Dear High School Class of 2020,
As your pastor, I wanted to take a moment to write to you to offer my sincere condolences that the present situation regarding the Covid-19 pandemic is ruining a lot of plans you had for your final year of high school. Many things you have been looking forward to are simply not happening the way you, or anyone else, ever intended. I’m sorry that this is happening.
I wanted to write to you, in part, to let you know how proud I am of you. You have many accomplishments to celebrate, even though many of them might not be acknowledged to the degree that they deserve. I want to make sure you know I am still celebrating them, and that I am thankful for you and your hard work and I am excited for you and what is to come in your future.
While things are a little sad, I want to give you something positive to think about. This time of remaining in a quarantine is giving you a moment to think about life and to think about what kind of life you want to live. This is very valuable, and life had become so fast paced that far too few people ever really stopped to think about what kind of person they want to become and how they will become that.
So in one sense, this moment is a tragedy you are dealing with and grieving over, but on the other hand maybe it is a blessing. Maybe it is good that this is happening while you are young so that the rest of your life can be a bit better. There really are some good things that can come about because of this, and if you look for them and take advantage of them, I think you’ll come to realize that this moment is not a waste.
At our local parishes, we usually celebrate our seniors in high school with a special Mass. Sadly, we do not know when our parishes will be open again and so we cannot really plan these Masses for you. If we are able to reopen our parishes before the end of the summer, I want to assure you that you will be among the first people we welcome to celebrate with us so that we can honor you and acknowledge your contributions.
If you (or a student you know) would like to be a part of this, please contact us immediately and let us know which parish you belong to. Each parish does things a little bit different. St. Mary's (Castle Rock) students can email Jodi smcc58@cni.net. Immaculate Heart of Mary (Kelso) students can email Joe at paff@cni.net. St. Rose (Longview) and St. Catherine students (Cathlamet) can email Robbie at robbie@strose-longview.org.
God Bless you, and please stay tuned for more information of how we plan to honor you.
Fr. Bryan
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