| October 10, 2008
Dear Parents and Friends of St. Ann Catholic School,
Tuesday morning, October 3rd, I had the pleasure of attending our
all-school Mass celebrating the Feast of the Holy Rosary. I sat in my usual
spot in the front pew with the first graders. School was always very
difficult for me and I found that if I sat up front I would be less
distracted and able to focus more. I have continued sitting up front at the
many meetings, seminars, and religious services throughout my adult life.
For the past 20 years, at Holy Spirit Church’s Sunday 7:30 morning Mass, I
sit in the front left pew with whatever kids I can wake up early.
I cannot tell you how beautiful and impressive our school Mass was this
past Tuesday. Dottie
Lickteig and Mary King are veteran third grade teachers here at St. Ann and
their Mass preparation always shows great reverence and attention to
detail. Every child had a role and performed it with precision and a faith-
filled smile on their face. Dottie and Mary instilled great pride in their
students and I am sure that all of our school parents and daily Mass
attendees from our parish were inspired by this liturgy. Sister Mark sat
like a mother hen with the third grade choir Tuesday morning, smiling and
nodding her head in approval. There is no question that our staff deserves
a big thank you for such excellent work but the main credit goes to the
students themselves and to their parents. Our school families are the best
and our entire staff thanks all of you for allowing your children to spend
some time with us daily.
I graduated from St. Agnes School and my memories of school Masses have
faded. I can recall
Msgr. Koch staring down the altar servers (back then boys only) if we were
not reciting our Latin prayers loud enough or pronouncing every syllable
correctly. When we started cracking our knuckles loudly during the
otherwise silent times in church, Mr. Fox and Mrs. Busenbark would walk
slowly in front of us eighth grade boys hoping to catch just one of us in
the act. I recall singing loudly with enthusiasm until about sixth grade
when I became too cool to sing. (We are still working on this here at
St. Ann.) Our Catholic faith and the Mass itself is essentially unchanged
from my childhood in the 1960’s to the present day. This hour or two a week
that we spend in church with your children is the most important time of the
week for us. Thanks to all of our families for reinforcing the importance
of Mass attendance on weekends for you and your children. As I have stated
before, our most important goal is to help get your children to heaven.
Thanks for the help!
Stay healthy, holy and happy,
Mark Huppe,
Principal
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