News from the Schools

Visitation Salesian Network news as it relates to the various Visitation schools is featured here.

Mendota Heights: The initial Parent Forum of the year was very successful. It began with dinner with the sisters in the student dining room and following dinner Sister Mary Paula shared a brief history of the Visitation Order and how the sisters first came to Mendota Heights. Sister Marie Therese then offered some personal reflections on how the Salesian charism uniquely forms our students. The parents then joined the sisters in the chapel for Evening Prayer. It proved to be a wonderful opportunity to meet the sisters and learn more about Salesian spirituality that intangible which enriches the lives of all members of the school community.

An exciting assembly saw leaders of the upper school sharing some of their experiences at Camp de Sales. They led an open forum in which they reflected on the Salesian virtues of gentleness and simplicity as a response to issues of rumor/gossip and stress/busyness. The spontaneous response by those attending the assembly was encouraging to all present. This program was all student-planned and led. Onlookers were amazed at the sense of self-possession these women have at such a young age.

Georgetown: Our “cub of the month” program has been expanded to include our faculty and staff. Because the school has two teams, the Gold with a tiger mascot and the White with a bear mascot, our common mascot is a cub. Each month a student is selected from each class who mirrors the virtue of the month and is named the cub of the month. So far we have concentrated on thoughtful concern, kindness, patience and gentleness. In addition to the students selected, the School Government officers this year have been voting on the teacher they believe best exemplifies this virtue. This teacher is then asked to share with the student assembly his or her insights into the virtue of the month. How nice it is to hear our teachers in this role!

Since the March for Life was taking place in Washington on the feast day of St. Francis de Sales, we celebrated the feast a few days later with a Eucharistic liturgy presided over by our Cardinal McCarrick. The Cardinal, in many ways, exemplifies the same qualities of humility, simplicity and gentleness which are so prominent in the life of our saint. He left the girls with a message of hope and asked each one to consider personally whether God might be calling her to follow him more closely in religious life. We are fortunate to have such a simple, kindly pastor! The intercessions during Mass included a prayer for the students in all our Visitation sister schools: St. Louis, St. Paul, Wheeling and Brooklyn.

St. Louis: The Visitation Associates Community, the associate program in St. Louis, continues to grow in very positive directions. The sisters welcomed eight new members to begin their formation this year. The second year associates made their commitment on November 20 and the third year associates renewed their commitment on that day with the sisters who renewed their vows. The associates have become a lay community who live Jesus in the world and share in the spiritual riches of the Visitation Order.

Brooklyn: Brooklyn opened a Jubilee Year of Praise and Thanksgiving on the feast of St. Francis de Sales to celebrate their sesquicentennial, 150 years of dedicated prayer and service to the Church of Brooklyn and its people. The Brooklyn community was founded with a special mission by sisters from the Baltimore community. After they had made a novena with no other purpose than to give Glory to God, the sisters received a request from the Bishop of Brooklyn to found a monastery in his diocese. The spirit of this novena has been a guiding mantra for our Brooklyn as they live their lives fully for the “glory of God.”

Wheeling: Mount de Chantal continues to honor a student in the lower school each month with the Salesian Spirituality Award. This award recognizes students who exemplify qualities of responsibility, creativity, school citizenship and participate wholeheartedly in school activities.

Networking Opportunities

• The meeting of School Heads, Board Chairs and Sister Representatives in Georgetown in October provided a helpful forum for getting to know one another and to discuss issues common to all our schools.
• Meeting of School Counselors will take place in early March when our counselors will get together at Mount de Chantal in Wheeling, West Virginia. Susie Manion and Kristin Hosmer, of Georgetown have agreed to facilitate the meeting.
• Students from St. Louis and Mendota Heights joined Georgetown students in Washington for the March for Life on January 24. In spite of a snow storm and wind chill temperatures of zero degrees, the students braved the elements and enjoyed one another's campany.
• Wheeling hosted the basketball team from Georgetown in November and once again won the game handily! This is a new tradition that is beginning to find a place on our calendars.
• Georgetown is looking forward to welcoming the chorus and orchestra from Mendota Heights in March when the girls will give a joint concert. We look forward to welcoming these Minnesotans to warmer climes.
• Alumnae from Mendota Heights and Georgetown will come together for a morning of reflection on Salesian Spirituality in Fort Meyers, Florida on February 11. Anne Williams from Mendota Heights and Sister Mada-Anne from Georgetown will share their insights on Salesian spirituality to our good friends who move southward in the month of February. We are grateful to our friends from Mendota Heights who have asked us to join them in this celebration of the Salesian charism.

If you are a member of one of the Visitation schools, and have news to share with the other schools, you can contact Sister Mary Berchmans Hannan via email at berchmans@visi.org or phone at 202-337-3350, ext. 2283. News items can also be sent via mail at the following address:
Visitation Salesian Network
1524 Thirty-fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20007