Chaplain’s Welcome

DEAR FRIENDS IN CHRIST,

It is ironic that the theme for the 2019-20 school year was Unity.

We began the year with a faculty and staff retreat where we came

away as one body unified by the spirit in Jesus Christ and our enthusiasm for

a blessed school year.

Our All-House Retreat was

the same. We, along with all the students, came together to grow in faith in God and in one another. Our student House Captains embraced their roles as leaders and they set excellent examples of Reverence at Mass, Respect for their teachers and peers and Responsibility in making sure that every member of their Houses felt welcome.

One of the joys I have as Chaplain of Notre Dame Preparatory is seeing the way God chooses students for various roles and how they rise to the challenge and exceed their own expectations.

Sometimes, I think when it comes to God, we equate the way humans think and choose and apply it to God. Spiritually, we think God only chooses people who “have it all together,” and never question Him — those who are “ready-made saints.” But, our young students were moved, chosen, if you will, to step up and help motivate, inspire and lead their fellow House members and classmates with little or no experience. They were “fish of every kind.” Some were athletes, some bright students, some spiritual beyond their years, but all were called and all stepped up.

In Matthew’s Gospel (chapter 13:45-50), Jesus tells His disciples that “God gathers up fish of every kind.” We can only be unified if we accept people as God does — indiscriminately. Year after year our students prove that they can rise to the responsibilities placed on them as students and missionaries at Notre Dame Prep, and they can accept others without discrimination.

Now here is where is the irony comes in. During spring break we were asked to isolate ourselves in our homes and self-

quarantine to help slow the spread of the novel Coronavirus. Not only were we unable to be unified at school, but we couldn’t congregate in our places of worship either.

It’s a beautiful thing, what we do here at Notre Dame Prep. We pray together, serve others together, study and exchange ideas together. We missed being on campus. I am in awe of the creativity of our student body, administration and our Center of Mission and Ministry in how we were able to remain together while apart to feed the homeless and help those affected financially from COVID-19. We were able to honor our Blessed Mother and our seniors with a drive-

thru May Crowning and drive-thru senior celebration.

God calls all of us to be united in Him. When we are gathered to Him, it is in this closeness where He can unify us through His love, and if we allow Him to, even transform us! And so, I proudly state that even in the midst of a pandemic when we were physically apart, we remained together in spirit as a “net full of fish of every type” and our year of unity was completed in the most unusual way.

Yours in Christ,

Father Kurt Jade Perera

Chaplain, Notre Dame Preparatory