Dear Cathedral Family,
Well, that's a wrap! The 2024-25 school year is in the books, and our mighty and tireless school and campus can take a deep breath! What a flurry of excellent activities for the past few weeks, and truly for the past 36 weeks! The Class of 2025 voted Zeal as our Holy Cross theme of the year, and the year lived up to the theme. Starting with Cole Hocker's Olympic Gold Medal run and the raucous, memorable viewing parties right here at school, through the beautiful Eucharistic Congress in Indy, and throughout our school year, we answered the call to greatness with our eyes firmly on our mission. We educated the hearts and minds of our diverse group of students, who now have the competence to see and the courage to act.
While our classroom educators engaged our students in the classroom, our leaders planned for the future. Acting on the recommendations from our Lumen Accreditation and as part of our ongoing Strategic Planning process, we rolled up our sleeves and examined how to improve continuously. And then, providentially, Lilly Endowment, Inc. announced a very significant private school grant program for which we applied. As was announced this week, we received $586,000 as part of the Lilly Endowment's K-12 Private School Initiative. The focus of this grant is on student achievement and future career and college success. We are poised to focus on these areas, which will be a tremendous benefit to our students. While we know that we are already very good at educating and preparing our students, we will get better, and these plans will form the "bones" of our future planning.
One specific area of improvement will be the faith formation of our adults (parents and educators), as well as of our students. Beginning with last summer's National Eucharistic Congress and informed by our Lumen Accreditation feedback, we recognize that more attention needs to be paid to this area. One useful and contemporary tool we plan to utilize is the
Hallow app. If you're not aware, this highly interactive and engaging app is excellent for faith formation, offering daily prayer and reflections right at your fingertips. We have already purchased the app for our educators, and students will receive it in August. I encourage you to explore the app if you have not done so already.
In all of the excitement surrounding the naming of Pope Leo XIV, I have read several articles expressing the hope that he will do for the United States something similar to what Pope John Paul II did for Poland, stirring up immense interest and renewed vigor in Jesus and our Catholic faith, especially in young people. I am hopeful as well. We plan to ride the wave of excitement in our new Holy Father. Perhaps we can be nudged out of our comfort zones and closer to the opportunities all around us to love and serve others. After all, "we were made not for comfort, but for greatness." (Pope Benedict XVI).
We are continually inspired to share and deepen our zeal for our faith. Our community’s passion and commitment strengthen the Cathedral’s mission, creating a vibrant environment where every student’s unique gifts and diverse perspectives enrich our classrooms as well as the spiritual and social life of our school.
The Cathedral Fund plays a vital role in making it possible for our amazing students to bring their gifts to our community. We are deeply grateful for your ongoing support and the shared enthusiasm that unites us in uplifting Cathedral. I invite you to make your end of year Cathedral Fund gift before June 30th.
Thank you, as always, for your prayers and support. I urge you all to continue praying, holding on to hope for better days and to love one another. After all, loving God above all things and loving one another as He loves us are the two great commandments, not suggestions! Go Irish, and St. Br. André, pray for us!
Faithfully,
Rob Bridges, PhD
President
I invite you to listen to a recent podcast in which I was featured, "Doing the Hard Things: A Conversation with Rob Bridges."