St. Francis Academy

“The family that prays together stays together”
– Servant of God Fr. Patrick Peyton CSC

“Catholic Schools – Dividends for Life” is the theme selected for Catholic Schools Week 2010. Catholic Schools Week is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Catholic Education Association and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. According to Dr. Karen Ristau, NCEA president, “Catholic Schools provide good things for students and families – high expectations and daily experience of faith. In these challenging times the theme also reminds parents that the dividends of a Catholic School education – students prepared in faith, knowledge, morals, and discipline – last a lifetime. There is no better way to invest in a child’s future – or the future of our world.

“Catholic Schools Week is an active time here at SFA. The students and teachers are diligently preparing for our many activities. A welcome addition to our busy Catholic Schools Week schedule will take place on Wednesday, February 3rd, immediately after dismissal in the chapel. Our students will be leading the Family Rosary. I strongly encourage you to be present if possible. Parents, grandparents, and caregivers who pick up students each day are warmly welcomed to join us in what Pope John Paul II called “simple yet profound, it (the rosary) still remains, at the dawn of this third millennium, a prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth a harvest of holiness.” (Rosarium Virginis Mariae)

The rosary will begin at 2:40 PM and will be interspersed with musical meditations provided by our choir and various students. The Family Rosary will end at approximately at 3:30 PM. Our lower playground will be open throughout Catholic Schools Week for convenient and safe parking. Children who are chosen to recite the rosary prayers or participate at Pasta Dinner Mass will be given a note this week, please ask your child if they received one. I hope to see all of you at the Family Rosary, Pasta Dinner and Mass, Mass with Bishop Donato on First Friday and all the wonderful activities we have planned for Catholic Schools Week. What better example can we give our children than to pray with them. As always, the sisters, faculty and staff thank you for choosing Catholic education at St. Francis Academy.

God bless you,

Deborah A. Savage