State Sen. Dave Hildenbrand recognizes Michigan Catholic schools

LANSING— State Sen. Dave Hildenbrand, R-Lowell, honored Catholic schools across Michigan on Thursday by offering Senate Resolution 111 in recognition of their tireless effort to educate tomorrow’s leaders. This resolution will make the week of Jan. 29th through Feb. 5th 2012 Catholic Schools Week in Michigan.

Catholic Schools Week in Michigan is a celebration intended to recognize and honor the valuable work and dedication that Catholic schools contribute to the state’s educational system.  There are currently 58,782 students attending 236 Catholic elementary, middle and high schools throughout the state of Michigan.

“I am honored to represent numerous Catholic Schools throughout the Grand Rapids area in the Michigan Senate.” Hildenbrand said. “Each and every student that attends a Catholic school is provided with a strong foundation of moral values and academic skills needed to become a responsible citizen of our state and nation.”

A Catholic Perspective on Human Sexuality

 

Dear Parent:                                                                                        

We are excited at Saint Patrick Parish to introduce a series of talks designed to support and encourage all members of our Parish Community in your parenting efforts.

On each of these Wednesday nights, similar, but gender-specific talks will be given separately to boys and girls.  The talks will begin promptly at 6:30pm and end by 7:45pm. We encourage fathers to attend with their sons and mothers to attend with their daughters. The goal is to support you in your role as educators, give you some resources to discuss some potentially difficult subjects and give you encouragement as your children approach and pass through the adolescent stage.

On February 1^st, our first talk, aimed at kids 12-15, will address some of the challenges of our modern culture.  Topics will include appropriate uses of technology as well as ways to live virtuous and chaste lives.

On February 8^th, our second talk will cover puberty, and some of the physical, emotional, and hormonal changes it brings.  We will discretely and appropriately discuss gender-specific biology and an overview of human gestation and growth.  The talk is geared toward pre-puberty children (9 and up), but we encourage you to bring your older children as well.

On February 15^th, our final talk, geared toward kids who have started the changes of puberty, will cover social development issues such as the challenges of discerning vocations, developing a strong character, and dealing with peer pressure. (10 and up)

The talks are geared to different maturity levels, so you decide what is best for your child. We are very excited about this event and hope this series becomes an annual part of our parish life.  We strongly encourage you to attend each of the talks with the children you feel are appropriately mature.  We will have hand-out materials to support and promote further discussions back home within your family. 

Please RSVP to the school, sps.secretary@gmail.com or call 691-8833, so we can plan space accordingly.

Note: Child care will be provided each night

In Christ,

Fr. Mark Peacock                                
Diane Hamel                           
Scott Czarnopys

Hot off the press -

The Spelling Bee today was won by 6th grader Maggie Camp (1st place) and 8th grader Kristina Samson (runner-up).  Both will continue the contest in a Grand Rapids area district tournament in a few weeks. 

Special thanks to Pat Firlik (SPS alumni parent and parishioner) for donating his time and talent to be official Pronouncer.  Mrs. Vezino organized the bee and Mrs. Kevic and Mrs. Russo were official judges - thank you all.

Congratulations to all the students who competed - it was a great showing of letters and words and a job well done!

Cancellation of School Activities

For Tuesday 1/17, all after school and evening activities will be cancelled due to weather conditions. Get home safe and have a good evening.

WINNERS!!!

Congratulations to our 7th/8th Fighting Irish girls for battling Assumption and bringing home some hardware for the school. The girls continue their competitive and aggressive play and have been rewarded with multiple victories this year.

Great job to Coach Val Stoffer and our student athletes for representing our school so well. We wish you all continued success!

Basketball Updates for Last Week

 The 5/6th grade girls had another low scoring game, but they came up with a win!  The score at half-time was only 2 to 4.  Maura and Annie made the points for the game. Five out of the six healthy players all had at least two rebounds a piece!  It was a very exciting game.  The final score was 10 to 6. 
The 5th/6th grade boys played a close one against Holy Trinity coming up just short 25-24.  Jon Luc scored 12 points and  Zack led in rebounds. Our fans traveled well and were great and very supportive.  This was by the far their best game of the year.

The 7th/8th grade girls are involved in a tournament at St. Thomas.  They lost their first game against SJV by a very close 26-23 score.  They came back strong with a dominating defense and went 5 for 5 from the line against Holy Spirit/Sacred Heart for a 31-16 win.  They are now 2-2 on the year.   

Scott Spanbauer

Vocations Week

Today, Fr. Ron Hutchinson will speak to groups of students about vocations. He will talk about his calling and also have Q & A with the children about priesthood and other vocations.

Fr. Ron kicks off vocation week this year and another highlight of the week will be a student visit to the Franciscan Life Process Center on Friday.

Thank you to Ms. Schoenborn and members of her committee for planning these meaningful events for another year.