My dear friends,

Believe it or not, school starts at Saint Teresa this coming Tuesday for our students and on Thursday for our public school students. Summer has really flown by. Last week our teachers had a beautiful retreat to start the school year, and I ask you to join me in praying for them, and for our catechists who will begin next month, as they have the sacred task of educating the young people of our parish and helping you, their parents, pass on the faith to them.

In preparing for the retreat that we gave to the teachers, I came across this beautiful quote from Saint John Bosco:

Do you want to do a good deed? Teach the young! Do you want to perform a holy act? Teach the young! You want to do a holy thing? Teach the young! Truly, now and for the future, among holy things, this is the holiest.

And as we look ahead to this 100th year of school here at St. Theresa, we give thanks for all the graces that our Good Lord has bestowed on our parochial school over this century. For all the teachers and students that have graced those hallways, many of them now called home to the Lord, we give thanks.

The official birthday of the school is on September 15th, but we are planning a big school Centennial Mass on Sunday, November 16th when the weather is (hopefully) cooler. More details to come. Fow now, I welcome back all our families who are back after a much-deserved summer break, and I invite all our parishioners to pray for all our young people who are starting school this week by saying the following prayer for students offered by the Bishops Conference (USCCB):

Lord our God,
in your wisdom and love
you surround us with the mysteries of the universe.
Send your Spirit upon these students
and fill them with your wisdom and blessings.
Grant that they may
devote themselves to their studies
and draw ever closer to you,
the source of all knowledge.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
R/. Amen.

God bless you all,