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Edition No. 32 February 8, 2017
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Excellence in Education
Saint Genevieve School
Honored with Third Blue Ribbon Award
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The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program was established in 1982 to recognize the best public and non-public elementary, middle and high schools in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. This national recognition is bestowed on a few hundred public schools each year. However, only 50 non-public schools are awarded this distinction annually.
On Wednesday, September 28, 2016, U. S. Secretary of Education, Dr. John B. King, named Saint Genevieve School in Flourtown, Pennsylvania, as a
2016 National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence
. In November, Sister Theresa and a representative group from the school traveled to Washington, D.C. to receive the award in a formal ceremony. This is the third time since 2000 that Saint Genevieve School has received this honor. The school is one of only three schools in the state of Pennsylvania to have received the recognition three times!
We congratulate the Principal,
Sister Theresa Maugle SSJ
, the Pastor, Reverend Monsignor Michael J. Matz, faculty, students and staff. As a team they continue to provide quality Catholic education to the 271 children who attend Saint Genevieve School in conjunction with the support of parents and parishioners.
Congratulations !
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Blue Ribbon Steering Committee
Pictured from left: Theresa Maugle SSJ, Annemarie McCloy, Stephanie Litty and Frances Farris
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Convent Crawl
Savannah, Georgia
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Members of three religious communities and six young women of various ages participated in a Convent Crawl on Saturday January 28, 2017. The event provided an opportunity to meet sisters, hear their stories and see where they live. Participating sisters and their communities included Sisters Julie Franchi and Georgette Cunniff (Missionary Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception), Sister Veronica Kovach (Religious Sisters of Mercy) and Sisters Jackie Griffith and Donna Jo Loeper (Sisters of Saint Joseph – Philadelphia).
The Crawl included food at each stop – appetizers with the MFIC’s, pizza with the RSM’s and dessert with the SSJ’s. Participants were invited to tour each residence and help themselves to the food as well as receive information on each of the sisters’ communities. Sisters then shared on specific topics including their vocation stories and ministry experiences, history and spirituality of their congregation and a discussion on prayer. The experience ended with evening prayer.
Participants seemed to enjoy this type of vocation experience – the food, traveling to each location and spending informal time with the sisters. The discussion and sharing of prayer at the last stop seemed especially meaningful.
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Photo courtesy Donna Jo Loeper SSJ
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In January Sister Sharon White SSJ took time from her ministry as a Psychotherapist and Crisis Worker to travel to Nicaragua to assist Sister Dianne Fanguy CSJ of Baton Rouge, LA, as she transitions from her ministry in the capital city, Managua.
The Sisters spent hours sorting out: shredding and preparing for Dianne to leave the land she has called home for the past 22 years. Time was woven into the schedule to visit people and places dear to Dianne’s heart, including the barrios, where the poorest of the poor live with great challenges. The time for Sharon was filled with many hellos and, at the same time, experiencing Dianne’s precious closures. Meeting Dianne’s many grateful companions was life-giving. While visiting Cantera where Dianne worked, Sharon observed how the use of sharing the state of the heart at every gathering was community building in action. The charism of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, THAT ALL MAY BE ONE, was palpable.
Propelled by the experiences of Nicaragua and the plight of marginalized people, Sharon participated in The Women’s March in Philadelphia the day after she arrived home. With hope and love, she carried the sign which read — LOVE WILL WIN!
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Pictured from left: Sharon White SSJ,
Dianne Fanquy CSJ and student
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Sister Sharon with volunteers at Contera
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Photos courtesy Sharon White SSJ
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"It is God who calls us to be Sisters of Saint Joseph and who forms us through the action of the Spirit, as, in every generation, Holy Wisdom calls people to herself and makes them friends of God and prophets. (Wis 6:12-13; 7:27)
."
— SSJ Constitutions #110
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Editor, Sister Carole Pollock SSJ | 215.248.7269 | [email protected] | http://ssjphila.org/new/
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