Faith, Academics and Service

Catholic School's Week is finally here!
It's Catholic School's Week: January 29 - February 5, 2012.

Today begins Catholic Schools Week, with the theme of Faith, Academics and Service. Today’s scripture readings lent themselves to a reflection on each of those. It’s not enough for students to be smart about their subject matter. What they learn needs to help them become people who understand God’s plan for them and find ways uniquely their own to serve the human family.

During the announcements at mass, I congratulated student achievements of all kinds. The high school one-act play took 2nd place at the regions and the thespians will advance to the state competition in Aberdeen next week. Cassidy, one of our 7th graders, has made the high school junior varsity gymnastics team. In only her 2nd meet, Cassidy placed in several events and brought home a 5th place overall. She was sitting up front with the choir, and when I mentioned her name, she got very embarrassed, but everyone gave her a big hand.

Cassidy may have appeared embarrassed at mass, but when I joined Pinger Home (6th-8th grade girls) for brunch, she brought down the gymnastics ribbon she won from the Hot Springs match to show me.  When I first arrived at Pinger after mass, most of the girls were upstairs in the bedroom area cleaning. While the Pinger Home was just remodeled two years ago and still looks very new, that crew of girls may be the best cleaners we have, as the home looked spotless. But at least a couple of the girls chose the part of Mary rather than Martha, and shared hospitality as they sat to visit with me while Brian, the houseparent put the finishing touches on the food.

The leisure was short lived as most of the girls were off to play inter city basketball, and I headed home to make Sunday truly an appreciated day of rest.

Author: St. Joseph's Indian School

At St. Joseph's Indian School, our privately-funded programs for Lakota (Sioux) children in need have evolved over 90 years of family partnership, experience and education. Because of generous friends who share tax-deductible donations, Native American youth receive a safe, stable home life; individual counseling and guidance; carefully planned curriculum based on Lakota culture and individual student needs and tools to help build confidence, boost self-esteem and improve cultural awareness. All of this helps children to live a bright, productive, possibility-filled future.

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