The Archdiocese of Philadelphia will join in the national observance of Catholic Schools Week January 29, 2017 – February 4, 2017. Catholic Schools Week is an annual celebration of the Christ-centered, faith-based education that students receive in the 119 elementary, 17 secondary, and 4 special education schools in the five-county metropolitan area comprising the Archdiocese. The national theme for Catholic Schools Week 2017 is “Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service.”
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. will host the keystone event for Catholic Schools Week in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He will make an announcement regarding an historic partnership between the 17 Archdiocesan High Schools and Catholic Relief Services, the official international humanitarian relief agency of the Catholic Church in the United States.
Archbishop Chaput will be joined by his four auxiliary bishops: Most Reverend Timothy C. Senior, Most Reverend John J. McIntyre, Most Reverend Michael J. Fitzgerald and Most Reverend Edward M. Deliman. The event will also include Mr. Christopher Mominey, Chief Operating Officer and Secretary for Education, Sister Maureen Lawrence McDermott, IHM, Ph.D., Superintendent of Secondary Schools, Mr. Sean Callahan President & CEO of Catholic Relief Services, and Ms. Maureen McCullough, J.D., Regional Director of Catholic Relief Services. The principals and student council presidents of all 17 high schools will also participate.
Maternity B.V.M. will hold its first “Hall of Honor” complete with a Communion Breakfast and Hall of Fame Presentation. The honorees for “Hall of Honor” include: Mr. Thomas Filer, Mr. Robert Drennen, and Sister Mary Anne Basile. Mr. Filer, Class of 1970, played six seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with teams including: the Chicago Cubs, Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers, and New York Mets. He is currently the Assistant Pitching Coordinator for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Mr. Drennen, Class of 1966, is a retired Philadelphia Fire Department Battalion Chief. Prior to retirement he earned a Master’s Degree in Public Safety Management and Education from Saint Joseph’s University and he currently serves as the Director of Saint Joseph’s University’s Public Safety Institute. Sister Mary Anne served as Principal of Maternity B.V.M. School from 1965-1971. Following her departure she served in various roles including as a Community Supervisor, Associate Director for Elementary Schools of Middles States Association, Member of Community Leadership and Administrator of McAuley Convent Residence for Ill and Infirmed Sisters.
“Our Alumni Association has really worked hard to start a ‘Hall of Honor,’ and the day’s now here,” said Father Paul Quinter, Pastor of Maternity Parish. “It’s an important one for the alumni, the honorees, and especially our current students, because they’re going to see three outstanding role models and learn the lesson that anything is possible through faith and knowledge.”
Saint Andrew Catholic School: 51 Wrights Road, Newtown, PA 18940
(Bucks County)
10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
An open house will welcome current and prospective school families and parishioners to tour the school and learn more about several of the programs offered including: a partnership with the First National Bank and Trust Company of Newtown, a student run television studio, and technology on display throughout the school including Smartboards, Bright Links, and Mondo Boards. During the open house students, faculty, and staff will present displays and activities that highlight the school’s academics and service components.
The Saint Andrew Class of 2017 has earned more than $1,000,000 in academic scholarships to Archdiocesan and Private Catholic Schools including Archbishop Wood, Conwell Egan Catholic, and Father Judge High School for Boys.
Monday, January 30, 2017
(Bucks County)
1:30 p.m. Holy Trinity will hold its “Academic Olympics” Opening Ceremonies. Its “junior high unit” will kick-off their month-long academic competition with a parade of participating “countries”, playing of each country’s national anthem, running of the torch, flying of each country’s flag, and academic, physical, and team-building challenges.
(Chester County)
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. To celebrate Bishop Shanahan as a community of faith, adoration is available in the chapel throughout the school day. The school community has encouraged cross curricular visits to its school chapel, no matter what curriculum/discipline an instructor teaches, in order to show students that adoration is not just for Theology class. Faculty and staff are also being encouraged to take a few minutes and spend them in the adoration chapel during the day.
In Catholicism, Adoration is a time of prayer and quiet reflection in the presence of the Lord. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website Adoration is described in the following way, “Every vocation in the Church comes from and through Christ Jesus. It is he who calls. Spending time in Eucharistic Adoration with our Divine Lord and Friend is a good place to go to ask what he wants with our life.”
(Delaware County)
8:30 a.m. (ALL DAY) The school will hold a “Vocation Awareness” program for students in grades 5 through 8 at Saint Andrew. Sister Celeste Mokrzycki, SSJ, and Sister Michelle Lesher, SSJ, will speak to classes about their vocations as Sisters in the Religious Order, Sisters of Saint Joseph (SSJ).
