From the Principal’s Desk 2.14

Dear Friends,

As we are now back to work, with the remnants of Thanksgiving dinner still occupying a premium spot in our fridge, it is time to turn our combined attention to more weighty concerns.

While the rest of the world is focused on shopping and celebrating Christmas, we, though mindful of what is occurring outside our homes, are called by Mother Church to contemplate why Christ came and what the circumstances of His birth were.   For my part I would like to spend the next four weeks looking at specific elements of that first Nativity using a method you may have learned in High School;  Who, What, When and Where…the four W’s.

Who… Who can describe or explain.  Who can fathom the person who is the Christ?  In the Christmas Song, ‘Mary Did You Know’  the question is put to Mary asking,  Did you know when you kiss your little baby you kiss the face of God…The awesome spectacle of God, the one who made the world, who holds our lives in his hands, who keeps the laws of Science working, who created everything in a moment, and has let it unfold over billions of years, who has more power in one of His tears  than all the great armies of men, or the power of all the suns, humbling himself to become man. 

I am proud to be a father of six children, and I know the first time in each of their lives I held them in my arms, small defenseless and innocent, their lives entirely beholden to others, and yet, in my heart there rose such a love that I would rather die than have them suffer any harm.  I imagine many of you have felt similar emotions.  But imagine, in Mary and Joseph’s case it really was the baby holding them.  

Jesus is pure gift, pure love…O come let us adore Him.

Happy Advent,

Timothy Gallic

Principal, Holy Family High School

303-410-1411

From the Principal’s Desk 2.13

Dear Friends,

Can we ever be grateful enough?   I doubt it.

Each year as Thanksgiving gives us a moment to pause, to enjoy the friends and family, the blessings and triumphs of the past year, as well as the trials and difficulties, and to give them all to God with an attitude of gratefulness.  

It seems such an American thing to sit around a table, groaning with the weight of turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes and beans, pumpkin pie and others or some odd vegetable the family has been bringing for generations, (creamed onions were a staple at each Thanksgiving, although to my knowledge they were also routinely disposed of at the end.)  Careful readers of the last sentence might realize its ambiguity, am I referring to the people sitting or the table…hmmm.

So as you polish off the sweet potatoes, guzzle a pint or two of apple cider and laugh at the uproarious stories of your own family and others, as you look at the bounty spread before you, both material and spiritual, save a toast for our Creator and thank Him who is pure gift love… and prepare yourself for turkey sandwiches as you watch the last of the football.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Timothy Gallic

Principal, Holy Family High School

303-410-1411

PS. I just received word, unofficially, that despite the destruction all around, the relics of Blessed John Paul the Great were not damaged in the St. Malo’s fire!  Let us give thanks indeed!

From the Principal’s Desk 2.12

Dear Friends,

At this point you are no doubt aware of the fire that seriously damaged St. Malo’s Retreat Center.  It is no small thanks I give to God that our students were there last week and not this week.  If your student is scheduled to attend the spring Kairos retreats please be aware that we will have to make some changes to the plan as we were hoping to use St. Malo’s. 

The fire has led me to consider a strange paradox.  No one saved from the fire will live forever; what was lost were items that would long have outlasted them.  What perished in the fire was the memorabilia of the Papal visit.     What was saved was the personnel who staffed the center.  While we grieve the loss of the memorabilia, we rejoice mightily that no lives were lost.  This is the brilliance of life; life is so special, so sacred, so awesome that we would gladly suffer the loss of worldly possession to save the life of someone who will themselves someday die.   We are blessed with life around us, the life of our students, of our families, of our friends and we are blessed with the knowledge that someday it will all end (at least on earth).  So today let us resolve to look at our children and our spouses, our friends and our neighbors and thank God for them, for truly they are the treasures we care about.

When the rebuilding gets underway I will look to see what Holy Family can do to help and let you all know. 

God bless,

Timothy Gallic

From the Principal’s Desk 2.11

Dear Parents and Friends,

No doubt you realize that we have concluded a fabulous fall play, “A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream” and if you were fortunate to behold the Bard of Avon’s work performed  by our student’s you would understand the sense of pride and accomplishment I have for them.  The production was fantastic and I urge you to make sure you are able to enjoy the Spring musical and all the other performing arts we put on up here.   I must not fail to mention that this was the first production in the fully renovated theater and thanks again must be given to all who help made it possible.

