Flocknote

Dear Parents,

I hope you will have a wonderful Thanksgiving break! I just finished the Confirmation classes for this week by seeing the RE students this past Sunday and the Saint Andrew school students in class today. I continue to be amazed by them, their reflections, and the Holy Spirit working with them day by day.

I'm writing just to remind you about some upcoming opportunities for your child that happen right after Thanksgiving, as early as this Sunday and Monday.

Requirements to Witness a Confirmation and a Baptism

For the last 12 months, everyone had in their possession the expectation for the candidate of Confirmation to witness a Baptism and a Confirmation. If they are lacking in completing that task, then the final opportunities are approaching us. Baptisms are held on the first and third Sunday of every month after the 10:00am Mass. The next (and last) opportunity to witness a Confirmation Mass will be on Monday, December 2, 2019 at 7:00pm at Saint Alphonsus parish on Lincoln Ave.
Every candidate should work on completing the reflection forms from witnessing the Sacraments as well as the reflection forms for their service projects. All the reflection forms can be found in the guidebook which is attached in the .pdf below.

Confirmation Guidebook St Marys 2018-2020.pdf

What about that National Service Project?

I discussed at the last class what my intention for the National Service Project was that you may find on the stewardship hours tracking sheet. As a learning objective, I want to promote a sense of good citizenship in our students and I also want them to understand the difference between charity and justice. We do good work when we feed the hungry. We also do work when we figure out why someone is hungry and help change the system so that they won’t be hungry any more.

I think of the powerful example in our society right now of Greta Thunberg who even though she is young is putting her values into action to change our system. I wanted to encourage our young people that they have a voice and can take the values of Catholic Social Teaching and put them into practice.

The goal I had for our students was to choose one area of Catholic Social Teaching and to write a letter to a Congressman or political leader to propose how they feel the leader could live out a value your child holds that is inspired by the Catholic Faith. It might be caring for the homeless, or the environment, or making sure everyone has access to healthcare or a good education. These are strongly stated Catholic values.

I have also realized that it has been hard to talk about politics and faith in the current climate. Therefor I have continually shied away from pushing this requirement and expectation on our students. So, I’ve suspended the requirement, but still want to offer the opportunity. If you’d like to have your child take a try at the exercise, I encourage them to become aware of the many important issues in Catholic Social Teaching and if they find something that inspires them, to write their Congressman, Senator, or other elected official and let them know how they feel about that topic and what they want their leaders to do. I hope they can learn to be good citizens and to put justice into action inspired by faith. Let’s see what they can do.

Some great resources for Catholic Social Teaching can be found here

Resources on Catholic Social Teaching

That’s all for this week. Please have a great Thanksgiving break! I’ll write again after the holiday!

Blessings,
David Heimann