Mr. Rogér DesLauriers
Principal's Message
“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences”. – Audre Lorde
The Catholic School’s theme for the 2024/25 school year is “Living, Celebrating, and Proclaiming Our Faith”, All CISVA schools will use this theme for three years, with a different emphasis each year. This year, our focus will be specifically on “Celebrating our Faith”.
To celebrate means to acknowledge, commemorate, salute, or honor a significant event or something significant in our lives. Faith is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. When combined, they have the potential to make a formidable team.
Culture is not what you say, it is what you celebrate. It includes an understanding that what you celebrate you replicate and what you celebrate you elevate. It involves recognizing our values and how they are reflected in our actions. Clearly, though, that can work both ways.
If we celebrate things that are unhealthy, unsafe, or immoral then we may replicate them. If our actions mirror unsavory values, then our identity and lives will likely reflect those values. That is why it is so important to consider what we choose to celebrate.
At Notre Dame we place a strong emphasis on family and faith, two important aspects of our lives that are truly worth celebrating. Part of our mission is to seek to educate the whole student – body, mind and spirit. We seek to foster the formation of Christian leaders, responsible citizens, and life-long learners, as a faith and learning community.
As we enter into a new school year let’s focus on the many successes, small or large, that honor our ongoing pursuit of knowing, loving, and serving God. Such successes may include overcoming difficulties, using our gifts to achieve at a high level, learning from our mistakes, being a better friend, helping someone in need or simply spending time in prayer. Regardless of what victories and triumphs we achieve this school year, may they all reflect a celebration of our faith.