You are probably also aware that I called you early in the morning several days ago and told you we had a late start.  The two hour delay is designed to provide ample time to navigate the road leading to school after the rush hour traffic has past.   Due to the wide area students hail from it is not possible to know all of the local road conditions so please, if you feel the streets are not safe please do not send the students.  Students who miss class because of weather always receive extra time to make up assignments.  You should also know the school is opened from 6:30 a.m. if at all possible so dropping your students off early is still doable.    

While we as a school have a duty to teach the students, as always we want the parents to be in control of their children’s safety so if in doubt , don’t go out.

Timothy Gallic

Principal, Holy Family High School

From the Principal’s Desk 2.10

Dear Friends,

Today is the feast of All the Saints,

This leads me to the question; what does it take to become a Saint?  The answer is simple; get to heaven.  That’s right; all we need to do is get to heaven. 

So, how do we get to heaven? It is as easy as can be, just do the will of God.

Herein lies the rub, what is the will of God? 

To be who you are meant to be, His child; To love your neighbor as yourself, to work hard and to study hard.  We do not have to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca to be saved, or perform mighty acts like St. Theresa of Calcutta, we need to love our Parents, we need to pray and talk to God, we need to follow the Church’s teachings, not only because they bring order to life, but because they warn of evil.  When the Church tells us something is sinful, it is doing so because that sinful act will bring harm.  That is why it is called a sin. 

Our students may think that to be a saint one must give up all earthly joys and meditate in a cave eating bugs.  Well, perhaps God is calling you to do that but I suspect not! To be a Saint is to be fully human, to love God, to have a family, to love your spouse, to have joys and sickness, life and death.  So let us encourage our children to be saints, to live life to the fullest, to fight hard and win, to drink deep of the spring of Salvation and to humbly follow our God.   

Each night when I say ‘Good night’ to my children, I ask them what ultimately matters most, and they respond, ‘to be a Saint’.  May we all remember that and strive to one day be Saints.

Happy All Saints Day!

Timothy Gallic

Principal, Holy Family High School

303-410-1411

From the Principal’s Desk 2.9

Dear Friends and Supporters

With a grateful sigh of relief Spirit Week and the festivities of Homecoming are now behind us.  If you were fortunate enough to partake in any (or all) of the events I am certain you would agree that truly one of the best Spirit weeks occurred.  This could not have happened without an enormous amount of volunteers; men and women who gave of their time, treasure and talents to help our kids celebrate dance and cheer.   I attempted to thank as many as possible but for those I missed,  thank you very much!

As usual this brings something to mind, our success often, in fact inevitably, comes as a result of someone else’s labors.  It is a fallacy to think we ever succeed entirely on our own but from the first we receive aid and soon afterward, we give aid.  Scripture tells us it is more blessed to give than to receive and as we age we find out the truth of that statement.  Our students had a great time because they behaved well and participated fully but without the hard work of the parents and staff, they would have had none of the events they enjoyed.  So give yourself a pat on the back and remember, we are just like them, if someone else had not helped us where would we be?  Perhaps that is why God often reminds us to be grateful and humble.  Or as a great Spiritual advisor of my youth used to tell me “It’s all gift, it’s all gift” 

So I end with Thanking Almighty God, for the good weather, the successful events, the wonderful students and their families, and most of all…for the hope of Salvation through Jesus Christ!

God bless,

Tim Gallic

Principal, Holy Family High School

303-410-1411

From the Principal’s Desk 2.8

Dear Parents,

As we are all aware this is Spirit week which ends with Homecoming, a time where we both celebrate who we are and where we have been, and a little of where we are going.  I urge all of you who can to come to the Homecoming Football game and cheer our team onto victory and for the crowning of the Homecoming court.  If you have time come early for the chili supper and enjoy some heartwarming food.  Of course there are a lot of sporting events going on including Softball headed into State, soccer at Dawson on Thursday and Cross Country hosting a home meets Friday at 5:30.  Finally we have the Homecoming dance on Saturday, and as I have stated repeatedly I am hoping all will come dressed appropriately so we can all enjoy the dance.

