St. Valentine School

Christmas Messages

Kathy From our Pastor, St. Valentine School

Christmas Message from Fr. Socorro

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them a light has shone.”(Is.9:2) Those words from prophet Isaiah told of the coming of the Prince of Peace, and of the light and life He would bring.

There may be times in life when seeing the events of the world and the challenges in our own lives, we may experience darkness, but Christmas reminds us that whatever darkness we feel in the world or in our lives, will be outshined by the brightest light. Our suffering, our despair, our confusion will come to an end by some type of “eternal light.” The good news of Christmas is that in the midst of a great darkness there came a light, not just a temporary flicker but an eternal flame that burns to this day.

We are called to be people of Hope, not despair – when we have Hope we keep working harder, we keep praying, trusting and believing that things will be better and brighter. God is not distant but close to us in every way. As we celebrate Christmas, let us be aware that, Jesus – God made flesh and dwelling among us – is the hope we seek. He alone satisfies our deepest longing for meaning and purpose and is the fulfillment of all desire.

This Christmas it is important for us to remember that there is still a reason for us to celebrate. We can and must still celebrate the enduring love of God for us: the God who has never left us despite our tragedies, the God who is continuously assuring us that he is Emmanuel–God with us. And before this unfailing and sublime revelation, we must respond with faith!

May God bless you and your loved ones this Christmas and may all darkness in your lives be removed by the light of Christ, that radiant light that gives us hope even in the dark moments of our lives. My prayer for you is the same as St. Paul’s prayer for the believers in Ephesians 3:17,18, “I pray that you are being rooted and established in love, may have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is.”

On behalf of our parish and school staff I wish you a Christmas full of peace, gratitude, joy and love.

Merry and Blessed Christmas!

Fr. Socorro

Christmas Message from Mrs. Damuth

Dear St. Valentine Parishioners,

“Christ Be Our Light!” is our continued prayer and theme for the 2022-2023 school year. While this is our yearlong focus for the teachers and students at St. Valentine School, it is an especially fitting theme during the Christmas Season.

“Christ Be Our Light!,” shine in our hearts, shine through the darkness. Our school children, from the youngest 3- and four-year-old preschoolers all the way up to grade 8, have been preparing to celebrate the coming of Christ in so many ways. All students have been studying and preparing, attending mini retreats, lighting the advent candles, and praying, as well as participating in charity days of giving for the Capuchin Soup Kitchen basket drive. Our third-grade students worked especially hard during the month of December to prepare the Nativity play that was presented at our Christmas Concert as well as the 4:00 Christmas Eve Mass. Together as a school community we have given daily focus to how we can help spread the joy of Christ’s light to others in our school, home, and community.

In the halls of our school throughout December one could hear our students practicing a beautiful lullaby for the baby Jesus, Silent Night, Holy Night. The students were surprised to learn that this song is not about night or darkness. It is about the light. “Son of God, / love’s pure light / Radiant beams from Thy holy face, / with the dawn of redeeming grace.” Our school community has been focusing throughout Advent on God’s great love for us in sending us his only begotten Son to be a light for all. We are so excited to celebrate Jesus the Light of the world at Christmas!

We are very much looking forward to a long Christmas vacation, but we are also looking forward to carrying on with our theme in the coming year. On behalf of the faculty, staff, and students at St. Valentine School, I wish you and your family a very blessed Christmas season and a happy and prosperous New Year filled with the light of Christ!

Many Blessings,

Mrs. Rachel Damuth, Principal

Catholic Schools Week

Kathy Parish Activities, St. Valentine School, Uncategorized

Dear St. Valentine Parishioners,

     Our Catholic Schools are always a blessing but are especially so during the challenge of the pandemic.  St. Valentine School is very proud that our students have been learning face to face since August and we are now in our 20th week of students here with us in the building learning daily.  Through very strict health and safety measures we have been able to remain COVID-19 free in our building while keeping students learning in our classrooms in reading, math, science, history, language, writing and most importantly learning about the Catholic Faith and our call to be followers of Jesus.

     We celebrate weekly mass together on Fridays through a livestream to students in the classroom and at home. In addition to students in the building, we have 41 students who are learning from home. Our teachers continue to support those students through Google classroom and daily Zoom classes. 

     The community of parents and teachers have been an inspiration throughout this school year. We have been able to be in our building daily because of the trust and support of families. St. Valentine continues to work hard to meet our mission of providing a Catholic education based on Gospel values, community, educational excellence, and following Christ each and every day.  Please pray for us daily.

     St. Valentine Catholic School is celebrating National Catholic Schools Week January 31-February  6.  Our week looks a little different than in other years, but we still have so much to celebrate!  Here is a look at what we are doing this week.

· Christian service project “Senior Smiles” We will send cards to seniors living in care facilities.

· Student Principal for a Day raffle and fundraiser We can’t wait to see who will be in charge!

· Teacher Appreciation Day  Teachers will get lunch, a dress down day, and cards from families.

· Student Appreciation Day Students will get to wear wacky clothing and will join in an all-school bingo game with fun prizes donated by the PTC and parents.

· We will celebrate mass together as a school on Friday at 8:30am.

