This past month, on International Human Rights Day, St. Benedict hosted the Amnesty International Write for Rights letter writing campaign. Students from the school wrote letters in support of cases where individual’s Human Rights have been violated. The Peace Posse organized the event because they felt that it was important for students to think about the well being of others, not just in the school but around the world. Over three hundred students took part in the event and three hundred and fifty letters were written in support of four cases. It was a great day for Social Justice.
Category: Faith
Samaritan’s Purse & Operation Christmas Child
Operation Christmas Child is a special Christmas project affiliated with Samaritan’s Purse, a non-denominational Christian organization. At St. Anne’s this year, Mrs. Belanger and Mr. Thomson’s Grade 7 classes partnered together to pack a total of 37 shoe boxes for needy children around the world. Students and their families generously donate their time and money to fill shoe boxes with a variety of special items such as toys, school supplies, hygiene items, etc. Every gift-filled shoe box is given unconditionally, regardless of religion, gender, or race, in a way that practically demonstrates the love of Jesus Christ around the globe. The boxes will be sent to children in countries in Central America, the Caribbean, South America and West Africa. Way to go Angels!!
“God truly gives his gifts to the poor and always does right”
The spirit of altruism is alive and well at St. Charles Catholic School in Chelmsford. The yearly food drive for the needy was a huge success for the entire community. Students and staff collected 5 092 food items for La Maison d’Amitié/Friendship House. Mme Bouzane’s Gr. 5/6 French Immersion class co-ordinated this yearly endeavour from start to finish. Although they encouraged everyone to bring in canned goods, their class contributed over 1 000 cans to the food drive, making them the winners of this school-wide friendly competition. These champions are the recipients of the “Golden Can” Award. Way to go RAMS!
Pius XII School Community Celebrates Mass
All of the students and staff of Pius XII came together as a school community on March 8, 2010 to celebrate mass with Father Remi at Holy Redeemer parish. The school took advantage of the beautiful sunshine and walked over to the church to enjoy mass each other. It was a great way to start the week as well as an excellent opportunity for the school to re-energize their faith before beginning their March Break.
St. Andrew Catholic Elementary School Celebrates Ash Wednesday
The grade six students and their teacher led the students and some parents from St. Andrew School in an Ash Wednesday prayer service. The students were reminded that lent is a time to do something that makes a difference in the lives of themselves or others. Some people give up things and others do things to improve themselves. Father Al from the school parish of St. Andrew the Apostle sent over blessed ashes for Mrs. Henry to distribute to everyone present.
SCC Antioch Prayer Group Enjoy Retreat In Killarney
Participants from the St. Charles Antioch prayer group took in the beauty of God’s creation and the wonderful weather on February 20 and 21, 2010 in Killarney. The students are part of the team that will put on the next Antioch Weekend (April 16,17,18) at St. Charles College. While in Killarney, the students participated in team building and communication exercises over the course of the two day retreat/seminar. The splendour of the lighthouse scenery, the sacredness of St. Ambrose Church, and the serenity of the Aboriginal classroom provided perfect opportunities for prayer and reflection. St. Charles College would like to thank the people of Killarney for their friendliness, the parishioners of St. Ambrose Parish for welcoming them at Mass, and especially the Outdoor Education Co-ordinator Mike Lavin for taking care of all of their needs throughout their visit.
St. Charles College Supports Haitian Relief
The staff and students at St. Charles College recognize the importance of continuing to raise funds for the devestated country of Haiti. While the school’s mission collection is ongoing daily, the students decided they wanted to do something extra to add to their mission donations. A group that is new to the school this year – P3 – which stands for People, Peace, Power – is a student run club that works towards social justice and peaceful relationships within the school and community. It incorporates the already established E.S.P. group at St. Charles College which is the Empowering Student Partnerships. These students decided to have t-shirts made to sell to boost their fundraising efforts. The t-shirts are being sold for $10 and there are only a few left as the sales have been a huge success. Including the mission collections, the students and staff have collected over $3000 and their donation will go to Haitian relief through Chalice which is a Catholic Aid organization that is sponsored by the Bishops. Patty Mardero, principal of the school felt that it was a real team effort by the entire school and was very pleased and proud of their accomplishment.
Bishop Simard Shares His Message of the Importance of Catholic Education
The Principals and Senior Administration met at the Sudbury Diocesan Centre on Thursday, February 11, 2010 to celebrate their faith and share best practice. The group was very honoured to start their day with a Mass led by His Excellence Bishop Noel Simard. During the mass, the principals listened to the Bishop’s message of the importance of Catholic education. “ We have to be proactive in proclaiming and showing the importance of Catholic Education.” said the Bishop. “Catholic education will allow our students to become people full of compassion and this is our challenge – to be strong and unite in the celebration of our faith.” When speaking of the sacrifices the principals as leaders face, the Bishop asked the question is it all worth it? He answered his own question very simply but emphatically – “you bet!” The group was asked to act as pillars of strength in their own school communities and were given the task of taking their inspiration back to their staff and students to engage them in their renewal of their faith.
St. James Recycles for Haiti
Along with all of the money raising efforts going on at our Sudbury Catholic Schools, Grade 5 Eco-Squad leaders at St. James Catholic School in Lively are collecting milk bags which are used to make sleeping mats. The bags are then crocheted by a neighbour Cindy Kavanaugh into comfortable, waterproof mats which will be forwarded to Haiti. The mats can be used for eating or sleeping and also due to their bright colours these mats do not attract bugs. It takes 250 milk bags to make one large mat and 150 bags to make a smaller mat. To date the students have collected over one thousand milk bags. The St. James students will continue their campaign until the end of March.