Religious Teachers
In 2018, we welcomed four Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Saint Agnes. These joy-filled sisters live in our convent, worship in our parish, and teach in our school. Serving as extraordinary witnesses to God’s call to live a life for Him alone, we pray they might inspire religious vocations in many of our young ladies.
The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, were canonically established in 1997 in response to Pope St. John Paul II’s call for a New Evangelization. The Sisters seek to share God’s message of faith and the joy of religious life with the modern world through various outreaches including education, vocations, and culture.
The Dominican Sisters have been serving Saint Agnes School as teachers since the fall of 2018. Since then, we have been assigned four teaching sisters, one in the Upper School and three in the Lower School. Having renovated the Convent space, the sisters moved in during the summer of 2018. The renovated Convent houses upwards of two dozen Dominicans over the summer who attend classes at the University of St. Thomas at the Seminary, Catholic Studies, and the Institute for Catholic School Leadership. The Sisters also attend Mass and participate in parish life at the Church of Saint Agnes.
Education in Virtue Program
Our school uses the Education in Virtue Program which was designed by our sisters, the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. St. Thomas Aquinas organizes the virtues under four cardinal virtues, cardinal meaning hinges, and the virtues are our way of imitating Christ's life. As disciples, we imitate Him, we live with Him, and we act like Him.
Children need a concrete image of what that means, and so under those four cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude, we have an abundance of virtues that are more specific. The students need that reminder throughout the day of what virtue looks like and what it sounds like.
The Education in Virtue Program is a way for teachers to give the child positive language of "this is the action I want to see, and this is the strength that I do see" or "this is a way for your to grow in order to act and speak like Christ".