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Keeping the faith: Working in Catholic schools is a joy and a calling, say teachers

Leslie Miller | Catholic Herald Staff Writer

Sue Gibbons gets a hug from student Scott Bender at Holy Spirit School in Annandale. COURTESY

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Michael Parker explains a science experiment at St. Patrick School in Fredericksburg. COURTESY

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Peg McClay helps student Olivia Donlon in the extended day program at St. Patrick School in Fredericksburg. COURTESY

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Missy Gurley teaches theology at St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly. COURTESY

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Mark Moran of Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School in Potomac Shores, wants to help students be rooted in their faith. COURTESY

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Michael Bernhard started teaching at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington after retiring from the U.S. Navy. COURTESY

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Michael Rauer, retired from the U.S. Army, has been at Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria for 27 years. COURTESY

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When her three children were growing up, Sue Gibbons and her family moved overseas every few years for her husband’s job, living in such far-flung locales as Senegal, Denmark, Vietnam and Australia. But when they were back home in Virginia, the kids always returned to Holy Spirit School in Annandale.

“I always came back too, first as a volunteer and eventually as a teacher,” said Gibbons, coordinator of Resource Services at Holy Spirit, where she’s in her 11th year. The school supports more than 30 students with mild to moderate disabilities, ADHD and autism, and is working to expand services for those with more significant needs.

“I want every student to know they are seen and respected. I want to be that teacher that said a kind word when they needed to hear it,” she said. “I really love my job and feel blessed that God has led me to where I need to be, doing his work. I have such great role models in the administration, teachers, and staff, and our pastor is so supportive of the school. They all make me want to be a better Catholic.” 

Across the diocese, teachers and staff express similar sentiments: working in Catholic schools is not just a job, but a calling that helps them live out their faith.

“Teaching in the Catholic schools has deepened my faith immensely and given me more blessings than I can count,” said Melissa Payne, who teaches first grade at Holy Spirit. “I wanted to work in an environment where I could teach and model how God works in every aspect of our lives.”

Like Gibbons, many teachers started as school volunteers.

After volunteering for six years in his twin sons’ class at St. Patrick School in Fredericksburg, Michael Parker became a substitute teacher and then got his certification. He’s been at St. Patrick for five years, teaching math, science, and religion, after previously working as a veterinary assistant and a lab technician. He also spent 12 years as a stay-at-home dad to his sons, now 16.

Most of his students come from large families, and Parker said they have created a sort of family in school as well. “No cliques have formed; they look out for one another and set responsible and kind examples for the younger class levels,” he said. He does his best to “speak to them on their own level, and entertain with silly ‘Dad jokes’ ” related to lessons.

“I hope the students look upon me as a good Catholic example to follow, and as an inspiration — as a man, instructor, and father. I know that even though my calling came late in life, the fact that I listened and followed the path that was laid out for me was well worth it.”

Peg McClay started volunteering at St. Patrick School in 1991, a year after the school opened, when two of her children were there. At first, she worked in the office and as a kindergarten and preschool aide. Then she started at the extended day program, where she now works with her daughter, Krissy Roberts. Roberts took over the program when McClay left to care for her husband, Deacon John J. McClay Sr. After he died, McClay returned to the program.

“I’m able to be immersed in my faith, being present to every single child every single day, showing love, patience and kindness. That’s how you live your faith every day, with every child.”

Others agree. Whatever their grade level or subject area, it’s clear that teachers all want their students to feel loved, valued and prepared to thrive in a changing world.

“My students are amazing. They are bright, involved, interesting, active and faithful,” said Jackie Marino, who teaches world languages at Holy Spirit School. “I want my students to be curious, to take chances and not be afraid to make mistakes, to be accepting of others, and appreciate different cultures,” she said.

Missy Gurley has taught in the diocese for 16 years; she now teaches theology at St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly. Teaching “is my joy, my life and most certainly my vocation — really, an extension of my motherhood,” said Gurley, whose four kids are now in their 20s.

She calls her students “the most fascinating, precious and endearing kids on the planet.” When approached with love, she said, “students know they are safe and cared for, and I find that any behavioral issues are greatly minimized, sometimes almost nonexistent.”

Lisa Klinge was a social worker “before deciding my true passion was teaching. I took a considerable pay cut to come back to the Catholic schools just so I could teach AND share my faith with our children,” she said. A teacher for 16 years, she now teaches kindergarten at St. Patrick, where she’s been for 11 years. “I believe children need to know they are loved by their creator. I also believe that since we ask children to live their faith, we should demonstrate how it fits into everything — including academics and social interactions.”

For Mark Moran, “the Catholic faith is the rock of my life that has gotten me through a lot of difficult times,” and he wants to share that faith with his students. “I am a teacher because I want to bring students to Christ,” said Moran, now in his 11th year at Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School in Potomac Shores, where he teaches sciences and a freshman bioethics course on “the human person.”

“Although our students are constantly bombarded by our culture, I have been impressed with how many already come to the class seeing something broken and wrong in the world’s view of sexuality. It is beautiful and incredibly rewarding to be able to bring to the students the church’s teaching on sex, marriage and the family,” said Moran, a father of six. “It is a tough world out there, and students need to be rooted in their faith.”

Michael Bernhard has taught algebra and calculus at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington since retiring from the U.S. Navy in 2007. He enjoys sharing Navy stories with his students and “watching them recognize me for the first time when I’m singing with the St. Thomas More Cathedral choir or cantoring at Mass.”

His students engage in collaborative teams every day. “I want them to graduate with a strong sense of self-worth and the knowledge that they are always loved by the God who made them,” he said.

Michael Rauer is also a military veteran; he started teaching after retiring from the U.S. Army and has been at Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria for 27 years. He wants to help his students — the nation’s future leaders — “retain their faith in our ever-increasing secular society.” 

They are “energetic and eager to gain an understanding of the world of tomorrow,” he said. “As a history teacher, I take pleasure in knowing that these students will gain valuable insights from studying the past — the successes and failures of history.”

His greatest satisfaction as a teacher, he said, is “the knowledge that I am touching the future of our Catholic faith and the future of the United States of America.”

 

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