Peace & Joy from the Dominican Sisters of Peace

The spirit of the Dominican Sisters has formed and guided St. Agnes Academy-St. Dominic School since its very beginning.  The founding sisters were strong women of faith who wanted to empower their students to make a difference in the world, and 172 years later, that is still our mission.

Today, SAA-SDS continues to be sponsored by the Dominican Sisters of Peace, and we are blessed to have Sr. Cathy Galaskiewicz, OP*, serving as a member of our Board of Trustees. Take a minute to read this inspiring back-to-school message from Sr. Cathy. 

Peace and Joy to you from the Dominican Sisters of Peace!

School has begun and the campus is filled with the happy presence of our educators, our families, our students!

Why do people choose St. Agnes Academy and St. Dominic School?  One mother told me, “I just want my children to flourish in every way.” I nodded.  This is why the Dominican Sisters founded our schools and continue to sponsor them. Our schools continue to thrive because that is our mission:  to help our girls and boys to flourish in every way.  We continue the mission of Jesus who said, “I have come that you may have life and have it to the full” (Jn 10:10).

Our campus is a kind of greenhouse!  Here we nurture young students in a way of life.  We call it the Four Pillars:  prayer, study, community, service.  They are the basics of Dominican Life and provide a trustworthy and sturdy pattern for all our lives.  We are a faith-based Catholic school, founded from the beginning to welcome students of every faith.  Together we pray, we learn ways of faith, and we embrace God as the foundation of our life.  As a school, we prize academic study and employ the finest educators and methods.  We are a community where students, families and educators find belonging, friendship, support, and joy.  We train for life in the “outer world” by building self-confidence, leadership skills, and commitment to justice, respect, and peace.  We step out of our “greenhouse” by doing service projects to learn about and appreciate others, and to see empowering and assisting others as a way of fulfillment in life.

Veritas is a word appearing on our logo and in many places on our campus.  It is Latin for Truth, a trait highly prized by many, but often compromised in the world of expediency.  A graduate of our schools is to be a person of Integrity, a person of Truth, even when the consequences of Truth are costly.

Peace is another treasured word.  It describes a Reality that seems fragile in our personal and public lives. Here we strive to be a community where we can “Be Peace, Build Peace, Preach Peace.”  Students are equipped to be Peacemakers in all the arenas of life they will encounter.

Justice, respect, non-violence are the way to fullness of life for all.

Let us have joy in our time together here at St. Agnes and St. Dominic! 

Know that the love and prayers of the Dominican Sisters of Peace are with you.

Peace,

Sr. Cathy Galaskiewicz, OP

* Sr. Cathy has been the face of Dominican-Catholic charism in the Memphis area for over 40 years.  She has inspired generations of children, faculty, and families at SAA-SDS previously serving as a teacher and Dean of Religious Education. She taught at CBU, served as the Diocesan Director of Religious Education, and continues to offer classes and retreats for adults.

Sr. Cathy is currently serving her 4^th term on the SAA-SDS Board of Trustees. Other Dominican representatives joining her on the board are Sr. June Fitzgerald, OP., and Mark Butler, OPA, Director of Founded Ministries for the Dominican Sisters of Peace.