WINSLOW — Children at St. John Regional Catholic School were clearly excited about a special guest who visited Monday as part of Maine Catholic Schools Week: Bishop Robert P. Deeley of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.
“I think it’s a big privilege that he can take some time to come to our school because not every school gets that privilege,” said Haley Martin, 10, a fourth-grader.
Additional Images
Third grader Camden Cotnoir, 8, agreed.
“It means a lot because we get to see him,” she said. “Not that many other schools do, really. It’s a big opportunity.”
Martin and Cotnoir were sitting in the school cafeteria having lunch with other students and teacher Valerie Wheeler, as the bishop dined with school officials at a table across the room.
The girls said that earlier in the day they read essays aloud to Deeley.
“Me and Camden read our essays to him and we gave him a present we made — a tie-dyed T-shirt — blue and yellow, our school colors,” Martin said. “My essay was about why I love St. John School. There are many things I put in the essay. One of the paragraphs was about why my parents sent me here — because they have small class sizes and so that my faith could be part of my school day, as it is at home.”
Cotnoir said the most important part of her essay was about how much teachers do for the school.
“It’s tremendous how much they try to keep the school running — they do fund raisers, they do more than I can say,” Cotnoir said.
Catholic Schools Week celebrates the mission of Catholic schools — to evangelize students by nourishing faith and encouraging academic excellence while accentuating the importance of community and service, according to Diocesan officials.
Deeley attended a school assembly in the morning at which children sang songs including “Children Run Joyfully,” a favorite of the bishop’s, according to Principal Bonnie McGann. Children then played recorders in preparation for next year’s school plans to have a larger band with wind and brass instruments, McGann said. Students Julia Bard and Dorothy Anne Giroux-Pare read aloud essays they wrote for the Daughters of the American Revolution National Essay Contest. Bard won first place in the contest, sponsored by the Fort Halifax Chapter of the DAR, and Giroux-Pare came in second, according to McGann.
The girls and other students had gathered around Deeley earlier in their classroom.
“It’s always refreshing to come and visit the young people,” Deeley said afterward. “I’m always impressed with the level of educational excellence that our schools have, and we’re celebrating that in Catholic Schools Week where we appeal to the wholeness of student life — not only educational, but the spiritual life and service to their community.”
Accompanied by the Rev. Louis Phillips, superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Diocese, and the Rev. Robert Goudreau, temporary parochial vicar for Corpus Christi Parish, Deeley left the classroom to go to lunch, but stopped in a hallway to view a project fifth and sixth grade students had done for teacher Rhonda Kimball about renewable energy. The display included models of windmills and other equipment.
“They had to pretend they were working for a company in Maine and had to come up with energy that would be good for their company,” Kimball said. “They did research. It had to be renewable energy — wind, hydro-power, or it could be solar or wood.”
She said the project, for which students would also do a power point presentation, was not something she had planned for the bishop to see, but he showed interest, so she explained the project to him.
“It was really nice to have him see the work that they produced,” Kimball said.
School IT coordinator Val Landry presented a slide show about the school’s history as Deeley watched intently.
“We are always so grateful when he’s here, and the love he shows for the children and the staff is contagious,” McGann whispered. “He brings the Holy Spirit here to us.”
Anther project the students worked on as part of the week was making valentine cards for veterans at Maine Veterans’ Home in Augusta and residents of Mount St. Joseph nursing home in Waterville.
Amy Calder — 861-9247
Twitter: @AmyCalder17
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.