St Rose School Celebrates Catholic Schools Week

By Martha Coville

A special performance by an improvisational New York City theater group and a visit from the Most Reverend William E. Lori, Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport, marked Catholic Schools week, January 28 to February 1, at St Rose School.

At lunchtime on Tuesday, January 29, St Rose students filed into the church’s parish hall for a special banquet attended by the bishop. The dark periwinkle walls of the old building were decorated with silver stars and hung with Christmas tree lights. Four long rows of tables, set with red plastic cloths, white chinette plates, and maroon plastic cups, ran the length of the room.

Lunch was about to begin: staff carried the catered lunch out of the small kitchen in stainless steel chaffing dishes, and the teachers, who had been milling around in front of the stage, hurriedly put their students through a quick rehearsal. With the children ready for their guests, Bishop Lori walked into the room, dressed in a simple roman collar, with pressed black pants and shined shoes. With him were Dr Margaret Dames, superintendent of Schools for the Diocese of Bridgeport; John Cook, the deputy superintendent; and the Reverend Robert Weiss, pastor of St Rose of Lima. The students greeted the guests hesitantly, not quite in unison.

“This is the first time our bishop has actually come to our school during Catholic Schools week, and so it’s very exciting to have him hear, particularly with our new building going up,” said Father Bob. From the kitchen window, the bulldozer hired to break ground for a new parish hall was clearly visible.

Bishop Lori congratulated St Rose School students on their outstanding academic achievements. “We have many fine schools in Fairfield County,” he said, “but I was looking at test scores in particular and you guys are the best of the best.”

The bishop took a seat at the center table with the diocesan staff, and students lined up at the buffet.

Improv Your Mind

Earlier that morning, St Rose students were treated to a performance by the Free Style Repertory Theatre, a well known off-Broadway production company that performs in schools throughout the tri-state area.  Their show, TheatreSports: Improv Your Mind, was like a trip to Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland. It was improvisational, fast paced, and filled with silly jokes and physical comedy.

As the title suggests, the format was sports-derived. An actor dressed as a referee presented two pairs of actors with several sets of challenges, each designed to show students how to use language creatively. At the end of each challenge, the audience voted on a winner.

Free Style Rep looked to the audience for the subject of each skit. In a story telling contest, for example, they told a scary story, as per audience request. Monologues were performed about pizza and dogs, two favorite subjects of elementary school students.

When one student called out that the subject of a skit should be knights, the improve group pronounced the main character a “knight of the office,” and told a story about a hardworking executive who encounters a strange creature during his long nights at the office.

Bishop Lori’s visit to St Rose preceded National Appreciation Day for Catholic Schools, which was Wednesday, January 30. Catholic Schools week is a joint project of the National Catholic Education Association and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. It became an annual event in 1974.