Surprise Visitor

We had a special visitor at CKS recently:  Sister Karen Dunn visited campus Friday afternoon, was here for mass on Sunday and met with me on Monday. Below, you can see a picture of Sr. Karen and me visiting our Kindergarten students this morning. Sr. Karen served as the CKS principal from 2001 to 2005--the last Salesian sister to serve in that role for our school.  She now leads the Salesian Sisters in the Eastern Province as the Salesian Provincial in New Jersey.

For those of you who don't know the history, the Salesian Sisters (or more formally, Daughters of Mary Help of Christians) served at CKS for almost 30 years and gave us our deep devotion to Saint John Bosco.  Find more information here about Salesian Sisters and you'll know why we continue to dedicate ourselves to being a Salesian school!

I was filled with Joy this morning when I met with Sr. Karen, and she mentioned that, although the buildings had changed since her time at CKS, the presence of Don Bosco remains alive. She felt it near the statue in the courtyard outside the cafeteria, she felt it among the various art pieces inside the building, but she said she felt it most in the warm smiles and welcoming words from our students and parents as they greeted her.

It is important to me, as a former CKS student and current principal, that we preserve that Salesian spirit and treat each other with loving kindness, the hallmark of the Salesians. I realize that we are imperfect people, living in an imperfect world corrupted by sin. We will face adversity, we will face unkindness and we will get hurt. What matters most is how our community responds to adversity -- that we continue to find Joy in God, and celebrate and demonstrate our Salesian spirit!

As we prepare for a much needed Spring Break, I wish you a joyful, restful time with your families and hope you make time to be with God.