Statements of St. Vincent's School

The following statements were provisionally adopted today by the administration of St. Vincent's School. They will be presented to the vestry of the Cathedral at its next meeting for final approval.

Mission Statement

"Making Jesus Christ known in all that we do by educating the mind, body, and spirit in the Anglican tradition."

Vision Statement

The vision of St. Vincent's School is to produce alumni who will honor their Creator, not only with well-developed minds and bodies, but also with the choices they make in their lives. This school will provide an education that develops and nurtures each student’s intellect, creativity, and compassion. Our students will one day contribute their special gifts to society and bring honor to their God. In order to do so, our children must possess a strong academic foundation, a Biblically-based ethical system, delight in exploring ideas, well-developed communication skills, and the ability to think carefully and creatively. St. Vincent's School will endeavor to equip each child with the necessary skills to adapt to our changing world without loosing their moorings to the Truth given by God in the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Core Values of St. Vincent’s School

Reverence & Faithfulness—Our community shall reverence the Lord our God in all that we do, remaining faithful to our Savior Jesus Christ and making known His Good News to all among whom we live.

Understanding & Truthfulness—Our community shall be dedicated to the sober, fearless pursuit of truth, beauty and righteousness. In all of our academic endeavors we shall strive for excellence and a deepened understanding of the wonders of this world and the glory of its Creator.

Curiosity & Creativity--Our community shall foster the inquisitive and creative faculties of each of its members, helping our students grow into people who will respond effectively to the challenges this world presents and enabling our staff to become more effective teachers.

Self-discipline and honor—Our community shall be a place of good order and sound discipline, where students, faculty, and staff respect one another and honor the unique gifts God has given to each one of His children. We shall strive always to live with one another in conformity with God's moral law and the dignity of His image within us.

Love & Compassion—Our community shall be a place where brotherly love abounds between students, faculty, and staff and where compassion for those less fortunate than ourselves is at the forefront of our concerns and activities.

Thankfulness & Generosity--Our community shall come together without fail in corporate prayer and worship, offering humble thanks to God for the many blessings He has showered upon us. We will be generous toward others as we take those gifts out into the world in service to His Kingdom.

Statement of Philosophy

We believe God desires that His children develop mentally, physically, socially, and spiritually. Our school will provide an environment in which children can increase in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52).

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3:16-17)." Therefore regular study of the Holy Bible will be integrated into every aspect of the common life of our school.

All truth comes from God; therefore our entire curriculum is consistent with divine revelation. We strive to provide a strong academic foundation in the Humanities, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and Mathematics. Excellence in these disciplines gives glory to our Creator and equips our students for service in His Kingdom.

God's holy Word written teaches us that students will be like their teachers. Therefore all teachers and staff must be spiritually mature individuals and possess academic and leadership abilities that will foster the growth of our students in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God.

We strive to develop a loving atmosphere where each child can feel safe and secure, thus enabling him to flourish in every way. Therefore we will maintain a low student-to-teacher ratio in each classroom in order to facilitate those personal interactions between teachers and individual students that promote such flourishing.

Academic knowledge serves students best when it is diverse and inter-disciplinary. Therefore our students exercise and extend their knowledge of academics through participation in a variety of special subjects, such as: music, physical education, computer, foreign languages, and the fine arts.

We believe that God would have us love Him with all of our hearts and souls and minds. Therefore we will begin each day with worship together. During this worship the words of Holy Scripture will be heard and the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed. Our prayers will be humbly offered and our praises gratefully given to the Lord.

We believe that we must love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Therefore we will encourage regular acts of age-appropriate community service by our entire student body.

++Venables and the Southern Cone Punished for Helping Orthodox Anglicans in North America and Elsewhere

The Province of the Southern Cone of the Americas, headed by Archbishop Gregory Venables, has just been sanctioned by Canon Kearon, the General Secretary of the Anglican Communion Office, for helping orthodox Anglican parishes and dioceses trapped within heretical provinces like the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. The South Americans have now been rewarded for their courageous stand on behalf of "the faith once delivered to the saints" by having their sole representative removed from an important inter-Anglican body, the Standing Committee on Unity, Faith, and Order. Naturally, this move by the staunchly liberal Canon Kearon also serves to diminish orthodox voices on that committee almost to non-existence.

May God bless the people and clergy of the Southern Cone, and ++Venables in particular, richly for their willingness to be of service to their brothers and sisters in Christ--including my own diocese--even in the face of such opposition from the forces of "progress."

From the ACNS (hat tip to Stand Firm):

The Secretary General writes: 'Many of you will have read the Archbishop of Canterbury's letter to the Anglican Communion issued at Pentecost last (28 May 2010). Part of that letter addresses the current and ongoing tensions in the Anglican Communion - these tensions cluster around the three moratoria referred to in the Windsor Report.

'In that letter the Archbishop made the following proposals:

"I am therefore proposing that, while these tensions remain unresolved, members of such provinces – provinces that have formally, through their Synod or House of Bishops, adopted policies that breach any of the moratoria requested by the Instruments of Communion and recently reaffirmed by the Standing Committee and the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO) – should not be participants in the ecumenical dialogues in which the Communion is formally engaged. I am further proposing that members of such provinces serving on IASCUFO should for the time being have the status only of consultants rather than full members".
'At that time I wrote to the Primate of the Southern Cone, whose interventions in other provinces are referred to in the Windsor Continuation Group Report asking him for clarification as to the current state of his interventions into other provinces. I have not received a response.

'Consequently, I have written to the person from the Province of the Southern Cone who is a member of the Inter Anglican Standing Commission on Unity Faith and Order (IASCUFO), Bishop Tito Zavala, withdrawing his membership and inviting him to serve as a Consultant to that body.

'These decisions are not taken easily or lightly, but relate to the gracious restraint requested by successive meetings of the Instruments of Communion and the implications for Communion bodies when these requests are not honoured.'

The Revd Canon Dr. Kenneth Kearon.

The Selection for C of E Bishops?

This scene from "Yes, Prime Minister" is priceless! Unfortunately, it is actually also true of far too many revisionist Anglican bishops world-wide. Hat tip to Stand Firm.