By Shelley Wolf

As director of Campus Ministry and teacher of Theology and Spanish, Sister Elizabeth Doyle, ASCJ, checks in with Sacred Heart Academy students on Microsoft Teams.

HAMDEN – To boost the morale of stay-at-home students, Sacred Heart Academy in Hamden is trying a host of interesting new ideas remotely, in keeping with its focus on mind, body and soul.

In addition to robust distance learning using laptops, Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams, the school has found new uses for video, live streaming, photography and social media to bolster students’ spiritual lives as well as their physical fitness.

First: Feed the Soul

To keep students connected to their faith, Sister Elizabeth Doyle, an Apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, has turned to multiple media. As the director of Campus Ministry, her first challenge was finding a way to compensate for the loss of the school’s regular First Friday Mass.

“It’s certainly not the same,” she says about students and teachers all confined to their homes during the coronavirus outbreak, rather than gathering for Mass. “The students expressed to me missing that, that it’s just not the same at home as all being together, singing together, praying together in the chapel.”

So the Sisters of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who have their provincial home on campus and share their main chapel with the school, decided to unite everyone in prayer by live streaming adoration from the main chapel. Adoration is now being streamed live the first Friday of each month through a link to the school’s Facebook and Twitter pages. This First Friday Adoration has also been made available to the larger Apostles’ community through the order’s own Facebook page at facebook.com/ascjus. The next First Friday Adoration will be held May 1.

“We went to adoration virtually,” Sister Elizabeth said. “I live streamed the image of the monstrance and we spent 20 minutes praying. It’s not the same as being in the chapel, but it’s as close as you can get given the circumstance.”

The first adoration in April went on all day for the benefit of students, alumni and supporters. Many said it was a comfort to see the inside of the beautiful Mount Sacred Heart Chapel again, if only from a distance.

Anne Mackey, a senior and student council president, is one such student. “Sister Sheila O’Neill was in the chapel, it was quiet, and she played one of our favorite songs, ‘You Are My All in All,’ and it echoed in the chapel,” Mackey said. “You saw the gold panel behind Jesus and the beautiful stained glass on both sides and it made you feel like you were in church again.”

Sister Elizabeth followed with a remote recitation of the rosary, this time led by the students themselves. She also shared a video from Pope Francis and a student-created video for Lent. She has been posting prayers and inspiring messages on Facebook daily. Now a virtual May Crowning of Mary has been scheduled for May 6 at 1 p.m. on the school’s Facebook page, via Facebook live.

“I think they’re responding well,” she says, judging by the students’ comments and emojis. She plans to continue posting spiritual messages next school year as well, hoping her efforts will continue to “inspire students and help them with their prayer life.”

Second: Challenge the Body

Sister Sheila O’Neill, an Apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and president of the school, said the school’s Athletic Department has also taken to video and social media. The new department head, Ray Degnan, came up with a way to promote physical fitness remotely through the school’s “Train Like a Shark” program, named after its mascot.

Emma, an athlete at Sacred Heart Academy, does a plank in response to the “Train Like a Shark” challenge from the school’s Athletic Department.

“Every Monday our athletic director is working with a local trainer and they put out workouts for the week,” Sister Sheila said. Degnan invites the students to do the workouts and to send in photos of themselves exercising. He enters their name into a drawing and on Friday pulls a winner out of his baseball cap. He then sends that student a gift card as encouragement. Originally intended for student athletes, the training plan is available to any student who wants to participate.

Sister Sheila noted it’s especially disappointing that all the senior athletes are missing out on their final season. But Degnan found a way to honor them on the Athletic Department’s own Facebook page by creating the “SHA Senior Spotlight.”

Recent postings show photos of senior athletes in uniform, who excel in lacrosse, softball and track and field, along with relevant notes about their accomplishments. “He’s highlighting a different senior athlete each week who would have been playing in the spring season,” Sister Sheila said, “just to give them the recognition that they deserve.”

Third: Focus on the Good

For an added touch of inspiration, Sacred Heart Academy is also using its primary Facebook page to highlight those alumni who are currently serving in the health care field. A perusal of the school’s Facebook page showed rotating images of medical professionals in personal protective equipment working in children’s hospitals, intensive care units, in assisted living facilities and in labs.

As president of the school, Sister Sheila is understandably proud of all her alumni, but especially of the contributions of those working in health care during the coronavirus outbreak.

“The most important thing is that school is a community,” she said. “Hard times are when you really have to pull together. You can’t have Easter Sunday without Good Friday. So much good is coming out of this suffering. There’s always good that you can find, and those are the things you have to hold onto.”

Founded in 1946 by the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Sacred Heart Academy educates young women in grades 9 through 12. Approximately 450 students are enrolled this year.

Anne Mackey, Sacred Heart Academy student council president, puts her dog Lucy in uniform for this year’s Virtual Spirit Week.

For more information on Sacred Heart Academy, visit sacredhearthamden.org or facebook.com/sacredhearthamden. For more on Sacred Heart Academy athletics, visit facebook.com/shaathletics. For more on the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, including First Friday Adoration, visit facebook.com/ascjus.

Photos courtesy of Sacred Heart Academy.