Dear Parents,

This week at Mass, Fr. Bob spoke to us all about doing what is right, speaking the truth in love and not as a means of hurting others, and staying grounded in the truth and not a misguided desire to help a friend.

He gave examples of friends sometimes asking other friends to cheat or possibly lie, or do something that is not right. He spoke about having the ability to tell our friends and those we love when something they are saying or doing is not okay and that they cannot be part of such. 

I went into grades K-5 this week to start our Friendzy classes. Friendzy is a program that promotes social emotional learning. I talked about what it means to be a community. There is a saying "I am because we are". I asked them what they thought this meant. We talked about how each of us is a gift from God and unique in our own special ways. Each of us is equally important. I talked about communities: our families, our class, our school, our friends, the larger community we live in, and the world. I explained how we must think of one another in every action and deed. We must think about how what we say to each other affect's us, and that if we are not speaking the truth in love and instead saying things to hurt others, we are not growing our community in faith and we cannot flourish. I told them that next week, they would have a chance to share with me and their classmates, ways in which we can grow our communities, specifically or class and school communities so that they can flourish.

I hope that this weekend you will have some time to spend with your community (family) and find ways to continue to grow and flourish.  I look forward to seeing all of you at our Fall Fest next Friday!

Have a great weekend.

Your In Christ,

Rita M. Klenk