Our Catholic Identity
OUR HISTORY:
In 1980, in honor of the generous benefaction of Jim and Rose Totino, entrepreneurs in the frozen pizza business, the name of the school was augmented to Totino-Grace High School. At the time, Jim and Rose’s gift of $1 million was the largest ever given to a Catholic high school in the nation. Their profound commitment to Catholic education funded facility expansion and established the school’s endowment, which remains the foundation of our student financial aid program.
Due to its long association with the Christian Brothers and its support of the Lasallian Educational mission, Totino-Grace declared itself to be a Lasallian School in 1997. Totino-Grace is now part of a worldwide network of Lasallian Schools with approximately 3,500 Brothers and 93,000 lay colleagues teaching more than one million students in eighty countries.
WHO WE ARE TODAY:
When Totino-Grace opened its doors in 1966, the Christian Brothers and School Sisters of Notre Dame also introduced our community to the people we now call our Founders -- not because St. John Baptist de La Salle or Blessed Theresa Gerhardinger ever walked the halls of Totino-Grace, but because of their faith in God, their calling as innovative educators, and their love of students is what inspired the Brothers and the Sisters in those early years – and is what still inspires us today.
EVERY STUDENT. EVERY DAY.
STUDENT MINISTRY AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH:
- TG’s chaplain, Father Zipp, presides over Mass once a week (held on Thursday mornings this upcoming school year)
- A weekly student-led chapel service (can be adoration, rosary, prayer reflections, etc.)
- Seasonal Reconciliation
- Coffee hour with campus ministry on Wednesdays before school (invitation to discipleship, etc.)
- Small groups run by student ministers
- Advocacy and Justice Group - dedicated to raising awareness about Catholic Church teachings in regards to justice
- Retreat Team - where students are invited to take an active role in the retreat programming
- Sacraments, Liturgy, and Prayer Team - focused on sharing the Sacraments on campus
- Advertising and Charity Team - dedicated to publicizing and sharing the exciting opportunities for students to take an active role in their faith
- Sports and Activity Ministers - dedicated to helping groups with their faith formation
Totino-Grace is continuing to grow and add new options for further faith development, and this year an added emphasis will be on partnering with our families. “Through new educational, prayer, service, and justice opportunities, we hope to encourage and allow parents to more fully engage in their student’s Totino-Grace faith experience,” explained Linnville. Families will be invited to participate in weekly efforts beginning in the fall. Initially efforts will start as morning prayer, but hopes to expand to include talks, retreats, and service. “These young people are eager for their own faith development and would benefit from shared excitement at home,” says Linnville.
FAITH FORMATION OFFERINGS FOR FACULTY AND STAFF:
As important to helping students with their faith development, Totino-Grace is going to put extra effort this year into helping faculty and staff grow in their faith life as well. “It’s no secret that there has been a great resignation in education,” says Holly Hoey Germann, theology teacher and spiritual director, “but I truly believe that prayer, particularly contemplative prayer, can be a countermeasure to burnout.”
Hoey Germann has spent the past year and a half getting certified in Spiritual Direction, which will be offered as a way for faculty and staff to have a professional partner walk with them on their faith journey. Through gentle questions and conversations, both individually and in small groups, participants are invited to look more closely at how the Holy Spirit is working. Teachers are in a unique position to talk about their faith life and mold what it means to walk with God. “The ultimate goal with these new offerings is to surround our students with faith-filled adults who are open and aware of God’s profound love and what they are called to do and be in this world,” says Hoey Germann.
In addition to the campus ministry offerings of prayer, sacraments, and spiritual direction, faculty and staff will also be given the opportunity to deepen their faith-filled relationships with each other and as a community in the following ways:
- Monthly book reflections and discussions centered around contemplative prayer practice (offered before and after school)
- Advent evening reflection
- Lenten afternoon prayer series
- Staff spiritual retreat
- Charism formation opportunities with Lasallian and School Sister of Notre Dame partners
- Individual spiritual direction
“The adults of faith that are modeling the day-to-day reality of discipleship are, arguably, the main differentiator in a Catholic school,” says Hoey Germann. “We need to invest in them so that they can, in turn, inspire and encourage our students to be people of faith.”