The Long Family
Sending our children to Catholic school was something my wife and I decided before we even began having children. The decision was rather easy…. She made it for us. Being raised outside of the Catholic Church my foundation in faith wasn’t as strong as hers. After meeting my wife, I began attending church with her and her family every Sunday. It was apparent that her faith was a present and steady part of her life. Before we were married we took marriage preparation classes in Irving, Tx where I pledged we would raise our children Catholic. After marriage we moved to Sugar Land in 2002 and shortly after began attending St. Theresa. After the birth of our first child Father Reynolds sent out a parish-wide survey inquiring about what types of services we would most like to have in the parish. One of the options provided was to have a school, which my wife and I listed as our number one choice. Based on the large number of young families in our parish, we weren’t surprised when the results of the survey came back and it was decided that there would be a school.
It happened to work out perfectly that the school would open the very year our eldest daughter was ready to start kindergarten. Even though there was just a shell of a building and a curriculum with no track record, we had faith in the vision of Father Reynolds. In meeting with the principal Jonathan Beeson during the application process, we left the interview excited due to his tremendous knowledge of his faith, his philosophy on education, and his indecipherable vocabulary. He spoke of the kinds of characteristics he wanted to see in the teachers he was hiring and the feeling of pride and ownership he wanted the children to have in their school and their education. It was clear in the way he spoke of the school that he had a plan in place to ensure that our children would attend what would become a highly regarded school. We were confident we were making the right decision.
As the first day of school rolled around I was nervous for my daughter. Would she be as well-behaved as the other students? Would they all be little saints? Would she know as much about the church as the others do? Had I let her down by not instilling in her the required knowledge of faith that she would need to thrive in a Catholic school? After all, while I had attended mass for 8 years, I didn’t feel like I knew the church well enough to teach her. My fears, however, were all put to rest the first week. She talked about how much she loved her teachers and all the friends she had. Then she began telling us about everything she was learning each day, the prayers, the vessels used on the altar, the liturgical calendar. It was so inspiring. I began the RCIA inquiry process shortly after and hope to be baptized this Easter.
This year my daughter is in the first grade and my second daughter started kindergarten. The new building is amazing. My children astound me with all they are learning. My children have incredible faith and love retelling the bible stories they hear each day, or reminding me of one of the ten commandments any time they don’t like something I’ve done or said. They recite poems, read effortlessly, and desire to understand everything. My chest fills with pride when they sing aloud in perfect pitch the Latin prayers when we are at Mass. I notice that the people around us glance over their shoulders to see who it is singing. I sing loudly along with them.
Our school has changed our life and we are so grateful to have the teachers and administrators to help us mold our children into the people we want them to be. My wife and I are blessed not only by what St Theresa Catholic School has taught and inspired our children to become, but also in what the school has taught and inspired in us.
– Jason Long