Students from Christ the King Catholic School in Kansas City, Kansas, strike a masked pose during recess.
It’s been a year unlike any other. But while the past nine months have brought new challenges to many of the students we serve, they've also brought new perspective to the supporters who make CEF scholarships possible.
At the beginning of Lent, my wife and I attended the Church of the Ascension all school Mass on Ash Wednesday. As we were waiting for the service to begin, our children were entering the Church as one family, devoted to Christ.
At that moment, I was reflecting on the Ascension of Jesus stained glass art and enjoying the peaceful assembly of our parish without mobile phones, media, pop stars or commercialism. Life is moving so quickly and it’s easy to fall into the typical human race to acquire stuff and check off our endless to do list.
With the 2015-16 school year fast approaching, it’s important to communicate our goals at CEF. They are aggressive; however, the need is high for those who rely on CEF to help students attend our parish schools. It’s going to be challenging but the board is ready to work hard because the impact we can have with kids, which makes it very rewarding.
Remember the plaid skirts and the khaki pants? Remember the nuns, the bake sales, and the weekly masses? It’s hard to imagine that we have been out of school for so long, but it’s easy to remember the impact of our education.
With the combination of the return of Arctic temperatures this week and the evening commute now occurring in near total darkness, it isn’t so hard to believe that the Christmas season is right around the corner. Schedules are filling, to-do lists are seemingly endless, and between work, school, and well, life, it can be only too easy to focus inward on ourselves, to the detriment of others in need.