Refocus and Renewal
Dear Mater Dei Community,
As we enter into the Lenten season, we follow the example of Christ, praying and fasting for forty days in the desert. It is a time to cut out distractions and refocus on what truly matters. We pray you are blessed with deep spiritual renewal in the coming weeks.
In this month’s newsletter we share about a classroom party and a classroom visit. We also give an update on our plans for relocation as we refocus our mission to serve the southern portion of the Diocese. We are so grateful for your continued prayers and support.
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Ad Jesum Per Mariam
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
Day-to-Day at Mater Dei
We checked in with our Advanced Placement (AP) Physics students, who were playing with matchbox cars during class. They worked together to create a friction-free vehicle-ramp system to calculate the coefficient of friction for various vehicles.
Freshmen in our Ancient Western Civilization course celebrated the end of the semester with an Ancient Greek Garden Party, planned and executed by the students themselves. They spent their class period enjoying authentic Greek cuisine while in-costume and in-character, true to the time period and Ancient Greek customs.
An impromptu chess tournament took shape over the course of a week, with enthusiasm from a majority of the students. As Pascal says, “Chess is the gymnasium of the mind”. The camaraderie among the students at Mater Dei is a joy to witness.
Vocations Visit
The students spent an afternoon during theology class, learning about religious vocations from some very special guests. Father Nick Nelson, pastor of Queen of Peace Parish and Director of Vocations for the Diocese of Duluth, spoke to the young men about the priesthood and his own vocation story. Sister Bernadette and Sister Veronica of the Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus, spoke with the young women about life as a religious sister. God bless our priests and religious! Dear Lord, choose from our homes those who are needed for your work and strengthen us with the courage to say "yes" and to follow you.
Relocation Update
We have been busy the past several months, exploring various options and scenarios for the relocation of Mater Dei to the Cloquet Deanery. It is a process that requires prudence, patience, and great trust. As Bishop Felton so often says, “the Holy Spirit only gives us one step at a time”.
Right now, we can say for certain that we will remain in our current location at Holy Family Church for the 2023/2024 school year.
In the coming weeks/months, with the grace of God, we hope to be able to share a more definitive plan for the future with a concrete timeline for relocation. We are excited about the progress being made as we refocus our mission. Thank you for your continued support of our efforts to bring Catholic high school education to the southern portion of the Diocese of Duluth.
