St. Charles Borromeo Religious Education
4910 Trier Road • Fort Wayne, IN • 46815
260-484-7322
[email protected]
www.stcharlesfortwayne.org
February 2014
Dear Families and Friends,
I am not quite sure where to begin with this newsletter. Only having class one time in January was
crazy! This winter has already been so harsh and we have only just begun February! I know I have
missed seeing our students on our Monday nights, just as much as our catechists have. We are all
anxious to get back to our Monday night studies about God!
We will still follow Fort Wayne Community Schools (FWCS) for closures. They don’t have school on
a Monday, we don’t have class that night. I will also send out an email to parents as well. We are still
in the midst of winter, so more poor weather could be coming. If weather should worsen during the
course of a day, we will put an alert on the television and of course an email will be sent. We all hope
to make it to class each Monday during February. Catechists have been instructed to adjust lessons
in their weekly plans. They will be prioritizing the remaining lessons to ensure they hit all the key
concepts necessary for each grade level.
We left off, many weeks ago with our 7th graders are in the middle of researching their saints….those
special people whose name they will take at Confirmation. Granted it has been two weeks since they
have had their hands on their projects, but we can’t wait to pick up where we left off. The 4th graders
are beginning their study of a saint they choose as well. The 2nd graders are beginning their study of
the Eucharist, while 1st graders are still working toward mastering their prayers. We are ready to get
back in the classroom; I hope Mother Nature cooperates so we can make it to our Monday night
classes this month!
I felt bad for St. Jude, he only had one Monday night in January. We are going to finish St. Jude up
on the 3rd and hear the rest of his story. We will begin St. Rita, the great woman with the stigmata in
her forehead, on February 10. Our study of the saints has been inspiring to us all this year. I hope
you use the prayer cards we send home each month and pray those prayers found on the back. Ask
your child about the life of that particular saint. You are always more than welcome to join us for our
opening prayer and learn about our saint of the month and pray a decade of the rosary with us.
~Amy~
February Calendar
Saint of the Month: St. Rita
February 3: Regular Class Night
1st Eucharist Parent Meeting 6:45-7:45pm in Parish Hall
February 10: Regular Class Night
February 11: 1st Eucharist Parent Meeting 3:30-4:30pm in Room 8
**Rescheduled meeting due to weather on February 5.
February 14: Feast of St. Valentine—Show your love for others!
February 17: Regular Class Night
February 24: Regular Class Night
Fees for 2013-2014 year are due
March 3: Regular Class Night
March 5: Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent
Outstanding Fees for 2013-­‐14 Year Notices were mailed to homes in mid-­‐December for those families that still have a balance for fees for this year. We are asking to have those paid in full by February 24. I would like to reconcile this current year, before we begin registration for next year (coming out in March). Thank you for your prompt attention to this. Buy SCRIP! If you haven’t been using SCRIP, start! SCRIP is a great way to earn money for St. Charles and for yourself. We are lucky to have many vendors on the order from. Get your gas, groceries, and shopping needs met by purchasing SCRIP. Start small and purchase for the stores you frequent. Your vouchers, given out twice a year, can be used toward your Religious Education fees. You can purchase SCRIP after the 5pm Saturday and between 10-­‐11am on Sunday. Sales are held each Friday morning as well. You can always drop your order in the Sunday basket and have it delivered to Religious Education on Monday and we will send it home with your child. It is so easy to use and you get the benefits from it! We have order forms available in the office and in the back of church. We encourage you try SCRIP today! CONFIRMATION DATE IS SET!
NOVEMBER 4, 2014
We are so excited to have Bishop Rhoades confer the sacrament of Confirmation on the feast of St. Charles! How appropriate! An email was sent to sponsors, but it doesn’t hurt to call them too! I know by missing two classes, the students are a couple days behind in their saint project for Confirmation. Mr. Heimann will be talking to the students and adjust the due dates. If they make good use of their class time, the amount of homework is minimal for this project at home. Each candidate must have at minimum of 20 facts about their chosen saint. The last ones will be visiting the parish library on February 3 to get their book research. Story of St. Valentine As you know, we are learning about a new saint each month and listen to their story during opening prayer. I thought it would be neat to learn a little about St. Valentine! Yes, he was a real person. Valentine’s Day is a very commercialized holiday, so it is nice to learn about the man, Valentine. I share his story with you below taken from Catholic Online. Valentine was a holy priest in Rome, who, with St. Marius and his family, assisted the martyrs in the persecution under Claudius II. He was apprehended, and sent by the emperor to the prefect of Rome, who, on finding all his promises to make him renounce his faith ineffectual, commanded him to be beaten with clubs, and afterwards, to be beheaded, which was executed on February 14, about the year 270. Pope Julius I is said to have built a church near Ponte Mole to his memory, which for a long time gave name to the gate now called Porta del Popolo, formerly, Porta Valetini. The greatest part of his relics are now in the church of St. Praxedes. His name is celebrated as that of an illustrious martyr in the sacramentary of St. Gregory, the Roman Missal of Thomasius, in the calendar of F. Fronto and that of Allatius, in Bede, Usuard, Ado, Notker and all other martyrologies on this day. To abolish the heathens lewd superstitious custom of boys drawing the names of girls, in honor of their goddess Februata Juno, on the fifteenth of this month, several zealous pastors substituted the names of saints in billets given on this day. The Origin of St. Valentine The origin of St. Valentine, and how many St. Valentines there were, remains a mystery. One opinion is that he was a Roman martyred for refusing to give up his Christian faith. Other historians hold that St. Valentine was a temple priest jailed for defiance during the reign of Claudius. Whoever he was, Valentine really existed because archaeologists have unearthed a Roman catacomb and an ancient church dedicated to Saint Valentine. In 496 AD Pope Gelasius marked February 14th as a celebration in honor of his martyrdom. The first representation of Saint Valentine appeared in a The Nuremberg Chronicle, a great-­‐illustrated book printed in 1493. [Additional evidence that Valentine was a real person: archaeologists have unearthed a Roman catacomb and an ancient church dedicated to Saint Valentine.] Alongside a woodcut portrait of him, text states that Valentinus was a Roman priest martyred during the reign of Claudius the Goth [Claudius II]. Since he was caught marrying Christian couples and aiding any Christians who were being persecuted under Emperor Claudius in Rome [when helping them was considered a crime], Valentinus was arrested and imprisoned. Claudius took a liking to this prisoner -­‐-­‐ until Valentinus made a strategic error: he tried to convert the Emperor -­‐-­‐ whereupon this priest was condemned to death. He was beaten with clubs and stoned; when that didn't do it, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate [circa 269]. Saints are not supposed to rest in peace; they're expected to keep busy: to perform miracles, to intercede. Being in jail or dead is no excuse for non-­‐performance of the supernatural. One legend says, while awaiting his execution, Valentinus restored the sight of his jailer's blind daughter. Another legend says, on the eve of his death, he penned a farewell note to the jailer's daughter, signing it, "From your Valentine." St. Valentine was a Priest, martyred in 269 at Rome and was buried on the Flaminian Way. He is the Patron Saint of affianced couples, beekeepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travellers, and young people. He is represented in pictures with birds and roses.