St. Mary School, in conjunction with Our Lady of Peace Parish in Capreol, will be holding its annual Christmas carolling for non-perishable food items, hats and mitts, and monetary donations for the needy on Wednesday December 12th. Carollers are invited to meet at the school for 6 pm and will then set out between 6 and 6:15 pm. They will be going on a float provided by the parish to sing carols and then return to the school around 7:30 pm for hot chocolate.
Category: Faith
Advent: Let the Play Begin
Everyone likes a good play. A good play draws you in. It keeps you perched on the edge of your seat wondering how things will turn out. A good play has characters that you cheer or jeer. A good play fills you with a sense of excitement and wonder and resolves itself in a way that leaves you feeling satisfied. I am sure everyone reading this article can or has by now filled in the blank with their own good play and recalls all of the feelings it evoked.
Advent is the beginning of a good play. It is the beginning of the story of Jesus. Like a good beginning, Advent draws us into the mystery of the story through all of our senses. Music, candles, gestures and symbols create an atmosphere that tells us something different is happening. Stories about surprising events of births unexpected tell us that we are about to enter into a time that is very different. Voices from the past fill us with hope as we struggle with challenges of poverty, violence and exclusion. The beginning of the play seems to hold out a promise of better times to come.
Advent is only the beginning. The drama unfolds as we move from the birth of Jesus to his young adulthood, baptism and ministry of preaching and healing and ends with his passion, death and resurrection. The drama of Jesus is retold during the year and in different ways we are drawn into this drama and encouraged to see the drama as our own story. Participants are uplifted, saddened, inspired, challenged and comforted as we sing, pray, listen to stories and reach out to others in service.
There are high points in the drama such as Christmas, Epiphany, Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, the Triduum, Pentecost and Ascension Sunday but each Sunday is an opportunity to relive the whole drama and here once again the gestures, symbols, music and stories are a means of pointing to a deeper reality as a good play should.
What makes drama engaging is that in some way we recognize our own story in
The Story. The more we recognize our story in the Jesus Story, the more engaged we will become in the drama. Each of us has experienced times of insecurity, exclusion, doubt and fear. Jesus experienced all of these but his essential message which he called the good news of the kingdom confronted all these feelings and provided a radical alternative to a way of live which drags us down.
So, let the play begin. Become engaged in the drama making the Story your story. Take time to see how the events in the life of Jesus parallel your own life events. Take heart knowing that there is a resolution which will leave you satisfied much more than you could ever have expected.
Grade 9 Students at St. Charles College to Participate in Antioch Weekend
St. Charles College is hosting a Grade 9 Retreat Antioch Weekend from Friday, November 30th at 7:00 p.m to Sunday, December 2nd at 8:00 p.m. Students will have the opportunity to experience a dynamic weekend full of sharing, discussions, music, food, fun projects and more. The weekend is entirely given by experienced youth with the help of teachers and spiritual director Father Pat Woods.
The purpose of the weekend is to build a Christian community of young people within the school where they can experience Jesus Christ in a personal way alongside their peers. All Semester 1 Grade 9 Religion students will be participating.
CEC Staff to Celebrate All Saints Day with Morning Prayer
The staff at the Catholic Education Centre celebrate All Saints Day with Morning Prayer. Together with students from Marymount Academy, Morning Prayer, following the Liturgy of the Hours, will be recited to honour all people who are not recognized officially in the Calendar of the Saints.
This ancient feast has it roots in the 4th century and it became a celebration for the universal Church in the 9th century. The day before, Oct. 31, the vigil of All Saints, All Hallows Eve, was a time of prayer and fasting in preparation for the major feast of All Saints.
“We Are Called”
Sudbury Catholic District School Board Celebrates Faith Day
Sudbury Catholic District School Board students, parents, teachers, vice-principals, principals, staff, trustees and clergy joined support staff from the SCDSB school communities in Faith Day celebrations St. Charles College on September 28, 2007.
This year’s theme “ We Are Called” was a celebration of community and Catholic education. In Catholic Education we are called on many levels, depending on our responsibility, but the foundation call for all of us — is the call of our Baptism, a call that is our common bond with the whole Church. The call of our Baptism is a call to discipleship with Jesus Christ.
