In the fall of 2001 my wife and family and I were living in the greater Seattle, Washington area. Through very unique circumstances, we were led to research and learn about all things Catholic. Stephanie and I both grew up in strong Christian evangelical homes, but knew very little about the Roman Catholic Church. One month later, on our quest to seek the truth at all cost, I attended a men's religious retreat that the Legionaires of Christ were leading in Sammamish, Washington. Both Stephanie and I had already been discovering the incredible mystery of the Church of our early fathers and felt an incredible hunger for our Lord in the eucharist. However, it was at this retreat that I was surprised with an indelible request by our Lord that if I was serious about coming into the Church, I needed to be open to having yet another child. Stephanie and I were already well into our 40's and already had six children, all older and in school. I cannot describe this request, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt I needed to say "yes".
To save time, I will now fast forward. That night of my saying yes, ultimately was rewarded with the blessing that after our coming into the Church at the Easter Spring Vigil, we soon found we were expecting another child. Nine months later, we found ourselves blessed beyond words with a healthy baby girl - Anna Marie Louise. She was named after all the mothers in our lives. Immediately after baptism, we took her in front of Our Blessed Mother and consecrated her to Jesus through Mary. She was our first 'craddle' Catholic and in a house of 5 brothers and 1 sister, she immediately became the treasure that she has always been.
That was her beginning, but that's not where the story ends. As time moved on, our family experienced some tremendous set backs. My business experienced drastic failures that ultimately ended up in bankruptcy and liquidation. In efforts to obtain sustainable employment and continue to support our large family, we were forced to move around the country. One of these moves ultimately found us leaving the Kansas City area and planting in the Twin Cities at the start of Anna's sophomore year at Saint Agnes.
Let me tell you, there are many tears when you move your high school daughter to a new school in a strange city without knowing a soul. The difficulties of adjusting and making new friends in a land where people actually embrace subzero weather, made it feel like we moved to a new planet not just a new city! Yet, through all the trials and the adjustments we observed the strength and goodness of God through Saint Agnes faculty, staff and students. It didn't happen overnight, but slowly and surely Anna began to get plugged in. Through it all, she continued to be diligent in her faith and love for Jesus, Mary and Joseph. As a father, the greatest joy I could have was watching her as she battled loneliness and other trials as she inevitably turned to her faith and hope in God. Saint Agnes fostered this hope. Saint Agnes, like a bastion of love in the midst of a trying time even before the pandemic, soon became her place of safety and retreat which originally seemed so foreign to her in the early months.
To say that Saint Agnes is a great school that prepares its students for college and career is an accurate statement. But it is much, much more than that! Saint Agnes truly prepares our children to be all that God has designed them to be and to prepare them to launch into the world fully equipped to share the whole truth found in Christ's Church, the Roman Catholic Faith! I know without a doubt that no matter what the world can and will throw at the students at Saint Agnes, that nothing will keep them from fostering the flame that cannot be put out. We watched this through one of the most challenging trials in our lifetimes, the challenge of Covid-19. A favorite scripture in our household is found in Romans 8:31, "What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us?"
Steven & Stephanie Reimer
