By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

NORTHBOROUGH – Katherine Hurd, a kindergartner at St. Bernadette Elementary School, was scared. The bishop was coming. And she didn’t know him.
That’s how her teacher, Annette Dalbec, described the child’s anticipation of Bishop McManus’ visit Monday for Catholic Schools Week.
It was a different story for some of the older kids.
At Mass the bishop told students how to succeed. (Stay tuned for his answer.) He didn’t succeed so well at shooting baskets with eighth-graders later, but they apparently had a ball. (Pardon the pun.)
“They’ve been waiting for this; they were so excited,” commented Father Ronald G. Falco, St. Bernadette’s pastor.
After Mass, Bishop McManus dedicated the Early Childhood Center, where Katherine’s kindergarten class plays and learns. Then Mrs. Dalbec asked her how she felt.
“Better.” The bishop, Katherine decided, was “nice.”
What did he do?
“He blessed.”
Who was he honoring?
“Sister Marguerite.”
Sister Marguerite Timothy Young, a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur and associate superintendent of schools, had spent much time at St. Bernadette Parish and school before her death last July.     
“She would drive three or four days a week” to morning Mass at St. Bernadette’s after she moved out of the convent there, Father Falco told David Perda, superintendent of Catholic schools. “We wanted to do this. She loved our little kids.”
“She would be so honored,” Mrs. Dalbec said. “She used to show up with lollypops or stickers. … All of a sudden she’d be at the door. She’d walk back from church with us and talk with the kids. We were really blessed.”
“I am here to honor Sister, because she had been such a guiding light for all the schools,” especially St. Aloysius Elementary in Gilbertville, said Loretta DiPietro, who does faith formation there.
Sister Karen Coakley, a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, said it was an honor to be there. She said Sister Marguerite exemplified the things their foundress, St. Julie Billiart, said about the sisters’ work in education.
St. Julie wanted the sisters to “teach the students what they need to learn for life” and Sister Marguerite did that, said Sister Sandra Maria Napier, another Sister of Notre Dame de Namur. She said eight of their sisters came to the dedication, including two from their province leadership team who live in the Boston Archdiocese. She and Sister Karen work at The Bridge Education Center at Notre Dame Health Care in Worcester.
Luke Donfield, a third-grader, gave The Catholic Free Press his perspective on the dedication of the center, which most students had to watch from the outside, due to limited space.
“They had everybody line up in rows,” he said. “They brought the blessed water and then they splashed it onto the building. Then they just had everybody go back to their classrooms.”
The bishop went to classrooms after a reception for adult visitors. Sophie Vieira, another third-grader, described his visit.
“I liked that he was asking us nice questions” about religion lessons, she said. She also liked “that he gave us the prayer for our families” – his blessing.
At Mass, Bishop McManus preached about the Catholic Schools Week theme: “Catholic Schools: Learn. Serve. Lead. Succeed.” In a Catholic school, those words mean something very different than in other schools, he explained.
A Catholic school is a place where people learn and are asked questions, he said. He said the most important questions, and the answers, which can’t be learned in a public school, are: “Where have I come from?” (God) “Where am I going?” (Home to God) “How do I get there?” (“You get there by keeping your eyes on Jesus.”)
Bishop McManus noted that Catholic schools in the diocese display a plaque that says Christ is the reason for the school. He talked abut Christ coming to teach people how to get to his Father’s house – by loving God with all your heart and loving your neighbor as yourself.
He shared a story he said he’d told at Mass for St. Joseph Elementary School in Webster. A fourth-grader there had interviewed him, as a Church leader, for an assignment. She told him she regularly helps her parents feed people in Worcester who live on the streets.
In a Catholic school, one leads by service, the bishop said. And one gets the strength to do that from Mass.
Our mission in life is to go to heaven, taking as many people with us as we can, Bishop McManus said, adding, “That, my friends, is real success.”

In the United States there are more than 6,000 Catholic schools, with about 2 million young people, he said, adding that it would make a difference in this nation if these people would learn, serve, lead and succeed. He said Pope Francis, gathered with one million young people at World Youth Day in Panama, told them to go home and make a difference by their belief in Jesus.

