Viking Voice

A Message from Our Principal

Dear Families,

1) Even though we only had a microdose of school last week, I think we managed to make the most of it. We hope this week can be a return to routine. 

I want to again thank the parents who came out on the floor during Friday's Spirit Olympics. Some of you dunked. Some of you tug-of-warred. Some of you did both. The students loved it!

Organizing Spirit Olympics is a significant endeavor. Yes, some of it is rinse and repeat from the year before. Though this may expedite some of the prep work, it doesn't eliminate it. Special thanks to Mrs. Nieman, Mrs. Minnick, Mr. Hoffman, and Mrs. Gross for their cooperative efforts, especially under the duress of a 2-hour-delay schedule.

2) A topic of conversation lately has been the value of youth sports in functioning as another classroom where students learn the Catholic virtues. I was thinking about this as I watched the Holy Spirit Teams compete on Friday and the 8th grade boys wage civil war yesterday on the basketball court. 

In the moment of competition, the virtue of justice is a prominent part of the action. Is that team cheating? Was that call fair? Is that tactic "technically" fair but also a bit devious  or cheap? When we perceive injustice, we often have emotional responses. To temper the emotion requires the virtue of....temperance. And yet, correcting an injustice sometimes needs some loud and passionate voices. Enter the virtue of fortitude. A referee under fire for a controversial call? That man or woman needs some prudence to handle the fragile moment with care. Failure to do so could find them accepting an angry parent's offer to settle things in the parking lot. This is when YouTube ensures that no one is redeemed! 

Congrat to the 8th grade boys hoopers for putting on a great show yesterday. The Queen of Peace squad edged the Viking squad by 3 points in a back-and-forth contest. Thanks to Rick Graf, Mark Collins, Carson Collins, and everyone else who made it a really fun event. 

3) Last week we celebrated the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas (d.1274)--one of the true giants in Church history. Our Catechism is a repository of his influence on the way we understand and practice the faith. One of his great projects was proving that faith and reason are not contradictory. Were it not for Aquinas, Pope John Paul II may never have said the following: "Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth."

The Church officially recognizes Aquinas as a "Doctor of the Church" This is another way of saying he is one of the superstar theologians and philosophers who has shaped Catholicism over its 2,000-year history.

Other Doctors (all of them saints) include Augustine of Hippo, Gregory the Great, Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, Bonaventure, Bernard, Bellarmine, and more. 

When we talk to our students about these great figures, we emphasize their role in the Church's "magisterium." We might not use this exact term every time, but the common message thread is that our faith tradition is exactly what we say it is when we recite the Nicene Creed: apostolic......handed down from the apostles. TAUGHT to us by the Church's official teachers. 

Imagine taking a class on physics and never learning anything from Newton or Einstein. Just as impossible as being Catholic and trying to dodge the influence of the Church's doctors.   

Christ in Self. Christ in Other. 

Sincerely,

Josh

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