· Students will write letters and notes to their parents thanking them for the sacrifices they make to provide a Catholic Education.

· We will continue to pray the intention of the month given to us by Pope Francis every day and we will also pray for Catholic Schools everywhere during our daily morning all school prayers.

     We will not have traditional open house this year due to Covid-19, however we will offer private tours to any family interested in attending St. Valentine school in the 20-21 school year.  Please spread the news that families can inquire at www.stvalentineschool.com if they would like to find out more or call us at 313 533-7149 to find out all that St. Valentine Catholic School has to offer.

Thank you, St. Valentine Parish, for your ongoing support!

Yours in Christ,

Mrs. Damuth

Congratulations to our young people of St. Valentine Parish

Kathy Parish Activities, St. Valentine School

We send our congratulations to our Confirmation candidates and our First Communion class who made their sacraments in April. A sincere thank you to Bishop Reiss for his inspirational words and also to Tom and Kathy Beaudoin for taking these great class photos and supplying all the families with a complimentary 8×10.  We also wish to recognize the 7th and 8th graders who took part in the Passion Play.

Catholic Schools Week

Kathy St. Valentine School

This week we celebrate National Catholic Schools Week as a parish with a school. The faith and sacrifice of our parish has provided Catholic faith based education to students in the Redford community for 65 years. This is a blessing that we do not take for granted. Catholic Education is needed to help provide a beacon of Christ’s light in a world that is getting to be more confusing and challenging for our children every single day.

The theme of Catholic Schools Week 2017 is “Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service.”

As we celebrate Catholic Schools Week I would like to share some Catholic School facts that I gathered from a variety of online sites.

Research on Catholic schools shows:

· Overall academic achievement is higher (Coleman, Hoffer, & Kilgore, 1982; Sander, 1996)

· The student/teacher ratio in Catholic schools is 14:1.(NCEA 2015)

· 99% of students who attend Catholic high school graduate. Of those, 88% attend 4-year colleges.

With attendance in any Catholic school for any period of time, students are:

· 4x’s more likely to be attending church at the age of 45

· 3x’s more likely to be confirmed

· 2x’s more likely to be married in Church (research noted by Sr. M. Paul McCaughey, O.P., Back to School Kick-Off, 2009) 

Catholic school graduates are:

· more likely to vote (Dee, 2005)

· more likely to earn higher wages (Neal, 1997)

· more civically engaged, more committed to service as adults  (Campbell, 2001; Wolf, Greene,  Kleitz,& Thalhammer, 2001)

· Currently, 6 of the 9 Supreme Court Justices went to Catholic school. (Boston.com)

Affordability:

· Catholic schools provide over 20.5 billion dollars a year in savings for the nation. (NCEA)

· St. Valentine School tuition cost is BELOW the actual cost per pupil

· The mean cost per pupil at Catholic schools is $5,436; the national per pupil average is $10,792). (NCEA; National Center for Education Statistics) St. Valentine School is more than $1,500 below the national average for in parish tuition.

· Catholic families can apply for tuition assistance from the Archdiocese for tuition assistance ($800 for K-12 and $500 for 9-12)

· St. Valentine School also provides tuition assistance to families with financial need

 

Cardinal Dolan of New York and former President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) said in his blog: “There is no more tried-and-true way of passing on our Catholic faith to our kids than by sacrificing to put them in a Catholic school. Data proves they persevere in the faith at higher rates, pray better, are more faithful to Sunday Mass, live gospel values, are more generous to their parish, even have happier marriages, volunteer more, and transmit the faith to their own children, than those not in a Catholic school.”

May God Bless St. Valentine and all Catholic Schools. Please keep St. Valentine Catholic School in your daily prayers.

Mrs. Rachel Damuth
Principal

 

 

Future City Competition—

Congratulations to the 8th Grade Class on their 1st PLACE Victory!

On Monday, January 23 the 8th grade class competed in the ESD Michigan Regional Future City Competition held at the Suburban Collection Showplace and took home a 1st place victory over 30 other MI schools as well as 4 Special Awards: ASQ Quality Improvement Award, Best City Award, Best Design, Engineering+Construction Award and People’s Choice Award.

Congratulations to the class  presenters on their excellent presentation, Anna Damuth, Faith Emmerling and Frankie Nelson-Pawlik and to the entire class: Brianna Betzler, Mya Chapman, Colin Crenshaw, Nyla Flack, Asia Flint, Daniel Hawn, Jordan Hobson and Joe McComb.

Also congratulations to their teacher Mrs. Meghan Ciechanowski, Mr. John Danic (mentor engineer), and Mr. Dan Brooks (mentor engineer) who tirelessly worked and selflessly gave of their time for this project for the kids.

The Finals will be held in Washington DC February 18-21. At this time the staff is trying to find ways to raise some quick cash to send the remaining 8 eighth grade students to DC. EDS pays for transportation and lodging for the presenters, teacher and one mentor. If you are inclined to donate to this worthy cause to send our students to our Nation’s Capital, please put your donation in an envelope marked Washington DC; it can be dropped off at the school, parish office or in the collection basket and we will forward it to the school. Checks may be made payable to St. Valentine School. Thank you!