PROVIDENCE – A record 51 new teachers have been installed this year at Catholic schools in the diocese.
The elementary and secondary school educators, who attended a workshop entitled “Teaching in a Catholic School: Vocation and Profession,” on the day of their commissioning, include many recent college graduates as well as veteran teachers returning to the classroom.
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While the teachers come from different backgrounds and have different life experiences, they share a commitment to Catholic education and to promoting strong Christian values.
Diedre Donovan of Lincoln, will teach music part-time in grades pre-k-8 at St. Paul School, Cranston, while continuing to serve as cantor at St. Joseph Church, Providence.
A graduate of Rhode Island College, where she received a degree in music education, Donovan formerly taught music in public schools before leaving to raise a family.
“I believe in Catholic education,” said Donovan, adding that she believes that students in Catholic schools should not only learn the fundamentals of music but also be taught that music has a special place in the liturgy.
“My parents were married at St. Paul and I was baptized there, so we have a family connection with the parish,” Donovan noted.
Sarah Dunn, a recent graduate of Salve Regina University, Newport, has joined the faculty at Sacred Heart School, East Providence, where she will teach fourth grade.
Dunn is looking forward to sharing the valuable lessons she learned in college that helped shape her life, and the opportunity to teach her young students “many new things, especially in math.”
Returning to his alma mater is Bishop Hendricken High School, Warwick graduate John Manning. The new history teacher has served as an assistant football coach at the all-boys high school for five years and is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island.
“When I was at Hendricken, I had an excellent experience,” he said, adding that his father, Robert Manning, graduated from the school in 1980 and now teaches in Cranston.
“Teaching and Catholic education have been in our blood forever,” Manning continued. “My whole family went to Catholic schools.”
Following Mass, the educators were commissioned to serve as teachers in Catholic schools throughout the diocese in the coming year.
