Dear NCA students and families,

After serving for 45 years as a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, I will be retiring and become the Pastor emeritus of St. Gregory the Great Church sometime later this Summer. The exact date has not yet been finalized. After retirement, I will live in a manufactured home that I own in Lake Zurich, IL. A mile away from my home in St. Francis de Sales Parish. I will offer my services to the pastor for sacramental ministry. I will also be available to help out at other parishes in Lake County. I have been asked by the Archdiocese of Chicago if I would take on a new ministry of facilitating spiritual direction for the priests of the Archdiocese of Chicago. This job will be similar to what I did for 16 years at Mundelein Seminary in recruiting, training, and making spiritual directors available to seminarians.

Fr. Paul

 

FR. PAUL WACHDORF – Pastor

Fr. Paul Wachdorf hails from the Southside of Chicago. He was born and raised in St. Justin Martyr Parish. He attended Quigley High School Seminary South, Niles College of Loyola University, graduating in 1971 with a B. S. in Psychology. He attended Mundelein Seminary where he received a Master of Divinity degree. He was ordained a priest in 1975. He served his first priestly assignment at St. John Fisher Parish on the Southside of Chicago. In 1981 he was appointed to the faculty of Mundelein Seminary. While serving on the faculty, he went away to study at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska where he received a Master’s Degree in Christian Spirituality in 1984. For his first ten years at Mundelein Seminary, he was an Associate Dean of Formation and a spiritual director. For the next 16 years, he served as the Director of Spiritual Life and Prayer Formation. While at Mundelein Seminary, he had 10 articles on prayer and spirituality published in various spiritual journals and magazines. While at Mundelein Seminary, he also served as a weekend associate at Sts. Faith, Hope, and Charity Parish in Winnetka. He was named pastor of St. Gregory the Great Church in July of 2007. He has been the president of NCA for the past two years.

 

Fun Facts about Fr. Paul!

• He has played the ukulele for the past 45 years.
• He taught himself how to juggle.
• He has a Gold Pass at Great America, and last year he went on 64 roller coaster rides. Goliath is his favorite roller coaster.
• For many years he was an avid downhill skier and giant slalom ski racer. He won several bronze, silver, and one gold Nastar medal.
• While skiing at Aspen Mountain in Aspen Colorado, he met John Denver at the bottom of one of the ski lifts.
• He is a lifetime White Sox fan. Living on the Northside, he feels like a stranger in a strange land.

• May 22– St. Jerome's with Fr. Reyes celebrating mass
• May 29– St. Gertrude's with Fr. Rich celebrating mass

Our School Counselor, Therese Schreiner, has been teaching and counseling students for 52 years, and she has learned a lot on her journey. Every week she shares words of wisdom with our community. This week Mrs. Schreiner wants to know how are you feeling?
 

How Are You Feeling?

Most of the articles I have written were for you, the parents. So, this week, I thought I would switch my audience to your children. When they would come to see me, I often asked them, “How are you feeling today?” Most would answer with one word, “FINE”. After further questioning, some would say “BORED” or “SAD”. A discussion would follow and I discovered maybe they did not do well on a test, or their dog is very sick, or a grandparent is in the hospital. So, after a few months of these children learning at home, away from their classroom routine, their friends, their activities, I decided I would ask you to help me find out just how they are feeling with regard to going to school-at-home.

I am asking you to tell your children, in K-7th grades, that I would like them to send me an email in whatever form they want, to let me know how they are feeling I promise to reply to each of them. They could write me a few lines, or create a poem about their feelings, or draw me a picture. For those in grades 3, 4, and 7, with whom I have facilitated Peace Circles, how did they feel about that? How they do this, is up to them.
 

Please send an email to tschreiner@ncaschools.com. I want children to understand that this is not a mandatory assignment, but if they do email me, as I said earlier, I will reply to them. This email may be helpful to you as a parent to continue to allay any fears or confusion the children may have. Sometimes, children will not know how to express their feelings in words, especially the younger ones; this could be another outlet for them.

As a counselor, I am eager to understand how children from the various levels think and feel as they journey through these unchartered waters. I may be able to reach out to them from a different perspective.

Thank you so much for all the extra time and effort you have spent with your family. I am fully aware of the many sacrifices you have made. None of us knows what the future holds, but I continue to wish you peace and good health.

Therese Schreiner

School Counselor

tschreiner@ncaschools.com

The NCA Athletic Committee wants to say thank you to all of the hard-working volunteer coaches, to the parents, and to the players. They will be highlighting teams on SchoolSpeak until the end of the school year. 🏀🐾🏐🏃

Over the past several weeks prior to the pandemic, the pastors and parish leaders of St. Gregory the Great, St. Ita, and St. Thomas of Canterbury gathered as a team and participated in the Renew My Church grouping process. Earlier this week, Archbishop Cupich advised the parishioners from these parishes that this grouping will be united as one parish and will support a three-campus model. St. Ita will be the center of parish life, St. Thomas of Canterbury will serve as the center of social service outreach, and St. Gregory the Great will be the center of Evangelization through the Arts. Each campus will also continue to have a mass schedule as determined by the parish leadership.

This parish reorganization will not create any changes for NCA. St. Gregory the Great has financially and spiritually supported NCA through the leadership of Fr. Paul Wachdorf. This new united grouping of the three parishes will be part of NCA’s continuing parish and school relationship. As Fr. Paul Wachdorf prepares to retire on June 30, 2020, I am pleased to announce that Fr. Bob Cook, Pastor of St. Ita and St. Thomas of Canterbury, will take on the role as President of NCA. I look forward to working with Fr. Cook in strengthening NCA’s Catholic Identity and working together so our school community can play an important role in the parish life of all the parishes associated with NCA.

As soon as further information on the effective date for the union of all parishes is determined, I will be certain to keep our school community updated. I am hoping you will keep Fr. Paul Wachdorf in your prayers as he prepares for his well-deserved retirement. We thank him for his many years of support of NCA and for the past two years that he has served as President of NCA. Please also add Fr. Bob Cook in your prayers as he prepares to join NCA and shares his pastoral gifts to our school community. I feel confident as we embark and prepare for a new school year with renewal and a strong presence of our faith.

The team at Rogers Park Business Alliance has compiled a master list of all the open businesses, including who's doing delivery/carryout, selling gift cards, or doing staff fundraisers. We hope this is helpful and encourages the continued support of local businesses as government mandates negatively impact them.

Please click the link below to view the master list.
https://rpba.org/2020/03/rogers-park-businesses-that-are-open-or-accepting-donations/?fbclid=IwAR2BCHJm5ltjZ5oWyRt54AHdXNQQGxZzxfJbgP0U4FuRDb2POExg9xYwgHs