Pre-K Program1958 to Present
|
1958 to Present
A shortage of teaching sisters brought about a major change in the faculty of Our Lady Star of the Sea School. The first lay teachers were hired. Over the years these dedicated men and women have continued the legacy of Catholic education which Fr. Alexander and the first Sisters of Divine Providence began. There would be no school without them. Several of these teachers have taught at OLSS for over twenty years.
Fr. Richard Gardiner was appointed administrator in the fall of 1983 and ultimately pastor in January 1984. He was almost immediately faced with an overcrowded church. A successful fundraising campaign in 1991 enabled the parish to add the Providence Room in 1993 as well as to expand the school from the original four classrooms to nine. A generous gift from Pat and Ann Collins provided a separate building which now serves as computer lab and library.
The Providence Room was used for two Masses on Sunday for over 400 worshipers at each service. This multi-purpose room is still used for meetings, classes, and receptions. It becomes a dinner theater for performances by the very successful drama group, the Alumni Players. Although this ensemble began as a group of former OLSS students interested in raising funds for the school, it has developed into an annual dinner theatre experience of hilarity and mystery. Proceeds from performances assist with the school fine arts program. On the last Friday of April the Providence Room is transformed into a fantasy world for the annual Blossom Ball, another social event which raises funds to support the school and parish.
The parish was faced with a growing problem. Worship space was insufficient. Our Lady Star of the Sea grew from a mere handful of Catholics in 1888 to 1,100 families at present. A new church was planned and built to accommodate this growth and for the years ahead. Several of those original school families still have children, three generations later, enrolled and many graduates are actively involved in the school and parish community.
The vitality of the parish is evidenced by numerous factors: frequent baptisms; a strong RCIA program; well attended liturgical celebrations with full singing and a community spirit that visitors would like to bottle and take back to their home parishes; wonderful volunteers who assume responsibility for their school and parish by caring for its many needs; three active deacons; three very involved and always available Sisters of Divine Providence; and a hands-on pastor who serves the community as pastoral leader and friend.
A Catholic school is a great gift to the parish, the church, and to the local community. For over seventy five years the parishioners of Our Lady Star of the Sea School have worked with the Sisters of Divine Providence and the pastors to make our parish school one of the finest in the Archdiocese of Washington. I have been blessed to serve here for over twenty-five years and work closely with the Sisters who have been principals and teachers here. They have welcomed me into their community and been a source of support to me in my ministry as pastor. Congratulations and may God continue to bless our school! |
|
