Love for God and students St. Paul Catholic School
On a recent Friday morning —
That perspective captures life at St. Paul. After an unprecedented year during which COVID-19 upended life actually on the next-to-last Friday of the academic year and as we know it and introduced new challenges for teachonly hours before the first in-person eighth-grade graduation ers and students, the faculty and staff at the 208-student at St. Paul Catholic School in three decades — school Principal school are focusing on brighter days ahead, instead of Sister Mary Lawrence, OP had a thoughtful idea. Now that’s becoming sidetracked by momentary struggles. “When this all happened, we struggled like everynot particularly surprising, because the Dominican sister has one else and wondered how to address a new sense spent the full 15 years of her life as a nun thinking of others of normalcy in the age of COVID,” said Deacon Ted and working in the service of our Lord. Schreck, who serves as director of advancement for the PK-8 school. “We decided to remain open for in-person However, Sister Mary Lawrence’s reaction to what unFEATURE learning, rearranged everything from our classroom folded offers a glimpse into the personality she brings to STORY setup to daily meals and had faith that God would see her vocation, and reveals a sense of the spiritual joy that us through.” pervades daily life at St. Paul. BY JAMES And that’s exactly what occurred. “Because it was going to be such a busy day, I decided DOWD During the 2020-21 academic year, St. Paul experienced to surprise our faculty and staff with lunch,” Sister Mary PHOTOGRAPHY only a single isolated case of COVID-19 and the school Lawrence said. “I was walking with a plate full of croisBY KAREN never closed its doors. Although enrollment dropped by sant sandwiches and all of a sudden I dropped them. At PULFER FOCHT about 100 students at the beginning of the school year, that point, I could be angry about the sandwiches all over Schreck said the school made the best of the challenging the floor, or I could laugh and move on. I chose not to be circumstances required for in-person learning. upset about some dirty croissants.” 10
FAITH West Tennessee | ANNIVERSARY ISSUE 2021 | WWW.CDOM.ORG
