Catholic Schools Week Begins
We kick off a week of celebration with all other Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Chicago with a special Mass at 9:00am this Sunday. Each year we offer personal testimonies as a part of weekend liturgies to tell a story. I want to thank Kathy Knuth, the school nurse at our Academy, and Cheryl Russo who has taught many of our students through the years for sharing the impact of our Academy on them and so many others. I am sure you will notice from their presentations, not only of the value of Catholic education, but of the unique way that we here at Holy Family live out the mission of faith-based education.
Our current enrollment is almost 500 from two-year old pre-school through grade eight. I want to thank Deb Atkins, Director of School Development, for her continued commitment to Holy Family Catholic Academy. She is our biggest promoter and her passion comes through as she leads so many prospective parents and students on tours. Her excitement for and belief in our unique curriculum certainly shines through. For more information, or perhaps to arrange a tour, please contact her at datkins@holyfamilyparish.org for more details.
I continue to have deep appreciation for the leadership of Kate O’Brien, our principal, Laura Clark, our assistant principal, along with a dedicated staff and faculty. They continue to collaborate with our many parents to provide a faith-based, inquiry-based curriculum from pre-school to grade five and an International Baccalaureate curriculum (the only one in the Archdiocese) that empowers our students to live out our mission as…
Global Leaders and Thinkers
Grounded in Faith
We really mean GLOBAL. This coming week alone we will welcome five international students in addition to several others currently enrolled. Families relocating from other countries learn about our unique global IB curriculum and several have made a home in the area because of our school.
Personally, I so enjoy spending time with each grade as young as kindergarten who plan the theme and carry out many parts of the Mass each Tuesday at 9:00am including singing in the choir, stating the theme of the Mass, proclaiming the scripture readings and prayers of the faithful. In addition, they often have special presentations that support my homily. They bring up the gifts at offertory, carry the cross in procession, and always a member of the class gives a challenge to the community to live out the essence of the gospel from that day.
Do not forget the unique opportunity to support our Academy while offering significant tax credit through the Illinois Tax Credit Scholarship Program. Details are at Empower Illinois or the Academy website at holyfamilycatholicacademy.net
The Adventure in Grace continues…
The next offering of our Tenderness series continues with Tenderness Toward Creation. Dan Huntsha from Faith in Place will lead us this coming Tuesday, January 31 at 7:00pm in church. Our focus on creation is rooted in the encyclical from Pope Francis entitled Laudato si’ subtitled “On Care for our Common Home.” The pope is our worldwide leader and, as such, he in a unique position to urge every human being in his words “…to take swift and unified global action to address environmental degradation and global warming.” Please join us for this Tenderness Toward Creation evening.
Gala
Get ready to re-live the ‘80s on Saturday, March 18 at Concorde Banquets in Deer Park. See both our parish website and the Gala website at hfgala.org for ticket information, what to wear inspirations and more. We have worked hard to eliminate many different asks for finances, time and energy. We believe that our Gala can bring all of our best efforts and all of us together to focus our support and have a truly fun time doing it. Please join us and spread the word.