooperative; many times even belligerent. I've watched some of the videos from the Williamson County School Board meetings. People getting a bit too cra-cra! Wonder what those people think when they go back and see themselves on YouTube? In the words of Sheldon Cooper, "For shame!" 

Nothing wrong with disagreeing; just need to disagree agreeably. That's how we compromise and find solutions to our disagreements. My way or the highway isn't a good managerial or relational strategy.

This morning's gospel reading was from Matthew 22 where the Pharisees tested Jesus on the greatest commandment. His response is what we should always be doing as children of God. "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Unfortunately, we don't love God the way we should. And, we definitely don't come close to loving our neighbor as ourself. For many, hating our neighbor is probably more common than loving our neighbor especially if they don't think the way we do. Jesus never said for us to love our neighbor unless our neighbor does not look, act, or think the way we do. Sometimes, I'm as guilty as the next person, but I actually do try to follow the greatest commandment.

Loving God and our neighbor does not mean we are supposed to make everyone happy. Actually, trying to make everyone happy is a recipe for disaster and should not be our goal because it will never work. If our actions and decisions are made out of love, yet some people aren't happy with our actions and decisions, then so be it. We aren't all going to be happy, but we should all get along. Here's a great quote to follow: "Stop trying to make everyone happy. You are not tequila!"

Winston Churchill once said, "Never let a good crisis go to waste." We are approaching 630,000 COVID deaths in this country and 4.4 million world-wide. Don't know about you, but I would categorize this as a crisis. During this crisis, it might be a good time to learn to love God, our neighbor, and ourself.

We should all work together for the common good. Br. Joel McGraw (one of my favorite people on this earth), once told me, "In a disagreement, put on your velvet gloves and kill them with kindness." That was his way of loving his neighbor as himself. Let's be a lot like Jesus and Br. Joel by using this crisis to look for ways to love our neighbor.

I will end with some great advice from St. Teresa of Calcutta: “People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”

God bless you, Didier Aur