5/27/22 - Friday Forget-Me-Nots by Jim Silcott
Photo Caption: Latin Class Field Trip to Pyramid Hill, Hamilton, Ohio.
Dear Our Lady of Peace Family,
To quote the oft quoted Charles Dickens: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” That about sums up the 2021-2022 this past school year.
A year ago last June we had our first all school assembly since March 0f 2020. To thank them for their incredible job in keeping the school open all year, the School Board inducted our entire faculty and staff to the Our Lady of Peace Hall of Fame. We had finished the year of COVID in a spirit of can- do- itness frequently in evidence in time of crisis and we did it well.
And so last summer we moved rooms back to their original locations and made plans for a normal school year.
And then we all learned new medical vocabulary words: “Delta” to be followed by her cousin “Omicron.”
But I am getting ahead of my own story. In Mid-August we proclaimed that after 15 months, masks would be optional per Diocesan recommendation. Then, the night before our Sunday Open House the Diocese, and thus Our Lady of Peace, was back with face coverings. Our parents came into school that morning with fresh “mandatory mask” signs on the doors. There was a lot of frustration but, “the best of times,” unlike some other schools we came together and made it work.
The worst of times was the inevitable dreariness of masks and isolation and quarantine that crept into our bones like arthritis. It made us weary and irritable. We had to keep distancing. Desks had to be in rows. Cafeteria seating was limited. I saw the frustration in the eyes of students, faculty, and staff. I certainly felt it in my own head. We were still working together as a community, but some of the gung-ho can-do spirit was lagging.
In the midst of this, Gina Connor lost her son and Mark Roberts his daughter. Through these tragedies our community came together financially and spiritually to try and offer some solace to them both and their families.
Spring came on and masks came off. Water fountains spouted again. We had our first musical since 2019. And then….” The Diocese has released a proposal that would close some schools and parishes in the Diocese. Our Lady of Peace is one under consideration for having its doors closed.” Watterson would subsume our property like a big fish swallowing a small one.
Now, not only were we dreary and tired, but we were also sad and mad and anxious. Some of use cussed, me included. “What the hell?”
As we approach the end of this school year it seems to me from where I sit that this threat to our existence, like COVID, has only made us stronger. Church attendance is up. Enrollment in our school will increase next year. Our spring musical and GrandPal-A-Thon were successes. Athletic teams played their hearts out. Our Lady of Peace is the gift that keeps on giving to all of us and to our community.
While COVID continues to pester us, while the Diocese continues to threaten us, while the world continues to oppress us with its violence and politics, Our Lady of Peace continues to try its best and do its best, everything with and through Our Lord Jesus Christ who sustains us, nourishes us, and holds us in the palm of His hands.
Jim Silcott