(Montgomery County)
9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Saint Aloysius Parish School is a part of “Project Lead the Way,” which is an innovative program that introduces STREAM (Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) curriculum to students as early as pre-school. Each teacher will be incorporating STREAM projects in their classrooms. Older students will initiate more in depth-projects, while younger students will complete simpler lessons to start their introduction to engineering, design principle and science learning. Also during this time, the school is hosting an open house.
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
(Bucks County)
8:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. Students in 6th grade will participate in a Religion lesson with invited parents and visitors. The teacher will present the group with a Gospel reading and a set of questions, which students will respond to via Google Classroom. The class will allow students to show their technology skills with Google Classroom to parents and guests.
(Delaware County)
10:30 a.m. Saint Bernadette students will show their gratitude to those who serve the community-at-large throughout the year. The school has invited local police officers, fire fighters, first responders, and service men and women to attend a community appreciation assembly. Kindergarten through 4th grade will perform a selection of songs on stage, 5th and 6th graders made thank you cards, and the 7th and 8th graders made place mats for the event. Light refreshments and breakfast will be provided.
(Montgomery County)
9:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Kindergarten students at Saint Helena will try to answer the annual debate, “Will Pennsylvania’s resident weather predicting groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, see his shadow on February 2nd?” The five and six year-old students will make predictions about whether we’ll have an early spring or six more weeks of winter through classroom activities.
(Montgomery County)
2:30 p.m. – 2:35 p.m. Students will recognize Lansdale Catholic Faculty & Staff in the form of a Faculty Walk of Fame. Prior to the end of the school day all students and staff will stop class, go out into the corridor and line the hallways. A playlist of music will be heard throughout the school over the public address system, including "We are Family" & "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." Faculty and staff will be applauded as they walk or dance their way through the hallways lined with students cheering for them.
(Montgomery County)
12:00 p.m. Mary, Mother of the Redeemer Parish priests including Pastor, Monsignor John T. Conway, as well as Parochial Vicars, Father William J. Teverzczuk and Father Daniel J. Arechabala will share lunch with officers from the Student Council and their prayer partners in younger grades. During this lunch, they will present “spiritual bouquets” to the priests. Students in each grade Kindergarten through 8th have said daily prayers with the priests as their intentions. Some grades created a representative paper bouquet to present to the parish priests as a gift.
9:00 a.m. Students in 8th grade will perform song selections for the 6th, 7th and 8th graders from their lessons with Rebecca Graham of Musicopia. The lessons were provided for the past three years with a grant from the William Penn Association. Parents are invited to attend.
Immediately following the music recital, students who participated in the 21st Annual Philadelphia Regional Future City Competition, which was hosted by Archbishop John Carroll High School in Radnor (Delaware County) on Saturday, January 21, 2017 will present their table top design to the audience. The group of fifteen members of 7th and 8th grade classes came in third place out of 38 public, private, and charter school groups from around the Philadelphia region.
1:15 p.m. Tuesday is Immaculate Heart of Mary School’s “Student Appreciation Day,” with many activities around the school. Prayer partners will have the chance to read books together, sing karaoke, and participate in other activities. For the main event, the leaders of the school, 4th grade and 8th grade, will challenge their teachers to some friendly competition with games of “Newcomb” ball (a variation of volleyball) and volleyball. Kindergarten through 4th grade will cheer on the 4th graders, and 5th through 8th will attend the volleyball game as spectators in the afternoon.
9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Blessed Trinity will host its annual “Heroes Breakfast.” Philadelphia officers from the 15th and 2nd Districts, Firefighters and EMT’s from Engine 52, school crossing guards, and school parents who work in law enforcement or as first responders have also been invited to take part in the breakfast.
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
(Bucks County)
1:00 p.m. Students, teachers, and staff will hold a Patriotic Assembly with songs saluting the country. “Snack Boxes” that were packaged by the students will also be presented to law enforcement and first responders who will be in attendance as well as Chris Harding, Mayor of Yardley Borough, and members of the local chapter of the Knights of Columbus.
(Delaware County)
10:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Saint Mary Magdalen’s cheerleaders will perform their state championship routines for the student body before they head to the national championship competition in Orlando, Florida on February 11-12 that will be broadcast on ESPN.
(Delaware County)
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. The school will host an inaugural “Academic Fair.” Each student has been tasked, for the last several months, with working on a project that interests him or her in the fields of art, technology, science, and music. They will showcase their work school wide for parents and invited guests throughout the evening.
