Denver and Golden, CO
August 2005-June 2006
During my time on mission as a teacher's assistant for second and third grade at Annunciation School in Denver, Colorado, I have witnessed the value of a Catholic school education for children from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. The prevailing atmosphere at this school is a sense of family and peace. The faculty and staff are gifted and compassionate. Every day, they create a positive and supportive environment for the students.
One of the teachers I work with, Dorothy Leonard, has a gift for teaching religion and sharing her love for God with the students. When teaching the students a prayer, she explains to them what the words mean and the feelings she hopes they will hold in their hearts while praying. The students are so eager to learn about God and love religion class.
One day, I came into Dorothy’s classroom at the end of a religion lesson and found, to my dismay, a third of the students crying. I wasn’t sure what to make of it until Dorothy explained. She had been finishing up a lesson on God being our Father in heaven when she noticed one of the students, Carlos, had a terribly sad look on his face. She asked him what was the matter? Carlos started crying and said between sobs, "I don't know who my father is. I've never met him." Dorothy told him to come up to the front of the room, gave him a hug, and began crying with him. Other children in the class started to cry as well, some sharing similar stories of parents unknown or absent, some weeping empathetically with Carlos’ situation.
Dorothy had not expected any of this to happen and was unsure how to deal with this display of emotion. She explained to the class that even though someone does not have or know their father on earth, we have our Daddy in heaven who loves us and looks out for our every need. Finally she said, "Everyone put your heads down and let's all say the Our Father together." I had been holding back my own tears until this moment. But when the students put their heads down, I cried for all of them. What I saw next is a scene that will stay with me forever—a class of children saying the Our Father together between their sobs. This education of the heart cannot change the hard realities of their lives. But, as I saw that day, it can teach them that they are on a faith journey and they do not walk alone.
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