Brooke Meyer receives a blessing from Father Dave Cirata, chaplain of Norwalk Catholic School and pastor of Norwalk St. Paul. (Photo courtesy of Norwalk Catholic School)

The day started with Mass at St. Mary celebrated by Father Frank Speier. Teachers and staff then assembled in the multipurpose room of the Early Childhood Center to spend the day focused on prayer.

“The first line of our school mission statement reads, ‘Our mission is to develop disciples for Christ.’ To form disciples, we need to be disciples. As disciples and Catholic educators, prayer has to be central to what we do so it is essential we start the year focused on prayer,” said Father Dave Cirata, Norwalk Catholic School chaplain.

One hundred staff members participated in the day with three presenters, Marian Bermudez, pastoral associate at Norwalk St. Paul, Father David Nuss, associate pastor at Sandusky St. Mary and Mark Niese, music director at Norwalk St. Paul.

In her talk, “Praying With Stuff,” Mrs. Bermudez’s encouraged listeners to be present to their life experiences, noticing the details of their settings, moods and gestures of people around them, so they can recognize God’s presence in the created world. She led the staff in an exercise to see much of our everyday “stuff” as instruments of prayer.

Fr. Nuss, who teaches at St. Mary Central Catholic High School in addition to his duties as associate pastor, thanked the educators for their commitment and dedication to Catholic education. Fr. Nuss shared his background and upbringing emphasizing the fruit of his Catholic education is the person he is today.

“Catholic education provides a way of seeing the world as it truly is, God’s creation, and offers a way of seeing ourselves as we truly are, made in the likeness and image of God,” he said.

He encouraged teachers and staff to read Scripture on a daily basis, explaining whenever we read Scripture, we pray Scripture and when we allow Scripture to speak to us, it empowers us to be who we were created to be.

The last portion of the day was dedicated to praying with music. Mr. Niese talked about the importance of music in the liturgy and led the staff in various musical exercises.

In closing, the staff recommitted to their ministry as teacher-ministers with a reading of the Credo for Catholic School Educators and a blessing ceremony.