(Montgomery County)
10:00 a.m. Students from Our Lady of Mercy Regional Catholic School (OLM) will visit Saint Catherine of Siena Pre-School as “guest readers.” Along with “Winston,” the OLM school mascot and Mrs. Rosa Costanzo, school librarian, OLM students will present a special reading session along with a craft project and a special treat for Catholic Schools Week for the 3 and 4 year old students.
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. An appreciation reception will be held by students, faculty, and staff for police and firefighters. Approximately 75 law enforcement officers and first responders are scheduled to attend including Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross, Jr. During the reception students will present a video and a prayer blessing for the men and women in uniform will be delivered.
9:00 a.m. The Artistas y Musicos Latino Americanos (AMLA) will perform a concert for the students of Saint Mary’s. The concert is sponsored by the Connelly Foundation. The mission of AMLA, a non-profit 501(c)(3), founded in 2006 in North Philadelphia, is to promote the development, dissemination, and understanding of Latin American music and culture in the Philadelphia/Delware Valley Region with a strong emphasis on youth.
Thursday, February 2, 2017
10:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m. Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. will host the keystone event for Catholic Schools Week in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He will make an announcement regarding an historic partnership between the 17 Archdiocesan High Schools and Catholic Relief Services, the official international humanitarian relief agency of the Catholic Church in the United States.
Archbishop Chaput will be joined by his four auxiliary bishops: Most Reverend Timothy C. Senior, Most Reverend John J. McIntyre, Most Reverend Michael J. Fitzgerald and Most Reverend Edward M. Deliman. The event will also include Mr. Christopher Mominey, Chief Operating Officer and Secretary for Education, Sister Maureen Lawrence McDermott, IHM, Ph.D., Superintendent of Secondary Schools, Mr. Sean Callahan President & CEO of Catholic Relief Services, and Ms. Maureen McCullough, J.D., Regional Director of Catholic Relief Services. The principals and student council presidents of all 17 high schools will also participate.
In conjunction with this announcement, approximately 800 Catholic elementary, secondary, and special education students will participate in an event mirroring the Helping Hands Initiative that took place during the World Meeting of Families – Philadelphia 2015. The CRS Helping Hands program serves individuals in the most vulnerable areas of the world by sending food for immediate hunger relief. It also funds income-generating projects to prevent hunger in the long-term. The goal for the day is to package 50,000 meals.
In addition to packaging meals students will have an opportunity to hear from College Division Seminarians and two Junior Professed IHM Sisters about their path to discerning their vocation, which coincides with the national CSW theme of the day “Celebrate Vocations.”
Friday, February 3, 2017
(Bucks County)
11:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Students in 4th through 8th grades will compete in a STEM Challenge designed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Participants will be asked to individually design and build a shock-absorbing system that could protect an astronaut with materials including marshmallows, straws, index cards, and cups. The students whose designs complete this task will then be placed in a Saint Isidore STEM Team, that will represent the school in a county-wide competition later in the year.
Saint Dorothy Church: 4910 Township Line Road, Drexel Hill, PA 19026
(Delaware County)
10:00 a.m. Saint Dorothy School will hold a prayer service in the parish church to celebrate one of its teachers, Mrs. Audrey Neill, a Kindergarten Teacher who was named a recipient of the 2017 National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) Lead. Learn. Proclaim award. This award recognizes excellence and distinguished service in Catholic school education. Mrs. Neill is one of only forty-two such awardees across the nation. She will be honored at the NCEA 2017 Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, in April.
(Montgomery County)
12:15 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. A “Dance for Education” will be held in the school gymnasium. Every student in the school (grades Pre-K – 8) will be involved. Each school family previously sent out 5 or more sponsor forms asking relatives and friends to sponsor the student dancing with a donation. The money collected represents the students efforts toward the school’s “annual fund.” Money collected will enhance Good Shepherd’s science and technology programs by incorporating Robotics in the junior high grade levels of the school.
Saturday, February 4, 2017
(Delaware County)
3:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. Over 300 students from Bonner-Prendie will close out Catholic Schools Week with an annual student run Mini-THON event to support the fight against pediatric cancer. Last year Bonner-Prendie students raised over $19,000 dollars for the Four Diamonds fund. This Mini-THON event will include 7 hours straight of dancing and activities in the Bonner-Prendie school gymnasium.
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Four Diamonds Mini-THON®s are fun-filled events for students of all ages that inspire teamwork, leadership and creativity, while empowering young people through philanthropy and service in the fight to conquer childhood cancer. Mini-THON®s are modeled after the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon (THON) and have been making a difference in the lives of childhood cancer patients and their families for more than 20 years.”
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