It is part of Catholic nature to celebrate and it was no accident Christ’s first public miracle was at a party (wedding feast of Cana).  To celebrate together what we have and what we have done is a special blessing.  In a world of imperfections and troubles, of trials and tribulations, to be able to laugh and shout, to praise and pray for and most of all to give thanks to God is perhaps a gift from Our Lord that is too great to be fully comprehended.

So let us this week, rejoice in who we are, what we have and be further committed to the future of Catholic Education, of teaching our students that God loves them personally and has a great future for them, they just need to cooperate with it.

Finally, a big thank you to all who came to the Parent Teacher conferences and especially to all of you who donated food and drink for the teachers.  We love being here all the time, but having some good food does tend to make it more enjoyable!

God bless,

Tim Gallic

Principal, Holy Family High School

From the Principal’s Desk 2.7

Dear Friends

Life has a pleasant way of surprising us at times and it often occurs when we least expect it.  Just the other day I was clearing out some weeds by our mulch pile when I found a large, and still growing, pumpkin that had started from an old Jack-O-Lantern I tossed into the pile last October!  Had I not decided to look in this area, I would have missed it.  In other aspects of life we can often find much the same thing happen, if we have the eyes to see it. 

As all of our children go through rough patches, disappointments and bad decisions, we must be aware that good can come of it for at these times God’s grace overshadows the situation.  The blessings of Almighty God can be seen, if we have eyes to see it.

So let us resolve to help our students find the good in every situation so that we can say with the Psalmist “At all times I will bless Him”.

Tim Gallic

Principal, Holy Family High School

303-410-1411

From the Principal’s Desk 2.6

From the Principal’s Desk 2.6

Dear Friends,

Last week I spoke about character being the truest indicator of eventual success.  You may have heard the term ‘teaching the whole person’.  This sums up succinctly the manner in which Catholic Schools educate.   We, as humans, exist as both soul and body, and we recognize the reality that when we die, our spirit continues.  While here on earth we interact with our soul through the medium of our bodies.  Therefore when I exercise and train my body I care for my soul,  when I study my academic subjects, I care for my soul and when I pray I care for my soul.  There is no discontinuity between them, we cannot do anything to our body that does not affect the soul, and when our soul is burdened by sin and evil, our body will carry the signs of that burden. 

In this world of ours we find much attention being paid to our physical bodies, and much of that is good, yet to the care of our souls, we see very little.  As Christians, let us not forget that when we care for our souls, we care for ourselves.  When we teach our children to pray, about the love of God, about who they are as God’s children, we care for their souls even more than when we train them physically and mentally.  Let us not forget that to train our minds allows us to better understand God’s word for us and his wisdom and makes following God’s will easier.

So at Holy Family we strive to produce young men and women who are academically the best prepared in the West and who care for their souls, like saints.

Timothy Gallic

Principal, Holy Family High School

303-410-1411

From the Principal's Desk 2.5

From the Principal’s Desk 2.5

Dear Friends,

The most important indicator of eventual success for a child is not intellect, good looks, athletic ability or health.  The single most important indicator of eventual success is character.  A person with strong character, who does the right thing because it is the right thing, who tells the truth because it is the truth, who only hands in their own work, because it is theirs, who treats members of the opposite sex properly because it is the right thing to do; these persons go onto to be truly successful.  In this I mean they go on to be great fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, priest and nuns, brothers and sisters and they go on to become great employees and employers, scholars and most important of all, go on to be saints.  When they die their life will be regarded as a blessing.

When we see our children it is important to appreciate the many good things they do, the sports, the grades, but it is critical to encourage strong character, that will make the difference.

A big thank you to all who have been helping at all the sporting events we have had this fall.  Our teams are doing great and the coaches, parents and volunteers (often the same people) have been working hard to make it possible.  Personally is nice to be able to brag about what a great school family we have here.  You are the best!

Pax,

Timothy Gallic

Principal, Holy Family High School