Catholic Schools Week is just around the corner, and many schools are starting to plan their line up of fun events to celebrate each of the daily themes. I’ve posted a lot about Catholic Schools Week and how our school approaches it in the past- be sure to check the post archive for planning ideas and more theme ideas. For the next week or so I will post quick and easy ways to approach each daily theme. I would love to hear what your school is doing!
Our school is a tad unique in that while it is a parochial school by governance, our school is in fact a regional Catholic school in reality. Situated downtown in the only city in a rural area, many of our students travel as far as an hour each way to attend. Because of this, celebrating the parish has often gone a bit by the wayside in our Catholic Schools Week. This year I am on maternity leave, so I am using the extra time to think about how to strengthen this part of the celebration in the future. Here are five ideas I have so far:
- Sunday mass school takeover – this one’s a classic for a good reason. Parishioners would love to see a student choir, readers and more at a Sunday mass. You could also send students in groups to local parishes without a school to show them what a great thing your Catholic school is for their church community.
- Make giant appreciation cards for parish staff – you could assign different classes different staff members, make a poster for everyone to sign, or this is a fun idea we’ve done a lot at our school: have every class decorate a piece of construction paper with promised prayers. Staple or bind the pages into a spiritual bouquet for each staff member.
- Start a parish pen pal program – have students and parishioners exchange weekly or monthly letters. You could start this at the beginning of the year and have a get together during the week, or start during Catholic Schools Week and have a get together at the end of the year.
- Go on a tour of the church– this is one I do with all my religion classes at the beginning of the year, but Catholic Schools Week would be an excellent time to do this as well. I know our first grade teacher always schedules a time for her class to explore the sacristy and learn about vestments and the items used in the celebration of the mass. A specialized tour would be wonderful too- maybe focus on the art or history of the building.
- Go to daily mass or adoration at the parish– This is actually something I started doing in my very first year of teaching. When I found out that our parish had adoration the first Friday of every month, I immediately began bringing my religion classes. We also tried to attend the yearly novena of grade in March when our schedule allowed. Just being visible in the parish can be a huge witness to others. At least in my parish, there aren’t a lot of young people and everyone enjoys seeing the students.
Does your school have any great ways of celebrating your parish during Catholic Schools Week? Have any questions for me? Please let me know by leaving a comment or question. If you liked this post, please share it with someone else.