St. Michael Opens School Year with Liturgy
Staff, students and parents from St. Michael Catholic School gathered for the “Opening of the School Year” Liturgy with Father Tony on Tuesday, September 11th, 2007.
In order to get to know the “family of students and teachers”, each class prepared and read a brief biography telling about themselves. Class candles were lit and placed on the altar.
The photo shows Mrs. St. Denis, Principal, holding the microphone as Madison shares something exciting about their class. Sophia is holding the class candle. Both students are in Ms. Smith’s grade 1/2 class.
Staff and students look forward to Father Tony’s bi-weekly visits.
What a great way to start the new academic school year!
Most Reverend Robert Harris Appointed Bishop of Saint John, New Brunswick
The Holy Father, Benedict XVI has recently announced the appointment of the Most Reverend Robert Harris, as Bishop of Saint John, New Brunswick. Since his episcopal ordination on December 12, 2002 until today, Bishop Harris has served as the Auxiliary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie.
Bishop Plouffe has declared “Bishop Harris will be missed by many in this diocese and personally, I am losing a very loyal and dedicated immediate collaborator. Even though his episcopal ministry among us was brief, we will always remember him for his kind and sensitive approach to people and challenges. We wish him well as he undertakes his new responsibilities and assure him of our prayers and most sincere gratitude.”
Bishop Harris becomes the twelfth Bishop of the Diocese of Saint John. Founded September 30, 1842 it is the seventh oldest Roman Catholic Diocese in Canada. Belonging to the Metropolitan See of Moncton, the Diocese serves a population of 115,400 Roman Catholic dispersed over a territory of 60,000 square kilometres, including seven counties and three principal regions: Saint John, Fredericton and Miramichi.
The fifty-eight parishes and thirty-two missions are served by 67 diocesan priests, 13 religious priests, 2 deacons, 1 religious brother and 139 religious women.
During his time in the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, Bishop Harris served as Vicar General, Co-ordinator of Pastoral Services (both English and French sectors), Associate Judicial Vicar of the Matrimonial Tribunal, Chancellor and Director of Vocations. At the level of the Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops (OCCB) as well as the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishop (CCCB), Bishop Harris has served on several Episcopal Commissions, Councils and Committees.
The date of his installation will be announced in the near future.
Bishop Harris’ letter to the faithful of our diocese can be read here.
St. Michael Students Reenact Stations of the Cross
SCDSB Celebrates 150 Years of Catholic Education
Sudbury Catholic District School Board teachers, parents, clergy and staff celebrated more than 150 years of Catholic Education in Ontario during its Institute for Catholic Education (ICE) Symposium held at Marymount Academy last week. The initiative is part of a campaign undertaken by the Board and its Partners in Education to increase the awareness of what Catholic Schools are really all about.
In his opening remarks, Barry MacDonald, SCDSB Trustee welcomed guests and took the opportunity to share his thoughts on Catholic Education “For more than a century and a half Catholic Schools have enriched communities through the education of students rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ,” MacDonald told the capacity crowd of Catholic Educators. “Schools belonging to the Sudbury Catholic District School Board incorporate Catholic beliefs throughout all subject areas of the curriculum. Both individually and as members of interdependent teams, students are called to examine and evaluate their own contributions to physical, political, ethical, socioeconomic and ecological systems with an informed moral conscience as they learn to integrate faith with life. The English Catholic School system in Sudbury has proven to be a very successful one that provides a value added, faith-based quality education that meets or exceeds provincial standards for excellence and student achievement. By recognizing the diversity in our community and the Constitutional guarantees established to protect minorities, we will continue to provide the very best for our students now and in the future,” concluded MacDonald.
Rossella Bagnato, Interim Director of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board echoed Mr. MacDonald’s thoughts on the uniqueness and distinctiveness of Catholic Education. “Integral to our Catholic school system is the firm conviction that it encourages and challenges students and teachers alike to become involved in issues and questions of social justice. Our faith permeates every aspect of the curriculum,” noted Mrs. Bagnato. “Catholic schools educate more than 600,000 students representing cultures and nations from around the world. You are the guardians of Catholic Education,” Bagnato told her audience. “Every thing you do promotes, preserves and protects the children we love and that is why we are confident in saying that our schools are truly Schools To Believe In.”