By Gretchen Crowe
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 11/4/04)

No lockers slammed, no attendance was taken and parents had the day off from car pooling at schools in the Arlington Diocese last Friday. Instead, while students rolled over in their beds, blissfully thankful for a day off, teachers headed to Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington for the annual Arlington Diocesan Education Institute.

Wading through the crowds the O’Connell gym, teachers checked out sticker books, teacher’s guides and educational videos on Samuel, Moses and Joan of Arc. They slipped from one table to the next, reaching into buckets of candy, juggling bags of brochures and trying not to drop their free yellow and white T-shirts.

Companies selling school uniforms, textbooks and even insurance lined up eager to push their wares. Area universities and college, including Catholic University, NOVA and Christendom College, also had information tables.

At 9 a.m. sharp, teachers filed into the auditorium-turned-church for Mass celebrated by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde.

"This is always a wonderful day for Catholic education in our diocese," said Dr. Timothy McNiff, superintendent of Catholic schools, as he opened the event that gathered Catholic educators together in fellowship to worship, learn and get new ideas for their classrooms. McNiff gave a special welcome to Herndon’s St. Veronica School as it was the new school’s first appearance at the institute and also recognized "veteran" teachers who had 25 years or more in Catholic education, adding that "role modeling is never outdated."

As he celebrated Mass, Bishop Loverde said he was "deeply grateful" to be among the teachers. He said hoped the institute would better enable teachers to "exercise more fully in the mission" of Catholic education.

"Yours is the privileged responsibility to form your students so they acquire Christ’s attitude," he said, drawing on the institute’s theme of solidarity: "Catholic Schools: Welcoming the Stranger — Celebrating Diversity."

"Do you welcome the stranger in your school, in your parish, in your community?" he asked. "You will if you have the attitude of Christ, who welcomed both the Jews and Gentiles."

The institute’s keynote speaker, Alejandro Aguilera-Titus, echoed the bishop saying, "If you do not have the attitude of Christ, you cannot be an effective catechist."

Aguilera-Titus called the teachers "communicators" and public people. "In order to be a good communicator, you need to know your audience, you need to know your students," he said, stressing that the educators be aware of whom they are teaching and become familiar with the different cultures of the students. He challenged them to "see them better — to become one."

McNiff said the institute was a "wonderful opportunity to take time to celebrate who we are and what we do, and to do it within a larger context of our daily operations."

Amy McNeill, a second-grade teacher at St. Veronica, said it was very exciting attend the institute from a new school, and that she wants to "bring the spirituality back into the classroom" from the institute.

Following Mass and lunch, teachers had the opportunity to browse the vendors in the gym and to attend breakout sessions ranging from a talk on Mother Teresa by Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart Brignola, to "Gang Awareness" or "Tangrams in Geometry and Algebra."

Seventy teachers packed into a 31-desk classroom to listen to Sister Mary speak of Mother Teresa’s love for the poor, of her desire to follow God and of her spirituality and devotion to Jesus as the Blessed Sacrament.

"Mother Teresa of Calcutta was a teacher and you are teachers," she said. "What a noble, noble career. You form the hearts, the minds and souls of your children, and don’t let anybody tell you different."