Dear friend,<\/p>\n
The Catholic Church in the United States now concludes the celebration of Catholic Schools Week. Last Sunday, St. Philomena School hosted an Open House for our community. We decided to focus time and energy into advance advertising prior to the Open House. You may have heard our radio or seen electronic billboard ads. We are currently blessed with a solid church and school enrollment, but we have room for more souls. The chief mission of every parish and parochial school is to evangelize those enrolled as well as those not yet members. If you were not able to attend our Open House, the majority of the visitors, as expected, were current members of our church and school families. Our children and parents were able to experience the current curricula and projects produced by our student body. We did, though, have many new people come visit the school to see what we offer. We hope our enrollment will grow as a result of this effort. During Catholic Schools Week, our school participated in many activities to celebrate our Catholic faith. Our Junior High children went on field trips to St. Sharbel, the Community of St. John, St. Mary in Kickapoo, Sacred Heart and St. Joseph in Peoria. Our kids\u2019 choir sang for Mass on Wednesday at Buehler Home. The 8th<\/sup> graders played a volleyball game against staff and parents. The school also hosted a trivia game to celebrate and acknowledge the knowledge our kids have of the Catholic faith. It was a fun and successful week. Please keep our school in your prayers.<\/p>\n This Sunday is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. This feast takes place forty days after the Birth of Jesus. In ancient Israel, ritual purity was an important factor to the ability to practice the faith publicly. One was believed to be ritually impure, thus unable to celebrate the faith in the Temple, after brushing against mystery. This would include child birth, the death of a loved one, marital union, or any blood or bodily fluid released from the body. In essence, there was a belief that one wasn\u2019t \u201cwhole\u201d in these situations. The action of presenting a child to the Lord, as well as an individual man or woman presenting themselves before the priest, allowed for a statement of ritual purity and thus resume ritual prayer and practice. For our practice of faith, the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple is similar to presenting our children for baptism, although the sacrament of baptism certainly carries more spiritual effects for us theologically. May our own presence in Church each week remind us of the beauty of our own baptism and weekly offering our lives in service to God. Have a great week.<\/p>\n God bless,<\/p>\n Father David<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"