Dear Friends,
We know that many of you have questions regarding the creation of the new Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Homeschool Ministry at Holy Rosary and what that means for the continuation of the Holy Rosary Homeschool Group. While we can’t address all the thoughts and concerns you might have, we would like to take this opportunity to address what we can and maybe bring a little bit of clarity to the situation.
First, we know that many things have been said behind the scenes and you may have heard different stories. It is not possible to address rumor, detraction, or gossip in this type of letter and we will not attempt to do so. If you have specific questions regarding something you were told we would be happy to answer them directly. Please feel free to reach out to any member of the management committee individually or as a group: [email protected].
What we can say is that there was not a “split” in the homeschool group. The new ministry at Holy Rosary parish is just that – a new ministry. Fr Corwin’s decision to start a new ministry that supplanted the homeschool group was a surprise to many members of the group including most of those in management positions at the time.
While Holy Rosary parish had been gracious in allowing us the support and the use of their facilities, the relationship between the homeschool group and the parish had always been rather informal in part due to the relatively frequent changes in parish leadership. In the past, some pastors have wanted as little to do with the group as possible and others have wanted to be more involved. Fr Corwin’s decision to start a ministry for homeschoolers is certainly within his purview. You are not being asked to choose between being part of the new ministry or part of this group – this is not an ‘us or them’ situation. In fact, our management committee members are all also parishioners of Holy Rosary and all have joined the new homeschool ministry there. We hope that it is successful.
As the creation of Holy Rosary’s new ministry was so unexpected, initial decisions for the Homeschool Group had to be made quickly and we understand that this caused some confusion. These included bringing in new management committee members in order to remain legal; however, we made the conscious decision to not act rashly. We have decided to avoid making any sweeping changes in the short term. This year will be one of transition and change and so the decision was made not to charge dues. Over the next year, we will be changing the way the management committee is selected and how decisions are made so that we can better represent our membership. We ask for your prayers and patience as we work to make the group more accountable to the membership.
Not being at Holy Rosary will create some changes for us, but it does not necessarily follow that these will be changes for the worse. We have every confidence that God is leading us to some wonderful opportunities. Our goal is to become a conduit to connect Catholic Homeschoolers in the Greater Portland area with one another. This includes working with any Catholic parish, co-op, or homeschool group. God willing we will be able to offer online classes, coordinate co-ops and service projects, arrange a few field trips, support parishes that would like to start homeschool groups, and connect families that are looking for options to meet other homeschooling Catholic families close to their home – in addition to continuing the support that has always existed on our email lists. We hope that you will continue to find this group supportive and a blessing in your lives and we humbly request your prayers as we begin this new chapter for our group.
In Christ our Lord,
Suchi Myjak, HRHG Leader
Darcee Thomason, HRHG Assistant
Jennifer Martin, HRHG Advisor
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