Dear Friends:
This week in January each year is celebrated as Catholic Schools Week, a time to note the contributions of Catholic schools both to the Church and to the wider community. Our parish is blessed to be able to sponsor a vibrant, healthy, and excellent school. With an enrollment of over 360 students ranging from pre-kindergarten through the eighth grade, our school is currently among the largest parish schools in the Archdiocese of Hartford. Now in its sixty-first year of existence, St. Mary School has made vast contributions both to the life of the parish and the Church as well as the Milford community and beyond.
The students who come to St. Mary School are entrusted to us by their parents for their academic education and their spiritual formation. Under the direction of Deacon Dominic Corraro, the school principal, St. Mary School has flourished. Enrollment has increased, academic programs have been strengthened, and the spiritual life of the school has been greatly enhanced. The faculty is composed of dedicated and excellent teachers who do all that they can to insure that their students not only succeed, but thrive. The administrative and custodial staff of the school do their part to make sure that the school runs smoothly and remains clean and sanitary.
You, the people of our parish, should rightly be proud of our school. As pastor, I thank you for the support that you give to the school, be it financially, spiritually in your prayers, or just by promoting it to prospective students and families. As a product of twelve years of Catholic elementary and secondary education (not counting my years in the seminary), I can attest to the excellent academic and spiritual formation I received. Even now, almost fifty years after graduation from elementary school, I still make regular and good use of the skills I learned from my years at SS. Peter & Paul School in Waterbury. The same holds true for my years at Sacred Heart High School, also in Waterbury.
As a parish, we congratulate Louis Santiago, a candidate for the Order of Deacons, who is now in the final months of his preparation for the ministry. Last Saturday, January 21, he was instituted into the Ministry of Acolyte by Bishop Bettancourt in the chapel of St. Thomas at the Pastoral Center in Bloomfield. Keep Louis, his wife and his daughters, in your prayers as he now moves toward ordination as a deacon, which is scheduled for June 3 at the Cathedral in Hartford.
By way of advance notice, the parish schedule for the upcoming season of Lent as well as Holy Week will be posted on social media and the parish website this week. It will also be in the bulletin as we approach Ash Wednesday, which falls on February 22.
Have a good week!