Message from Headmaster Paul J. MoranAugust, 2012
Dear Austin Parents and Families,
Enclosed you will find part two of this year’s Summer Information Packet, important reminders and updates designed to facilitate a smooth opening for the 2012-2013 school year. We look forward to welcoming the students back starting on August 28 (Please see Summer Information Packet #1 - Important Academic Forms for Orientation schedules). As always, I am sure the remaining weeks of summer will pass very swiftly. In less than a month, the students will begin to return for pre-season athletic tryouts. During their absence, we have been busy cleaning the facilities and grounds and with hiring four new teachers and a new administrator. We will profile our new colleagues in newsletters and the Omega early in the new school year.
As returning students and their families will recall, last year the Austin community focused on Unitas as one of the traditional characteristics of Augustinian communities. This year our particular focus will be Veritas, or truth. As a school, we are, of course, concerned with the pursuit of academic truth or knowledge. As a Catholic school of Augustinian origin, we are also intrinsically concerned with truth in the sense of integrity, honesty, and candor. I believe we will be well served if we use this year’s discussions to help us reflect on ways in which we make veritas an organizing concern of our work and our relationships with one another. This is not a merely academic exercise. As our Mission statement proclaims, we teach - and we learn - for lives of service. As Augustine observed:
“It is of no use “to know” the truth, if at the same time, you do not embrace it with your life. It is necessary to build on a sure foundation, that is “to hear” and “to do.” The one who hears and does not do it, builds on sand. The one that neither hears nor does it, builds nothing. The one that hears and does, builds on stone.” (Commentary on the Psalms, 58, 17)
We wish you a pleasant and happy end of the summer and look forward to seeing you at the end of the month. We will begin building on stone again on August 28.
Cordially,
Paul J. Moran
Headmaster