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I hope you will enjoy this edition of the Crusader Times. By taking the time to stay informed and involved, you participate in the Academy’s mission to be an outpost of the kingdom of God and a beacon of truth in an often dark world.

Given the uncertainties of the months leading up to the start of classes, it is hard to believe that tomorrow we will close out the first quarter of the historic 2020-2021 school year.

Our Lady of The Atonement Catholic Church is growing, and we want the new parish families attending Mass on weekends to know about The Atonement Academy, the church’s primary ministry to families.

Classes may have started more than a month ago, but to me it’s always the advent of cool, fall weather that makes me feel that school has begun in earnest.

This morning while observing a grammar lesson in a Lower School classroom, I noticed something. On her wall, the teacher had hung a colorfully lettered plaque that read, “Do the right thing…even when no one is looking.”

Beginning on Monday morning, September 14th, I will once again be offering our scholars my customary handshake as they arrive in the Piazza during carline.

Last week, one of my children caught a cold. Not a big deal, but in the pandemic era that meant staying home and getting tested. Fortunately, all is well.

It was quite a vision this past week to enter classrooms and see our teachers interacting simultaneously with both on-campus and remote students.

Yesterday, once afternoon carline had run its course, the faculty and staff gathered to debrief the day. We gave thanks for the privilege of bringing to fruition weeks of planning and preparation.

As humans, we will from time to time be called upon to endure seasons of real crisis. But endurance alone is not the purpose of human life.

Welcome to the Crusader Times - Fourth Quarter Awards Edition! Congratulations to all those students who persevered amidst imperfect circumstances this past quarter.

It is always an accomplishment to persevere through a long school year. This time, however, required an extra measure of devotion.

We are nearly there! Today is the last day of school for the Class of 2020, and the rest of us are a mere week from the finish line.

We continue to pack a lot of information into our weekly newsletter, all intended to help your family finish the year well.

Only two short weeks lie between us and the end of the most eventful school year in recent memory. While I don't know all that your family has faced and may continue to face, all the signs suggest that, as a community, The Atonement Academy has come through this trial stronger, more unified, and better prepared to meet future challenges.

This Easter season I've been pondering the ways in which the resurrection of Jesus changes everything. Earlier this week, I came across this passage from St. Basil the Great in his treatise On the Holy Spirit:

I hope you enjoy this edition of theCrusader Times. I also want to pass on the link to a "fireside chat" I recorded yesterday.

We are sending out this week’s Crusader Times a day early so that, beginning Holy Thursday, we can leave academics behind for a time and enter deeply into the high feast of the Christian year. 

This season of restricted movements and limited action puts me in mind of a sentence I first read nearly twenty years ago. It comes from a little book entitled The Sacred Journey, Frederick Buechner’s 1982 memoir of his childhood and youth during the Great Depression and World War II.

I hope you will enjoy this issue of the Crusader Times. Of special note--this is our Third Quarter Awards Edition. Congratulations to all award winners.