Principal Weekly Letter

Message from the Principal - April 7, 2021   

Dear Parents,

On Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Divine Mercy.

Based upon St. Faustina Kowalska’s record of the revelations she received from Jesus in 1931, the message of The Divine Mercy can be summed up in one sentence: Jesus, I trust in you! Christ as The Divine Mercy instructs us to approach Him in prayer to ask for His mercy, to let His mercy flow from us to others, and above all, to trust completely in Him in order to truly experience the graces of His mercy.

Though Sr. Faustina died in obscurity on October 5, 1938 (a year before Germany invaded Poland, the start of WWII), Sr. Faustina was hailed by Pope St. John Paul II as "the great apostle of Divine Mercy in our time." On April 30, 2000, the Pope canonized her saint, saying that the message of Divine Mercy she shared is urgently needed at the dawn of the new millennium. In fact, St. Faustina was the first canonized saint of the new millennium.

In 1980 Pope John Paul II published his encyclical letter “Dives in Misericordia” (Rich in Mercy), calling on the Church to devote herself to pleading for God's mercy on the whole world. Pope John Paul II said that he felt spiritually very near to Saint Faustina and had been thinking about her and the message of Divine Mercy when he began ‘Dives in Misericordia’.

On April 30, 2000, that year the Sunday following Easter, Pope John Paul II canonized Saint Faustina Kowalska before some 250,000 pilgrims. He also approved the Divine Mercy message and devotion by declaring the Second Sunday of Easter as "Divine Mercy Sunday" for the universal Church.

In one of his most extraordinary homilies, Pope St. John Paul II repeated three times that Saint Faustina is "God's gift to our time." She made the message of Divine Mercy the "bridge to the third millennium." He then said, “By this act of canonization of Saint Faustina I intend today to pass this message on to the third millennium. I pass it on to all people, so that they will learn to know ever better the true face of God and the true face of their neighbor. In fact, love of God and love of one's neighbor are inseparable."

Pope John Paul II died on the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday in April, 2005, and was canonized by Pope Francis on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 27, 2014. Pope Francis then carried on the Divine Mercy message by instituting the Jubilee Year of Mercy, which was especially devoted to the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, in 2016.

Important Notices and Reminders

Spring Break is next week, April 12 through and including April 16. The school and office will be closed. I will be away on retreat and will not be available to answer any phone calls or emails.

We are asking for your help in keeping our students and staff safe and our school open as we enter the final months of the school year. We will stay the course and continue requiring those families and students who travel over the April vacation to follow the State Department of Health recommendation that everyone follow CDC guidelines for travel. We will still require families who travel to be tested for COVID-19 upon return to Connecticut and provide to the school documentation of a negative test. We have been extremely blessed to have been able to keep our school open since September and want to complete the school year with in-person learning.

With the warmer weather and the students’ increased outside activity, we are going through quite a bit of water. More water bottle donations for the students would be greatly appreciated, as they are not able to use the water fountains during Covid. If you are able to, please send in a case of water to your child’s classroom (or drop off at the office entrance). We have enough to get through this week, but will need more when we return after the break.

When we return from April vacation, the students will be allowed to wear their summer uniforms. Gray uniform and gym shorts may be worn through Friday, October 15, of next school year.

A big “welcome” goes out to our new Gym teacher, Mrs. Rich, who began classes with the children last month alongside Mrs. Katz. At this time, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs. Katz for her faithful devotion in covering the Gym classes for the older grades on Wednesdays for the past several months on her “day off.” I am so grateful to her for sharing her time with the students. As a joyous culmination, as well as in celebration of the Easter season, Mrs. Katz and Mrs. Rich will be having an Easter Egg Hunt for all grades today and tomorrow during their Gym classes. Please be assured that in order to adhere to our Covid safety protocol, all eggs had been assembled and quarantined in the school office for the past two weeks. I’m sure the children will enjoy this special event.

Returning families who had a FACTS Payment Agreement for the 2020-2021 school-year do not need to set up a new payment plan; you will be re-enrolled into the same payment plan for the 2021-22 year. However, if you need to update your banking, student enrollment or contact information, please log into your FACTS account to make those adjustments by April 30. If you wish to change payment plans, please notify the school and we will adjust accordingly. God Bless You-

In His Love,

Mother Elaine, Principal