Gift of gratitude
Stephen Dey presents a check to Our Lady of the Assumption School leaders and students. The donation will go toward expanding the school’s PACE program, which provides hands-on special instruction to students with learning disabilities. (Troy Hull | Catholic News Herald)CHARLOTTE — Stephen and Jessica Dey are giving back to Catholic Schools in gratitude for the extraordinary support they say the Diocese of Charlotte’s schools have provided their daughter Avery – who was born with Down Syndrome and now is a junior at Charlotte Catholic High School.
Parishioners at St. Matthew, the couple recently donated $1,000 through their Inclusion Rocks Foundation to Our Lady of the Assumption’s PACE program, just one of many inclusion programs the diocese’s Catholic Schools offer special needs students from early childhood through high school.
PACE stands for “Providing Academically Appropriate Catholic Education,” a name that reflects the mission of all of the diocese’s special needs programs. Dey said it is “impossible to describe” all the ways these programs have benefited his daughter.
“The inclusion program has helped her develop social and people skills which will be critically important as she moves into a job-life after school,” he said. “She also just loves school, and life at school has helped her develop life skills like navigating directions and time management, and at the math level she is learning important things like how to deal with finances.”
The Deys established Inclusion Rocks to help schools implement inclusion programs, initially as a private foundation then last year obtaining tax-exempt status. The Charlotte-based foundation provides resources for special needs students in Catholic and non-Catholic schools, and to support educators and administrators who work with these students.
The foundation’s work includes securing grants from other organizations to support special needs education.
“Gestures like the gift from Inclusion Rocks support our core belief that every child, as a unique creation of God, deserves our best effort to help them achieve successful and joyful lives,” said Catholic Schools Superintendent Greg Monroe. “We can only do this in partnership with parents, parishioners and the community.”
Having come through inclusion programs at St. Patrick School and Holy Trinity Middle School, Avery now participates in the Options program at Charlotte Catholic, which provides a pathway for special learners from elementary through high school and into college.
The Deys initially sought out Catholic schools because they said public schools didn’t have programs that met Avery’s specific needs.
Our Lady of the Assumption School’s PACE program is designed for elementary and middle school students. From grades 2-5, students spend time in self-contained settings with daily opportunities to attend classes alongside general education students.
The school also offers the Modified Academic Program (MAP), designed for students who require a modified academic curriculum. Like PACE, this hybrid program offers instruction in both self-contained classrooms and with general education students. Instruction in core subjects is adapted to each student’s ability level.
Occupational and speech language therapy are also offered on a weekly basis for younger students at Our Lady of the Assumption. Students in these programs can continue education via the Options path at Holy Trinity and Charlotte Catholic.
Dey said the diocese’s inclusion programs are a blessing not only because they benefit special needs students, but also because of the understanding and social lessons they offer other students as well.
“That’s a facet that is wildly overlooked…,” he said. “Students who interact with their special-needs peers are starting to develop empathy, compassion and other important social skills. It’s a win-win for everybody involved.
“When you see the kids interact with each other through programs like Best Buddies at Charlotte Catholic, or at dances and football games,” he said, “it’s amazing to see what is happening.”
— Christina Lee Knauss
Learn more
At www.charlottediocese.org/schools: Find schools and learn more about the special learning programs in the Diocese of Charlotte.
CHARLOTTE — Father Joseph Matlak discovered something surprising last summer: the chapel at Holy Trinity Middle School where he serves as chaplain had never been officially named a permanent chapel.
He made this discovery with the help of the Diocese of Charlotte archives department, and then requested to have the 27-year-old chapel formally dedicated.
The efforts culminated in a Jan. 31 Mass and chapel blessing, aptly timed for the middle of Catholic Schools Week. Twenty-five students in the school’s Little Flower, Knights of Saint Joseph and Pro-Life clubs gathered with officials from the diocesan schools office and Holy Trinity administrators to mark the occasion.
Father Matlak celebrated the Mass and blessed the chapel with Father Timothy Reid, the diocese’s Vicar of Education for Catholic Schools, and Father Christopher Roux, rector of St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte, concelebrating. Also assisting was Deacon Peter Tonon of St. Ann Church in Charlotte.
“By the bishop's decree, Holy Trinity’s chapel has been dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima, and Bishop Jugis has delegated me to bless the chapel,” Father Matlak said.
Principal Kevin Parks said no funds were required to complete the blessing and official dedication to Our Lady of Fatima, adding that there are plans to use school funds to replace the flooring and paint the chapel in the spring.
Father Matlak and Holy Trinity theology teacher Shane Sayre composed a special prayer for the occasion that ends with an invocation to Our Lady of Fatima.
In his homily, Father Matlak shared the significance of the concluding line of the prayer and the connections between Our Lady and the Holy Trinity.
“Ending a prayer with an invocation of the Mother of God is not simply a flowery decoration. God decided to become incarnate, to come into the world, through Mary, which means that every way to return to Him must also somehow go through her,” he said.
“Our chapel is being dedicated to the Blessed Virgin under the title of Our Lady of Fatima, referring, of course, to the apparitions of Our Lady to the three shepherd children, Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco, in Fatima, Portugal in 1917.”
Father Matlak said he was slightly biased by this, being half Portuguese and coming from a family that has experienced miracles through devotion to Our Lady of Fatima. However, the appropriateness of the title and connection with the school runs much deeper, he added.
“My first year as chaplain coincided with the 100th anniversary of the apparitions in Fatima,” he said. “On May 13, 2017, I consecrated the school to her Immaculate Heart with a prayer that ended with these words: May the reign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, together with your reign, enter this school … so that, we may one day deserve eternal happiness in the presence of the Holy Trinity.”
Father Matlak’s words resonated with Superintendent Dr. Greg Monroe, who was present for the Mass and blessing.
“We're trying to get closer to God in everything we do in the schools,” he said. “This chapel dedication provides a focal point and a continuing orientation toward those things which are most important: our faith and coming together as a Catholic community to support each other and push each other to excel.”
—Annie Ferguson. Photos by Troy Hull.
Holy Trinity Chapel Prayer
Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us!
O Lady, who appeared to the three children at Fatima, hear our plea this day as we ask you to pray for us who have recourse to thee. Amidst the turbulence and fear facing the world around them, you were sent by God to bring to these children a message of peace and hope. You charged us, your faithful children, to be the bearers of these fruits through repentance and renewed devotion to the fruit of your womb, your Beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We dedicate this chapel to you and to your Immaculate Heart, as the beginning of that renewal and repentance. We dedicate this sacred space as a haven for the faithful—a refuge for the exile—to escape the wickedness and anxieties that the world seeks to burden us with. Wrap us in your maternal mantle of prayer as we strive to be liberated from the shackles of attachments; attachments that seek to distract us and drive us away from the source of our true freedom, our Lord Jesus Christ. Let this sacred space bring this peace and hope to all those who enter. Let them become a vessel and channel of peace and hope as they face the evils within this world. Let the graces that flow from the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar console the hearts of your children who long to see the face of your Son. Let them become temples of the Holy Spirit as He is poured out from their hearts and unto the hearts of those that they encounter. And let the blessings of Fatima radiate from this humble chapel to convert the whole world back to our Lord Jesus Christ.
To You, O Blessed Trinity, be praise, and honor, and thanksgiving, for ever and ever! Amen.
— Father Joseph Matlak and Shane Sayre
