TOWSON – Teachers and staff members across the Archdiocese of Baltimore welcomed students to the start of a new school year Aug. 31 with smiles, hugs and words of encouragement. At Immaculate Conception School (ICS) in Towson, Archbishop Williiam E. Lori and Chancellor of Education Gregory Farno also joined in the activities, shaking hands and giving fist bumps to students as they arrived.
“It is a very exciting, happy day,” Archbishop Lori said, as he smiled and spoke with students and parents. As one anxious, wide-eyed student passed, he added, “Well, maybe not for everyone.”
“This is wonderful – no tears so far,” said Terri Castelli, ICS principal, as she walked up and down the sidewalk, greeting the school’s 617 students as they arrived. “Everybody has been so positive.”
There were also no tears at Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) in Baynesville according to staff, which welcomed 399 students. One fifth grader, however, was quick to say he was not excited to return to school when the archbishop asked him.
“We strive for honesty here,” Father Jeffrey Daus, pastor, said as the classroom erupted in laughter.
“Lord God, we thank and praise you on this first day of school,” Archbishop Lori said in his opening prayer at IHM. “We ask that you send your Holy Spirit to be with us so that this will be a wonderful school year. A year, dear Lord, when we grow in our faith, when we grow in friendship and when we grow in learning and when we learn the important lesson of not only getting along with each other but loving each other the way you love us.”
At both ICS and IHM, Archbishop Lori and Farno toured the schools, visited classrooms and attended assemblies.
Sue Surine, principal of IHM, asked both the archbishop and Farno to sign a poster featuring the archdiocesan theme for the school year, “Hearts of Hope, Hands of Faith.”
Click play below to watch first-day-of-school video. Story continues beneath.
“Every year we sign that as a commitment to what our theme is,” Surine said during the assembly, as she showed the poster with the staff members’ signatures on it. “We always post it in our faculty room to remind us of our theme.”
Surine explained the school’s Holy Moments program, a “guide to making holy choices, to making great decisions through our actions and how we’re serving other people.” The theme for the new school year, she announced, was “Holy Moments with the Saints,” with a different saint featured every month. A special sweatshirt featuring St. Pope John Paul II’s quote, “Do not be afraid to be saints,” along with the names of many saints, was created for the school year, and Surine later gave one to the archbishop.
“This is a big year for IHM. It’s 75 years old. It’s pretty old, right?” Surine said at the end of the assembly, adding that there were several special events planned to mark the occasion, including a Mass with Archbishop Lori Sept. 20
“I’m here to tell you, I’m 75 years old. I guess that makes me old,” Archbishop Lori quipped to laughter. “You know your school has a very proud history. But I think you guys are writing a new chapter of history because this school has never been better than it is today, and that’s because of you guys.”
At ICS, the archbishop was given a copy of “The Circles All Around Us,” a book by Brad and Kristi Montague, that encourages creating circles of community and connections. Castelli read the book in her opening remarks at the assembly, explaining how her circle had grown to include all of the students at ICS.
“My circle grew really large today,” Castelli, who is in her first year as principal at ICS, said. “This is a fantastic community with a wonderful reputation.”
Archbishop Lori also told the students that his circle included them.
“My circle is the Archdiocese of Baltimore,” he said. “You’re in that circle. I’m very proud of all of you.”
Email Katie V. Jones at kjones@CatholicReview.org
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