Celebration of Liturgy / House of Prayer

Students are encouraged to communicate with others by participating in the life of the Church through the reception of the Sacraments, lectoring, altar serving, cantoring, and by writing petitions for our school Masses. Students participate in liturgical and paraliturgical celebrations for our Parish and in the classrooms.    Our students are encouraged to participate in parish life by being involved in the liturgy and Sacraments as well as various types of prayer on Sundays and holy days of obligation. Our students serve as altar servers for parish funerals, baptisms, and weddings. They are regular servers at Sunday Masses as well.  Our students are given the opportunity to be active participants in liturgical celebrations, in roles such as altar servers, readers, singers, cantors and banner carriers. At our school Masses, the second graders bring up the gifts. Students are respected for their strengths and are encouraged to share their talents within all disciplines. Each is respected and is expected to respect the individual differences of all people. We recognize that bringing the liturgical year more in focus, both in the classroom and school environment, is an area for growth. A more intense awareness of the daily and seasonal ways that our Church touches our lives is needed.  Colors of the liturgical seasons are brought into the classroom as a reminder to our students of the liturgical season. Daily/weekly liturgical reading reflections in all classrooms also would further help our students understand the meaning of their faith.   Our priests provide weekly morning Mass for students and their parents and seasonal Family Reconciliation Services (Advent and Lent). Visits by our priests, Knights of Columbus sponsored events, Vacation Bible School and Religious Speakers provide an opportunity for students to grow in faith.  We continue to explore other opportunities to encourage students and families to practice their faith together by attending Mass and becoming involved in parish life.