Winter 2013 Issue - Archmere Academy

A Message From the Headmaster
A Message From The Headmaster: “Our Epiphany”
Dear Members of the Archmere Academy Community:
The New Year was just a few days old when we celebrated the Feast of the
Epiphany on January 6. In the homily of one of the parish priests at Saint
Joseph’s on the Brandywine that day, he asked the congregation, “What is
your epiphany?” In the Catholic Church, Epiphany is the name given to the
feast commemorating the manifestation of Christ, but we also use this word
in its dictionary definition: “a sudden insight into the reality or essential
meaning of something” – a moment of revelation. The Magi who visited
the Christ Child had such an experience after leaving their homelands and
travelling by way of a star. These men of power and substance took great
risks and made leaps of faith to complete the journey.
Photo by Erin McNichol ‘92
In asking the question, “What is your epiphany?” Father was asking us if we
are prepared to find Christ in our lives, even if it means leaving our comfort
zones and relying more heavily on our faith. This is our calling as Christians,
especially in The Year of Faith, proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI. This
missionary spirit to find Christ in the world is fundamental to the mission and charism of Archmere Academy.
In 1893, it was the missionary zeal of the Norbertine Fathers of Berne Abbey in Holland that responded to the call
for help by the Bishop of the Catholic Church in Wisconsin. That same missionary spirit encouraged Abbot Pennings
to purchase Archmere Academy in 1932 from John and Helena Raskob to start a Norbertine school in the East. It is
that same motivating spirit that infused the Board of Trustees and leadership of Archmere Academy to engage in
the creation of a Strategic Plan and vision for the Academy, most recently presented to the Archmere community
last Fall.
“We have begun the journey
of faith to improve and enrich
the Archmere experience.”
The Strategic Plan rearticulates our mission and the
measurable goals to achieve it, requiring us to stretch our
thinking, enhance our creativity, challenge the familiar,
and begin our “journey” like the Magi, to a find a deeper
manifestation of Christ in the world. In the pages of
this issue of The Archmerean, you will read about the
initiatives already begun in each of the five areas of focus
identified by The Plan. We have begun the journey of
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