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!

 

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Kathy Weekly message

The poinsettias are gone, the crib and the lights are down and the Christmas season is over and now we begin the Ordinary Time of the Year with the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.

 Just a few thoughts on the Gospel passage for this weekend.

 1)      We come upon John the Baptist seeing Jesus and pointing to him: “This is the Lamb of God.” And with His baptism, Jesus the Lamb of God begins his ministry. Our call, through baptism, is to become involved in a Christ-centered ministry. We must give up any thoughts of using our ministry to achieve power, to lord over others, and instead, like Jesus, embrace prayer and forgiveness.

2)      John the Baptist saw Jesus and proclaimed, “Look, there is the Lamb of God. He is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit”. Jesus’ disciples would be given the same power, to transform the world. They would be given the power to create a new world, a world with a new way of living, the way of sacrificial love. When we sing the “Lamb of God,” we are remembering what Jesus did for us and what he is empowering us to do.

3)      John the Baptist found his reason for existence. He was to point out the Lamb of God to the world. His mission is not different from the mission of every Christian. We are to point out the Lamb of God to the world. There is nothing greater that any of us can do in our lives than point out Christ to others. John looked to Jesus and said: “There is the Lamb of God.” We have been called to do the same.

 

St. Vincent Pallotti, (Feast January 22)

Kathy Weekly message

Vincent Pallotti was born in Rome in 1795, the son of a well-to-do grocer. In school he was known as a “little saint” and, although bright, he was also considered “a bit slow” – an illusion amply disproved by the apostolic endeavors of his life.

 He was ordained a priest when only twenty-three, and taking his doctorate in theology soon after, became an assistant professor at the Sapienza University of Rome.

 As a close friend of St. Gaspar del Bufalo, a missionary in Italy, he decided to give up his teaching post for a more apostolic life. Inflamed by the missionary spirit, he longed to send missionaries throughout the world and to work for the conversion of the Mohammedans.

 Don Pallotti, as he was known, was a great confessor and fulfilled that office at several colleges. He had an intense devotion to the Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity and a tender love for the Blessed Virgin Mary.

 In 1835 he began the Society of Catholic Apostolate. He organized schools for shoemakers, tailors, coachmen, joiners and market-gardeners to improve their education and general pride in their trade. He started evening classes for young workers and an institute to teach better methods of agriculture.

 Widely regarded as another St. Philip Neri, he was indefatigable in his work with those in need. Burning with zeal to save sinners, he once dressed as an old woman to reach a dying person whose relative had sworn to shoot the first priest to approach.

 He was also a great exorcist, and healed the sick with a word of encouragement or a blessing. He foresaw the future, and once predicted the movement of Catholic Action, even its name.
Vincent Pallotti died on January 22, 1850 at the age of fifty-five. When his body was exhumed in 1906 and again in 1950, it was found to be completely incorrupt. It is enshrined in the Church of St. Salvatore in Onda in Rome.

 Novena to St. Vincent Pallotti

 St. Vincent Pallotti, you were formed and called by God, the infinite Love. You answered God’s call to serve.

 You were there: for those seeking forgiveness and counsel, for the sick, for the youth and the aging, for the rich and the poor, for the people of every profession and walk of life. Every person is important to you. You inspire us to seek God in all things, Reminding us of our call to be apostles In the Church and in the world. Now we call upon you to intercede for us. Help us to pray. Help us to pray only for what we truly need; Help us to grow in holiness, to live for the honour of God and for the salvation of our neighbour. You received many graces from God and we ask you to bless us now by presenting our petitions to God (Pause to mention your intentions) With you we give thanks to God as if He had already granted us what we have asked in the name of Jesus who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen! St. Vincent Pallotti, pray for us, Our Lady Queen of Apostles, pray for us, Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be…

Happy Birthday, St. Valentine Parish !

Save the date : Saturday, April 22, 2017

This year St. Valentine Parish will be celebrating its 70th Birthday! In planning to make it an opportunity to come together and celebrate, our Parish Council has come up with a plan. On Saturday, April 22nd at our 5:00 pm Mass we will celebrate 70 years as a parish and continue the celebration in the School Gym following Mass. Please save the date to be part of the celebration. Tickets will soon be made available for purchase. More information to follow.