MY NAME IS Catherine Flores, and I have been a teacher at St. Irenaeus Parish School for three years, and in Catholic education since 2018. I have been fortunate and blessed to teach in both the Diocese of Orange and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for the past seven years. As a product of Catholic education, I have always appreciated and admired the sacrifice my parents made to put myself and my two siblings through Catholic education from kindergarten through 12th grade. I always knew as I was on my education journey as a teacher that I would always want to be a Catholic school teacher. My lifelong dream of wanting to be a Catholic school teacher was to give back to the Catholic faith and education that has made me the woman I am today.
Being fortunate to teach in a Catholic school, I am able to live out my faith each and every day with my colleagues and students. Being able to incorporate God’s love in all subjects is one of the things I love about teaching in Catholic school. I can teach patience if students do not understand a math problem, God’s forgiveness if there’s a disagreement and taking care of the earth that God created for us through our recycling program. As a Catholic teacher, attending Mass weekly with my second graders gives them the opportunity to grow in their faith and also to prepare for their First Holy Communion in May. As a whole school community, being able to attend student body Masses and watch different grades lead the
Mass shows how the youth of our parish are growing in God’s love.
At St. Irenaeus Parish School, I am blessed to have wonderful colleagues who show their love and dedication to their students every day. As teachers, they go above and beyond what they need to do for their students. As a school community, we teach our students about God’s word, especially in scripture. Our Bible verse for this year comes from The First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians 13:13. As St. Paul states, “The greatest of these is Love.” Especially in our world today, it is important to teach our students that we all, as brothers and sisters in Christ, need to respect all in this world. I see this every day at St. Irenaeus through the amazing students and colleagues. I thank God each day that He has truly blessed me with being a Catholic school teacher at an amazing Catholic school.