Dominicans Find Kennesaw School 'Perfect Fit'

ERIKA ANDERSON, Staff Writer

Published: September 9, 2004

KENNESAW—On Aug. 25 the sign outside St. Catherine of Siena School welcomed Archbishop John F. Donoghue, but just a week earlier another special welcome had taken place.

Students and faculty at the kindergarten through fifth grade school welcomed with open arms three sisters from the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia congregation in Nashville.

Sister Maria Goretti, OP, is serving as the school’s principal, Sister Mary Juliana, OP, is a second-grade teacher, and Sister Maria Cecilia, OP, is a fifth-grade teacher, and all three agree that St. Catherine’s is a “perfect fit.”

The newest Catholic school in the archdiocese, St. Catherine opened in August 2002, with kindergarten through third grade, using existing parish facilities and is growing by one grade a year to become a K-8 school. It has grown from 78 students then to 176 students this fall when it added fifth grade.

In a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Donoghue to welcome the sisters and kick off the school year Aug. 25, the archbishop said that although the school year has begun, asking God’s blessings is essential to really start things on the right foot.

“At least, I know that Catholics understand this, and to begin the school year without having a Mass, without asking for God’s help, and without thanking Him for what He has given us, would be like having a banquet to honor someone, and forgetting to invite the person we wanted to honor,” he said. “And so, this is the right thing to do—get together today, and to celebrate this Mass, to mark the beginning of the school year at St. Catherine of Siena’s, and to think about what God has given us, and what we hope He will give us in the future.”

He told the congregation that God had provided many things for the school, such as parents willing to sacrifice for their children, and teachers and a faculty willing to serve. He also expressed gratitude to Robyn Planchard, the school’s founding principal who has just retired, and delight in the sisters that now guide the school.

“For many years I have been inviting these sisters to come here to Atlanta and to work with us, and we have had to wait—not because they didn’t want to come, but because so many bishops have asked them before I did,” he said. “But now, we have come to the head of the list, and God has blessed our patience by sending us these sisters. We are so thankful, and we are ready to do whatever we can to help them guide St. Catherine’s School into the future.”

The new members of the community need prayers, as they start their work at St. Catherine’s, and as they become adjusted to their new home, the archbishop said.

“We know that they will miss their family back in Nashville, but we hope that they will grow to love us, as much as we know that we can love them,” he said.

Father James Harrison, pastor of St. Catherine’s, concelebrated the Mass, along with parochial vicar Father Maxis St. Fleur. Father Harrison thanked the archbishop for sending the gift of the new sisters.

“Archbishop, we thank you for all the work you did behind the scenes to bring our sisters here from Nashville,” he said. “We are truly grateful.”

The news that sisters from the Nashville Dominicans would teach there was made public in April as the parish broke ground for a $3 million educational structure that will serve the school, the parish school of religion, and other parish programs such as Life Teen.

The new education center will be a 30,000-square-foot expansion connected to an existing parish building, Herbert Hall. The new center will include 18 classrooms, a media center, band room, art room, science room, a full cafeteria and administrative areas. It will serve the school from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. and the school of religion and other activities at other times of day. Herbert Hall, which has a full basketball court, will be used as a gymnasium.

At a time when many orders are struggling, the Nashville Dominicans, whose primary apostolate is teaching, have been blessed with many vocations. Members of the order, established in 1860, wear a habit and live their lives in community with a rigorous Dominican spirituality and an emphasis on poverty.

The order has over 200 sisters; 130 are fully professed, 50 are in the first years of profession, 12 are novices and 10 are postulants. The median age in the order is 36.

In Tennessee, the sisters teach in elementary schools, middle and high schools, and at Aquinas College, a small liberal arts college where their own community members also receive teacher education. In addition, the Nashville Dominicans teach in 11 other dioceses, including Denver, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Cincinnati, Birmingham, Ala., and most recently New Orleans.

The sisters will live in a convent at the parish.

Following the Mass the archbishop walked through the halls of St. Catherine School and greeted the students in their classrooms.

Preschoolers from St. Catherine’s preschool lined the hallways, quietly and eagerly anticipating the archbishop’s arrival. As he walked among them, several students handed him flowers.

“Did you grow these yourself?” the archbishop asked one child, who nodded in the affirmative.

“You did? No you didn’t!” he laughed.

As he walked into each classroom, students stood and greeted him.

“Hello, Archbishop Donoghue,” they sing-songed formally.

Archbishop Donoghue then gave the students special blessings for a successful school year.

Sister Maria Goretti led the archbishop, pointing out the various classrooms to him. The principal said that the whole community is “really excited to be here.”

“I feel like we’ve been here for a long time, even though it’s just been a few weeks,” she said. “There is such joy here. We feel very welcomed.”

She is grateful for the archbishop’s “great love for Catholic education,” and his eucharistic-centered spirituality.

“It just feels like a perfect fit for us,” she said.

Sister Maria Goretti also expressed her appreciation for Planchard, her successor.

“She did a super job of getting the ball rolling and hired a tremendous faculty,” she said. “Now we’ll just be working on things like finding our identity and who we are as a Catholic school.”

Taking a break from her second-graders, who were having snack time, Sister Mary Juliana also expressed joy in her new home.

“It’s a great blessing for the sisters to be here. The kids are great,” she said. “It’s really just a perfect fit for us—the spirit of the school and the focus on the sacraments. I am inspired by the children’s real desire to learn more about their faith.”

Sister Maria Cecilia echoed the sentiments of her fellow sisters.

“The main thing is that we are just so grateful to be here,” she said. “We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of the community. We feel very welcome and blessed to be here. The children, the community—it’s just a perfect fit.”

Bethany White, administrative assistant and admission director at St. Catherine School, said it isn’t just the sisters who feel that they are a perfect fit in the community.

“Happy doesn’t describe how glad we are that they are here,” she said. “It’s amazing. It’s awesome. It’s like we are complete. I feel like we finally have the right combination.”

Despite many of the students never having been around sisters before, they have embraced the sisters’ presence in their white and black habits, White said.

“You heard the students saying, ‘I got Sister,’ or ‘I get to be in Sister’s class,’” White said. “They were really excited.”

The Nashville Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia are widely known for their joyful, energetic faith. White said that they possess the perfect qualities to serve in education.

“They have a good combination of being both strict and loving, very much like a parent,” she said.

Patti LaRosa, art teacher at St. Catherine, said that it’s also easy to relate to the sisters.

“You can see their humanness—they are a lot of fun, and you can tease and joke with them,” she said.

Sister Maria Goretti hopes that Catholic education will help the students feel more a part of the church.

“We believe that Catholic education is at the heart of the church’s mission,” she said. “So when the children are here, they are spending time in the heart of the church.”