An afternoon concert of jazz music at St. Augustine's ...

Today we had a fabulous in-school concert:  The Bluesberries entertained us for over an hour with an amazing medley of music from the jazz tradition.  Their 4 piece jazz band was composed of a base guitar musician, a drummer, and Mr. Arntzen's sons, Arnt Jeffrey playing the acoustic guitar and Evan playing the saxaphone.  When Mr. Arntzen himself joined in with his harmonica, it was so exciting for all of us to see and hear.  We learned a great deal about jazz music and it was obvious that today's performance sparked a lot of interest in the type of music performed, the history of this musical tradition and what it's like to perform in an accomplished band.  Under Mr. Arntzen's direction, many of the  Grade 7's joined them to perform one piece.

For those of us blessed to be there today, it was a wonderful afternoon of music, learning and audience engagement.   You might ask your child what he or she loved about it...

From a little one's point of view ...

From a child's "point of view", when one of our little ones was looking at the model of our new school [now in the entrance way of our School], a question was posted:  "Mrs. Oberndorf, it's so little. How will we all fit inside?"  ...After offering a simple explanation, our little one just bounded off - confident that another adult mystery would somehow unfold.

It cannot do anything other than make us grown-ups smile - and delight in all the wonder that is soon to come!

When Will Construction Begin?

The most frequently asked question around St. Augustine Parish and School is "When will construction begin?"   At a recent parent meeting, we announced as news from our Building Committee, that the 16 conditions set out by the City of Vancouver had been met, and we are waiting for the City's formal signing of Building and Development permits. Once those are in hand, we can move forward on our next steps.  We are all very excited ~ and grateful for everyone's prayerful and generous support.

We will do our best to keep everyone up-to-date, and as events happen, they will be posted on our School's BLOG.

Welcome to the new blog ...

This is the first of what will be many blog postings over the course of the construction of our new school at St. Augustine and some of the wonderful stories that happen around school in our everyday life.    We hope that by opening up our amazing story to a much broader community, many more people will come to know of our story, connect with its purpose and become committed to supporting us with their prayers and actions.

In this first post, I'd like to provide our readers with the back-story of our project, update the current status, and provide a sense of what is to come ...

The back story ...
Familiar to many of you is our history story - for those of you new to us, this might help.  In 1911, through the leadership and vision of the Oblate Fathers and the work of the Sisters of St. Ann, St. Augustine School and Parish began.  For nearly 43 years, our first building stood on the corner of 7th and Arbutus, and was a landmark in the Kitsilano community.  By l954, our original building was replaced with the simple current school, meant from the very beginning to be "temporary".  Now, 59 years later, we have the plans in place to build a whole new facility that will meet the needs of our students, our Parish, and where possible, the broader community.

In 1999, our then Pastor, Fr. John Brioux, OMI, made the courageous decision to allow for the investigation into the possibility of a new school, and over the course of the past 14 years, much has transpired to bring this dream into reality.  Pastors Fr. Gordon Cook, OMI, and our current Pastor, Fr. Terry McNamara, OMI have been and continue to be committed to seeing our new School built.

Through the generous sacrificial giving of many people, it became apparent about 24 months ago that Through the generous sacrificial giving of many people, it became apparent about 24 months ago that sufficient initial funds were available to allow for many things to transpire, including the engagement of  the Parish leadership and the Archdiocese, seeking approval to begin the significant task of creating a plan to show evidence of financial feasibility and to hire architects for our project.

Over the course of these past 2 years, a vast array of gifted, generous individuals contributed their time, talent and treasure to bring us to this holy place - where we can actually begin building this Fall, 2013.

Much will be asked of all of us - that we be ready to embrace building on the site as we occupy the current School, that we continue to be prayerful and generous in our giving in a concerted effort to do all we can to reduce the Parish's debt on this project, and that we offer our personal time and talent wherever we can.  Soon, a new building will rise out of the ground - right on top of the original School/Church.

This Fall we can expect: ....
      Final sign off by the City of Vanocuver   
      Tendering of the project and hiring a contractor
      Significant changes to our actual property site
      Changes to our School's schedule to accommodate construction, and
      A tremendous amount of anticipation and excitement.

Over the course of the coming18-20 months, I'll do my best to communicate updates as they occur or in some case, to share what is coming next.  We expect to share anecdotal stories, post pictures for those not living in Vancouver, while keeping our community of St. Augustine's aware of whatever will help to "spread the news" about this amazing project.

We ask that everyone ...
       prays for the success of our new School
       continues to be generous in their donations
       consider ways in which you can offer your personal support.


Catherine Oberndorf, new blogger and Principal of St. Augustine School