The first of a regular column from Father. 

Dear friends,

            I am grateful for the invitation and opportunity from the Flyer to write a regular column titled “Father’s Focus.” I hope this article will become a public service to our school that will cover both spiritual and practical topics. I will be working with the award-winning Flyer staff to decide what to write in these articles so please submit your ideas to them.

            For the inaugural article I would like to write about our school. It is a new school year and I am more than excited to see what God will work in and through us this 2017-2018. Our school is great: not just in its people (faculty, students, coaches, etc.), not just in its activities (athletics, theatre, music, debate, clubs, etc.), but also in its ability to reach people.

            If I may offer you an example: When I was attending the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota there was an article published in our campus magazine by a woman from a rival school. She wrote that on the same evening after our rivalry game she was having dinner with her family and four of our students were in another booth (she recognized them by their pride attire). She told of how she watched those four students get served their food and then proceeded to say grace (sign of the cross and all). This took her by surprise. She went on to write how this “inspired,” which is defined as “to exert an animating, enlivening, or exalting influence on,” her and her family and they now pray grace before every dinner even when they are out in public.

            Four students, simply by practicing their faith, affected a decision made by a family for years to come.

            This story is a friendly reminder that while in your uniforms (inside and outside of school), while in your school pride attire, while brandishing our BC logos on our vehicles, while on social media, the wider community makes important decisions based on what is seen and heard from us. As a representative of this school, people make judgments about our school based on us. However, we are more than that! A student from Maize, Northwest, Southeast, or Goddard is a representative from that school. That’s not us. We are not just a high school, but a “Catholic” high school. We are representatives of the beliefs and teachings of holy Church. Believe it or not, there are those in the community who make decisions about the Catholic faith based on how we play, what we chant at the games, what we say to the referees, how we celebrate victories, how we handle losses, what we say on Twitter, what they see on Instagram. Some people see our school and decide whether or not to give the Catholic Church a fair shake. We have the ability to reach people. My brothers and sisters, we can win souls for Christ!

What makes a great school?…….the answer is great students, faculty, coaches etc.

What makes a great Catholic school?…….great Catholics.

–          Father Sam Brand