Our School
At St. Paul Catholic School, we are called to celebrate and nurture the God-given talents of each student as we serve with excellence in the light of Christ. We recognize our call to love and serve from our Master teacher Jesus Christ, and we are committed to creating a Catholic learning community under the protection of Mother Mary.
The Catholic Graduate Expectations are our foundation as we strive for academic excellence and the acknowledgement of those who achieve it. We recognize God as the source of all life and actively work to focus on social issues within our local and global communities.
We celebrate the diversity within our community with a collaborative approach to learning, in cooperation with parents, the Catholic faith community, and other organizations that recognize the value of our mission. Within the context of Catholic teaching and Sacramental living, our school community strives to demonstrate respect and reverence for all life, thus nurturing a safe, Christian environment for the entire school community.
Patron Saint
Our patron saint is St. Paul.
St. Paul was an early Christian missionary and theologian known as the Apostle to the Gentiles. Born Jewish in Tarus (Asia Minor), he trained as a rabbi but earned his living as a tentmaker. As a Pharisee, he persecuted the first Christians until he had a vision of Jesus while travelling to Damascus and became a Christian. Three years later he met Peter and James and from then on was known as the 13th Apostle. From Antioch, where he was based, he traveled widely, preaching to the Gentiles. By telling non-Jewish people that they did not have to follow Jewish law, he helped to establish Christianity as a separate religion rather than a Jewish sect. On a journey to Jerusalem, he was arrested and imprisoned for two years. The circumstances of his death are unknown. Most of what we know about Paul's ministry and religious views comes from his letters in the New Testament; the letters are the first Christian theological writing and the source of much Christian doctrine. Because of Paul more than anyone else, Christianity became a world religion.
School history
The original idea for a Catholic elementary school in east Whitby was put forth by Monsignor Paul Dwyer in 1957. Monsignor Dwyer, who was in charge of all Oshawa parishes, and Albert Love, the chairman of the Oshawa Separate School Board, had the great foresight to see the need for a Catholic school in that area. A co-op home-building plan headed by Father Lawlor was in the planning stages in 1956 and well underway in east Whitby by 1957. Monsignor Dwyer bought the land (he was very wealthy due to speculation and investments, and always drove a black 98 Olds) and sold it to the newly established school board.
Monsignor Paul Dwyer's valued support was the reason the school was named St. Paul. Another honour was given later, in 1976, when the Oshawa Catholic High School was renamed Monsignor Paul Dwyer Catholic High School. Albert Love was now recognized as a supporter of Catholic education. After he was knighted, a new Oshawa school was named Sir Albert Love Catholic School in 1965.
In order to build a school, the area had to establish a school board. In 1959, Roman Catholic School Section #9 (R.C.S.S. #9) Township of Whitby was set up. St. Paul was the only Catholic school in the Board. The Board consisted of the following executive members, who were not elected, but who remember being asked to take the positions. "If we wanted a school in our neighborhood, we had to do the job."
- Joseph Cooper, Chairman (later a Durham R.C.S.S Superintendent)
- Frank J. Moloney, Treasurer
- Gerald Cole, Secretary
These one-year positions were held by the same three men until the school board amalgamated with the Town of Whitby Board in 1968. Frank Moloney recalls, "We published 'School Meetings' that were to be held to elect new Board members. One year, no one showed up ... so the three us voted each other in, went back to Cole's and opened a bottle to make it official."
The few children in the area where St. Paul Catholic School was to be built were attending either the local public school, Dr. Robert Thornton, or travelling some distance to St. Christopher in Oshawa or St. John in central Whitby. School Section #9 was bordered by Thickson Road to the west, Taunton Road to the north, Whitby-Oshawa line to the east, and Lake Ontario to the South The newly formed R.C.S.S #9 Township of Whitby had to prove the need for a new school by providing assurance of growth, and show that the distance was far enough from the other two Catholic schools. A census of all Catholic families was taken door to door throughout the area. Mr. Ed Finan, future Director of the Catholic School Board in Durham, was a valuable source of assistance for the new Board members. "Mr. Finan was always there to help us ... to teach us about setting up records, financing the new school ... basically he educated the new school board."
Philosophy
As Catholic educators, we live according to our Father's code and to lead our students, by example, to live the basic truths of the gospel message. This is an awesome, yet inspiring challenge which
we share with the parents of our young men and women.
Children learn what they live. Each day we have the opportunity to teach our students:
- to love by the way we love;
- to be generous by our generosity;
- to be passionate by our compassion; and
- to be forgiving by the way we forgive.
However, a person cannot give what he or she does not have. Unless we are living the Gospel message, we cannot lead our students to do so.
There are many hallmarks of a Catholic educator, including:
- Prayer - The challenges of our vocation, and indeed life in general, are great. To meet them we need to follow Christ's advice that we "ask the father in My name". Each Catholic educator has a duty to expose students to his or her particular style of prayer in order to assist students to recognize the value of prayer in daily life.
- Eucharist - Parish, school, and staff liturgies provide opportunities to celebrate our faith. Our example can testify to the Eucharist as a joyful source of strength and community building.
- Social Justice - This is the heart of the Christian message, that we "love one another as I have loved you". As our brother's and sister's keepers, we must be concerned about the aged, the poor, the oppressed, and any other marginalized group - both at home and abroad.
