Angela and Justin Stastook, parishioners with St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Airdrie, thoughtfully discerned another course of action –– to send their two children back to school. When I spoke with Angela it was clear she and her husband had also carefully weighed all their options.

“There is no correct option, no best option, just options and dealing with them as best you can,” said Angela. “We pray things turn out positively. I pray every day that things get back to normal and we can defeat this (pandemic).”

The couple discerned they needed to keep their dual income, and it wasn’t feasible to facilitate online schooling while trying to work from home. They also thought sending their children to school with friends would improve their mental health.

“The hardest part is we are not going to know. In a month we will find out if it was a terrible decision or a good decision. For me, we can’t hide. We have to do our best to prepare our kids,” said Angela.

“My view of the mission was never not to catch Covid. Covid is here, people are going to get it. It’s just not to overwhelm the healthcare system.

Still, Angela worries about how schools are going to practically enforce social distancing to lessen the spread of Covid-19 and the pressure that enforcing all the safety protocols will place on teachers and administrators.

However, “Teachers are about to become front line workers in an environment that is scary and stressful for a lot of them. Please be kind and understanding.”

As an administrator Fox is happy to field questions and concerns and he also encourages people to remain positive and even offer a bit of cheerleading.

“Offer suggestions if you have some, recognizing we are mentally exhausting ourselves trying to figure this out from every angle. None of us is as smart as all of us!”

One way to reduce the stress on students is to reduce the stress on teachers and school staff.

“We are doing our absolute best based on the guidelines given to us by our health authority to redesign our entire operations to keep kids and staff safe,” said Fox. “Hearing someone say, 'I'm glad you are doing what you are doing for our kids' goes a long way to reduce stress.”

Fox encourages everyone to be loving and compassionate and merciful. “We all need each other’s mercy. God is with all of us through this.

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Written by Sara Francis for Faithfully

A Christian who stays close to the Virgin Mary is "like a child near his mother," says Pope Francis.  He follows with this advice: "Never abandon the rosary. Pray the rosary."

We invite you to set aside a time for this beautiful prayer, to bring your intentions and pray with us online. Starting this week, the Diocesan Facebook page will livestream daily Rosary prayers, Monday to Saturday at 6 pm. The Rosary will be led by Fr. Fabio DeSouza and livestreamed from Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Calgary.