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It has amazed me, over the last two years, exactly how competitive the job market is within the Church. I am aware of any number of lousy DRE’s, Youth Ministers, and Theology Teachers. Nevertheless, getting a foot in the door remains quite difficult.

The following numbers will likely astound you. I assure you, they are not exaggerated in the slightest. In the last two years, I have applied for over one hundred jobs for youth ministers, theology teachers, DRE’s, and campus ministers. I have had over sixty interviews. I have made it to the final round of interviews (top two or three candidates) five times. At one point, I traveled to Chicago three times in six weeks. I have spent over $1,000 on gas, air fare, car rentals, and hotels. I have spent over 5,000 minutes (83 hours and 20 minutes or 3 days, 11 hours, 20 minutes) in phone interviews

Yet, over one hundred times I have been told that I lack experience.

I am certain that a lack of experience does not equal poor potential, just as experience does not equal excellence.

If you or someone you know are currently seeking a youth minister, DRE, theology teacher, or campus minister, I encourage you to take a risk on someone who may not have as much experience but is loyal to the Magisterium of the Church and teaches orthodox Catholic theology. In deed, it is the only way for them to get experience.

~cv

PS - I’m still looking.

For reasons which I shall not go into here, I have resigned my position as 7th and 8th grade teacher at St. Joseph in Pilot Grove.

I enjoyed the students but it was simply not the place for me.

Please pray for me and the students and families of the school.

~cv

Last night was the first game four both our boys and girls basketball teams. I was not sure, initially, if I was going to attend as the band concert at the public school looked much more attractive. Nevertheless, a group was driving together and I found myself riding along.

Several of the students commented on not expecting to see me there. I was glad that I went. Young people need to know that people support them and genuinely care about them.
Both teams found themselves winning their first game, which also happens to be part of a tournament. It is, indeed, a great start to the season.

~cv

I was catching up on some blogs this morning and I came upon this article about the heat that the Archbishop of Canterbury received for preaching at Lourdes. The Rev. Jeremy Brooks, Director of Ministry for the England-based Protestant Truth Society called a reference to Mary as the mother of God “a complete denial of Protestant orthodoxy”.

I struggled to control laughter at the idea of “protestant orthodoxy”.

~cv

The first week of school went without a hitch. I enjoyed starting to get to know the students and, thus far, they have been well behaved.

Monday and Tuesday the teachers had in-service. Among other things, we discussed personality colors and had a workshop with Education Consultants from the Missouri Department of Conservation. I have included a few pictures from the workshop as we found ourselves outside with great photo opportunities.

Despite two flying trips to Columbia – Knights of Columbus Business Meeting on Tuesday and a VIP meeting on Wednesday – I managed to survive.

If the rest of the year goes as this one, it should be a good year.

~cv

It becomes, upon even the briefest glances, that I have not updated my blog in some time and I have resolved to do that more frequently.

This summer, I was asked to teach 7th and 8th grade at St. Joseph Catholic School in Pilot Grove, MO. I have a combined, self-contained room. Yes, that means I teach entire 7th grade curriculum and the entire 8th grade curriculum in one classroom. It should, at the very least, prove interesting.

Much has happened in the way of the Church since my last post: Archbishop Burke is no longer the Archbishop of St. Louis, but rather the Prefect for the Apostolic Signatura; a move which, no doubt, is trying for the Archdiocese and the Church in the United States, but good for the Universal Church. I, for one, feel confidant saying that this story is still worth watching, as His Excellency will, in all probability, be elevated to Cardinal at the next consistory; the new office will likely continue to be news worthy as few are willing to defend the faith with the fervor of Archbishop Burke.

In the English speaking Church, progress has been made on a new translation for the Roman Missal, despite grumbling from more than a few bishops in the United States. It seems there is some concern with whether most Catholics will understand words like, “gibbet” and “ineffable”.
In any case, it is my hope to contribute to this blog more regularly and, perhaps, start a new online project, some time in the making. Only time, however, will tell of the latter.

~cv

This morning, I cam across an article on abcnews.com. It seems a 6 year old was suspended from school for wearing a mohawk, in violation of the schools grooming policy. Some information worth noting, the child was at a “charter” school. While these schools are still part of the local public school system, they were started as social experiments. Their findings have been quite interesting. A child’s socio-economic background does not have as big of an impact on their learning process as we previously thought, blasting the social drifting paradox out of the water. Students wear uniforms and have strict behavioral rules. Getting into the schools is difficult and students can be sent back to regular public schools for not following the rules. Parents have a vested interest in their child’s education at the charter schools due to the limited number of positions available and the risk of being dropped from the program.

What might be most interesting in all of this is that the charter school studies are reinforcing findings of social scientists regarding workplace productivity; people that come to work dress professionally not only do more work, but it is of a better quality. Requiring uniforms and dress codes in schools is very much a good thing. It reduces violence and increases test scores. Dressing for school or work has a psychological effect on people and they are more mentally prepared for the job at hand.

So what is the biggest complaint about charter schools? There aren’t enough of them. Many communities with charter schools hold lotteries to see who gets admitted. Perhaps most schools should use the charter school format and have “regular” schools only for delinquents? And their test scores shouldn’t matter; you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. And the teachers will all be former military personnel.

Perhaps what is most disturbing about the story above is that the child’s mother values her son’s hair cut more than his education. The fact is, charter schools work and the child is worse off for leaving. She justifies her decision by say, “It’s something that he really likes.”

~cv

So, this morning, I am in the same Jr. High as earlier this week. Today I have a math class. Many classes in CPS have “warm ups” at the beginning of class. These are short problems on the subject at hand that get the kids thinking and ready for class. It also occupied the early arrivals while waiting for the stragglers.

This morning, the warm up was: Find the product of 3 ²/₃ x 2 ¹/_4. Anyway, there is a student teacher in the SMART program, an accelerated Masters program for math and science majors who desire to teach. She worked through the program and got 6 ¹/₆ by multiplying the fraction part to ²/₁₂ and simplifying and then multiplying 3 x 2.

I called her attention to the mistake and still had to prove it to her two different ways before she got it.

And you wonder…

~cv

I am subbing in a local “Junior High School”. In Columbia, the schools are structured as:

Elementary: K – 5
Middle School: 6 & 7
Junior High School: 8 & 9
Senior High School: 10 – 12

Anyway, I was in the teachers’ lounge this morning and saw a sign reading, “Please change your social committee calendar to read ‘March 8^th – Spring Egg Hunt’.”

The world is really going to hell in a hand basket.

~cv

I broke the headphones for my iPhone this week. You may recall that some stink was made at the fact that the headphone port is recessed a bit. It seems I was pulling on the cord as well as the plug and didn’t realize it.

In any case, I am disappointed, seeing as the iPhone has only been out seven months.

~cv

keep looking »