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Schools win big with the Railers

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

WORCESTER – It started with ideas of winning tickets to a big league game. But it turned into something bigger than expected – Catholic Schools Night at the Railers.
The people who’ve made it happen tell it like this.
Susan M. Saucier, director of student financial services for the diocesan Catholic Schools Office, said she entered a Facebook raffle a couple years ago for Boston Bruins tickets. She figured if she won, she’d give them to one of the schools.
“Connor Haynes from the Railers called me,” Ms. Saucier recalled. Since the Worcester Railers HC sponsored the raffle, she figured she’d won the Bruins tickets.
She hadn’t, but Mr. Haynes had something else in mind.
Mr. Haynes, senior account executive of tickets and memberships, said they had a long conversation.
“Two hours!” chimed in Ms. Saucier. “And I couldn’t get rid of this kid unless I bought season tickets” – to the  Railers!
“She found out I went to St. Peter-Marian,” Mr. Haynes said.
Ms. Saucier said she contacted Denise Allain,  principal of the central Catholic junior/senior high school, “to make sure this kid was on the up-and-up.” Then she told Mr. Haynes, “I will be your season ticket holder, but it’s not about me; it’s about my schools.”
That was the beginning of a relationship and a collaboration that led to Catholic Schools Night at the Railers.
“I don’t like hockey, but I love our Worcester Railers,” Ms. Saucier said. “There was an immediate connection with the staff.”
She and Mr. Haynes planned the first Catholic Schools Night. And the second was held Saturday at the DCU Center. And the Railers beat Adirondack Thunder, 5-1.
“It really is a fun and exciting night for the kids,” Ms. Saucier said.
It was an exciting night for her too.
She was honored with an award and by being asked to drop a ceremonial puck with Bishop McManus and David Perda, the superintendent.
People from 16 schools bought tickets, Ms. Saucier said. Selling the most tickets in their school size category were: St. Peter Central Catholic Elementary in Worcester, Assumption Elementary in Millbury and Holy Family Academy in Gardner. This entitled each school to the “player experience package” – a visit to the school by players or their mascot, Trax, a larger-than-life dog.
The first 1,000 people to buy specially priced tickets for Catholic schools were to get a free T-shirt. There were some T-shirts left at the end, but Mr. Haynes said it “definitely was a successful night for us.”
Other spectators came too. In all, 5,101 tickets were sold, Mr. Haynes said.
A Railers game tradition called “chuck a puck” benefitted St. John Parish’s Food for the Poor program. People buy pucks to throw on the ice after the second period and half the money goes to the Railers, half to a charity.
Catholic schools got some special attention at their special night.
Some of the students got to greet players along the traditional  “high-five line” in a hallway. The dance team from St. Peter-Marian performed, and choirs from Holy Family Academy in Gardner, Assumption Elementary in Millbury and Holy Name Central Catholic Junior/Senior High sang patriotic songs on the ice.
During the game and between periods, the jumbotron, high above the arena floor, featured people, including excited spectators, and the names of participating Catholic schools.
At one point, Ms. Saucier was shown on the big screen being honored with the Conductors of the Community award. The Massachusetts State Lottery presents the award, during the final seven Saturday home games, to “individuals who have made a significant and positive impact in the Worcester Community,” according to the Railers’ website, railershc.com. Each awardee receives four tickets to a Railers game and is invited to watch warm-ups from the Railers bench.
Mr. Haynes said the Railers front office chooses award recipients, and wanted to honor Ms. Saucier, whom he called “our absolute champion.”
He said one of his goals when he got this job was to work with Catholic schools. As a St. Peter-Marian student, class of 2012, he’d been helped by Principal Allain and Matthew Sturgis, then headmaster.
The local hockey team at that time was the Worcester Sharks, who’d come to Worcester in 2006 as part of the American Hockey League, Mr. Haynes said. St. Peter-Marian would play St. John High School of Shrewsbury on the ice in pre-games. Mr. Haynes said he was a varsity soccer player, but is a big hockey fan.
In 2015 the American Hockey League, including the Sharks, moved out West, he said. The Sharks were affiliated with the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League.
The Railers, owned by Cliff Rucker and affiliated with the ECHL, are also affiliated with the New York Islanders of the NHL and Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL, Mr. Haynes said. He said the Railers were founded in 2016 and began their first season in Worcester in 2017.
“Worcester Railers HC is introducing a new way to be part of professional hockey in North America,” says the Railers website. “Taking its cue from the European sporting club model, Railers HC is more than just a game-night experience. We want our fans to be members and partners in all that we do.”
The Railers have participated in the Adopt-A-Student Golf Tournament, which raises money for Catholic school scholarships. And players and Trax visit the schools.
“We’re big on working with those who work with us,” Mr. Haynes said. He said Catholic schools “love and support us and we love and support them.”
“All the schools should thank Sue for helping to push this night … the love that she has for the schools,” he said.

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