We have a card we saved from the birth of our youngest child. When we received it seven years ago we were touched but also somehow sensed that there was more to this card than its heart-felt message. At the bottom was written in that beautiful Palmer Penmanship: “Congratulations…We can hardly wait for Theresa Brighid to be a student at St. John’s!! -Sister Kathleen and Staff”

Joe Brogan, '07 with little sister, Theresa Brogan.

At the time we were relating more to the verse printed at the bottom of the card, Psalm 45:2 – “God hath blessed thee for ever.” With our oldest child just graduated from high school and our youngest just out of kindergarten, God in his goodness and wisdom, had sent us a beautiful new daughter. As little Joe told everyone, she had brown hair, blue eyes, Down syndrome and a little nose. In other words she had all of us wrapped around her finger before she could even smile!

In her first two weeks, Theresa had more visitors, cards and gifts than all five of our other children combined. The outpouring of love from the St. John’s community was astonishing. Our pediatrician discovered where we lived because of the multitude of streamers and signs on our front lawn!

But back to that note from Sister. We knew that we would love for Theresa to have the chance to go to school at St John’s just as all her siblings had, but we also needed to know that we were doing what was best for her. After all, this is Montgomery County! And so Theresa attended preschool and kindergarten in the county while also attending St. John’s preschool. Although she had good teachers, therapists and administrators in the county, it was clear that Theresa belonged here. She had been coming to lunch duty and hot lunch since she was two months old. She was baby Jesus in the Christmas pageant when she was five months old (and of course performed brilliantly!) Everyone knew her by name and watched out for her. Here she was loved!

So the St. John’s team kicked into action. Claire North, Kelly Burgess, Sr. Kathleen, Pat Herron and Sr. Doreen sat down with us to plan for the year. We did not draw up the piles of paper work that the usual IEP (Individualized Education Program) entails; we drew up a truly individualized plan that would provide for Theresa’s inclusion in all aspects of the curriculum, while making the necessary accommodations for her to reach her own potential. We were thrilled with St. John’s for doing what so very few Catholic schools have been willing to do. But even we could not have anticipated the outcome.

fellow-first-graders have been wonderful models for learning. Theresa is reading and writing and slowly figuring out addition and subtraction. But, more importantly, Theresa is very much a part of her class. She goes to birthday parties and play dates and comes home telling us about all of her friends. Her classmates recognize her differences but they know that she is one of them and they take care of her. We will never forget Jenny Curtiss referring to Theresa as her best friend or Mary Muldoon spontaneously but gently feeding her the ball in front of the net at a soccer game so she might score, or her teammates cheering for her when Mr. Bilodeau raised her up so she, too, could make a basket. There were the second graders whose hopscotch game she joined on the day of the First Communion retreat; they included her for the rest of recess. There was Bill Mulholland buying her a glove for t-ball just because he was getting one for his little Bridget. There are all the thoughtful little gifts that come home from Sr. Lois and Sr. Theresa. There’s Mrs. Ruppert and a gym full of parents who are okay with her ‘hamming it up’ at the Christmas and Spring Concerts. There is the faith-filled community of St. John the Evangelist following the commandment of his gospel, “Love one another as I have loved you.”

How could we have thought she could go anywhere else?