Happy New Year

Welcome back and Happy New Year!

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”  2 Timothy 1:7

Each month of this school year, we have been practicing one of the Fruits of the Holy Spirit.  Fruit can only be grown by planting the right seeds and nurturing them.  We have to put some work into it.  The Fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, patience, peace, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, which we are practicing this month.  As we grow each of these Fruits within our selves and among our community, we also grow closer to God and to fulfilling our mission of being an inclusive Catholic Community.  Self-control is a great fruit to work on for the new year – say no to the things that are not good for you and yes to what is good for you.  Act for the common good.

Acting for the common good is a life-long virtue and requires a deep understanding of our Catholic values and our mission of inclusion, respect, equity, and diversity.  We can never get enough practice.  On Friday, we will have Christian Paige as a guest speaker who will be here to work with our middle school students.  Mr. Paige is an educator who has committed himself to empowering others and mentoring young people to value diversity and become positive agents of change.  After working with the students, he will address parents the following week at our Parent Education Night on January 16, at 6:30pm in Egan Hall.  Mr. Paige will weave into his presentation his observations from his interactions with our students.  Save the date and plan to attend this informative and inspirational meeting, sponsored by our very own Parent Association.

Before that meeting, parents, please support the Auction team and St. John by attending Bingo on Friday evening.  Tickets are still available for purchase.  This promises to be a fun event!  Later this month, we have Catholic Schools Week.  It will begin with the 10:30am Sunday Mass on January 26.  You are all encouraged to attend.  Following Mass, we will have our Winter Open House and the eighth grade Cultural Fair.  If you have friends or acquaintances who are interested in attending St. John, this is a great opportunity for them to visit the school.

Thank you to all who made the children’s Christmas Mass so meaningful.  Congratulations to Lawrence McDonnell and the Cantionis choir.  I heard you sang very sweetly.  Let’s also congratulate Ellen Pippin Cato on the birth of her baby girl!

It is growing colder as I write.  There is talk of snow.  Be sure to read the “Weather Closure Notification Reminder” in this week’s NewsViews.

God Bless,

Bernadette O’Leary