August 13, 2010
Wanting to be the A note
John Angotti reminds teachers that ‘God uses every note’
John Angotti and Daryl Hagan share a light moment during the Back to School gathering for diocesan educators at St. John the Baptist parish in Newburgh. (Message photo by Peewee Vasquez) Click for a larger version.
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
It’s back to school time in the Diocese of Evansville, and last week educators here got a rousing send-off into the 2010-2011 school year.
Teachers and administrators from Catholic schools all over southwestern Indiana gathered at St. John the Baptist Church in Newburgh to celebrate the Liturgy together and to listen to Christian musician John Angotti.
Thanks to his dynamite speaking style and through his own lyrics, he was able to offer the educators a powerful message of a God who dwells within us, and who loves us.
The gathering began as Donna Halverson, assistant superintendent of schools, introduced the diocesan school theme “Make a Difference,” and led a role call of the schools.
When she introduced the faculty at John Paul the Great High School in Jasper she noted that it has doubled its enrollment in its second year of existence. Last year, seven students were enrolled as freshmen and sophomores. This year, there are 15 students in three grade levels.
John Paul the Great is a private high school operated in parish facilities at St. Joseph Church, Jasper.
Halverson noted that the staff at St. Theresa School in Evansville was not at the gathering because school was already underway. First year teachers were asked to stand, and then she announced new administrators who include the following:
- Daryl Hagan, superintendent of schools; Michelle Priar, assistant superintendent of schools;
- Jeanne Heltzel and Gerry Adams, interim principals at the three Washington Catholic schools;
- Timothy “Tad” Dickel, executive director at Mater Dei High School, Ken Schultheis, executive director at Memorial High School, Christopher Tanner, principal at Mater Dei; David Memmer, principal at Holy Spirit School; Theresa Berendes, principal at Resurrection School; and Nancy Mills, principal at St. Theresa School, all in Evansville;
- Angie Johnson, principal at St. James School in Haubstadt;
- Sally Sternberg, principal at Holy Family School in Jasper.
Halverson then introduced the new superintendent of schools to the educators, noting, “He will make a difference in this diocese.”
As Hagan addressed the teachers, he said, “Please know how thrilled I am to be a part of all of this.”
He added, “The one thing I want you to know about me is that I have a passion for Catholic education . . . Catholic education is my vocation.”
Hagan told the educators that he was “committed to serving and working along side each one of you to give that same gift of a Catholic education to each child in the Diocese of Evansville. As I look around the church, I see men and women who make a difference and share that same passion to be Christ for our young people.”
He said the teachers will “know” they have made a difference by May 2011 if they have achieved the following:
- Partnered with the parents of your students throughout the year providing positive and constructive comments in regard to their child’s progress.
- Supported your fellow teachers in new initiatives and provided support to them when needed.
- Incorporated our Catholic faith and values into the curriculum.
- Prepared each lesson that addressed the diverse needs of the students in your class.
- Modeled peace and justice practices as conflict occurred.
- Collaborated with your principal and your staff or colleagues in achieving your school wide goals.
- Participated in the life of your church by serving as a minister and/or committee member.
“And finally, you will know you made a difference at the end of the year,” he said, “when the students who were entrusted to you can say they feel closer to God and have a deeper sense of faith because of this school year.”
After Hagan concluded his remarks, he asked Michelle Priar to address the educators. She encouraged them to “enjoy your school year, and know we are here to help you.”
She introduced the keynote speaker, songwriter and singer John Angotti who quickly brought the teachers to life with a light-hearted ice-breaker. He told them to “stand and turn to the person next to you and give them a back rub.” As laughter filled the church he said, “Now the other way. Then stretch to the ceiling.”
As the laughter subsided, he told the teachers he was from West Virginia, and that he grew up in a first generation Italian-American family that was focused on music, faith and food. “That’s what we did.”
He said he was in Newburgh to “talk about how we can continue to grow in our faith,” that we can’t just stop with what we learned in Confirmation classes as 13-year-olds. “Confirmation is just the beginning.”
He said, “We have to pay attention.” God isn’t in “some distant place. God dwells in us.”
He reminded the educators of the “awesome responsibility” they have to pass on their Catholic faith, to teach their students how to see God “in a whole new way.”
He talked about his own years as a student in junior high, a time when he wanted to be “the A note in the key of F.”
“But God said, ‘Son, you are an F-sharp.’”
Angotti remembers fighting that message. “I wanted to be the quarterback.”
In college, still ignoring the message, he majored in business “because it was all about the money. I wanted to be the next Billy Joel or Elton John.”
He married, but they “struggled. We split for about a year, and I thought, ‘It’s all her fault.’
“I was trying to be the A note. Then it hit me. I wasn’t the A note. I was an F-sharp.”
He said “God rebuilt me. I can’t explain it, and I shouldn’t try,” but everything from God says “I love you. God uses every single note.”
Angotti reminded the Catholic educators of their “awesome responsibility” to teach that “everything leads to God, that every path leads to God.”
“Our objective as Catholic educators is to bring forth the kingdom of God, so our students recognize themselves — as they leave our schools — as disciples. What an awesome responsibility for us.”
He believes there are three ways to look at life: One is the eye of the flesh. The second is the eye of reason, and the third way, the most important way, is the eye of the spirit — “where we say God is love.” That’s the place, he explained, that “when I tell my children that I love them, I have to hug them too. In the embrace is the eye of the spirit.”
The Liturgies “have to have the eye of the spirit,” he believes.
Often, as he travels the country, he sees that school Masses have become a “preference of one,” meaning the preference of the priest or the music director. He encouraged the teachers to consider that “there is a 12 year old and an eight year old and how do we reach them?”
We all come into Mass “with all our baggage,” he believes, but it’s important to “see through the eye of the spirit, to see those rituals are communication between us and God, that God is present. It’s not entertainment.”
Then Angotti talked about his own father. “I knew the way that he lived his life that God was with him.”
Right before his father died, the two men talked. “I told him, ‘When you go to heaven, can you send me a sign that you made it there?’ He said, ‘You know I will.’”
Angotti remembers being in his car after his father died and “looking for signs.” When he arrived at his home “there was food everywhere. Italian bread and crumbs falling to the floor. I recognized the peace all around me, and I knew in the breaking of the bread he is with me. All the things we do at Mass started to make sense,” he said of the God “who makes himself present to us in the form of his bread and wine.
“Take this and eat. Take this and drink.
“God makes himself present to us in three ways. In one another. Look at the person next to you, and tell them you love them,” he said, adding, “Now think of the person in the classroom who gets on your nerves.”
The second way God makes himself present to us is in Scripture which is the living word of God. “Pay attention to the word,” he said.
The sacraments are the third way God connects with us, Angotti believes. They are “hugs from God, him saying, ‘I’m here with you.’”
He told the educators, “You have the responsibility to teach the faith. Why? Because it makes a difference.”