Recent News

3rd Grade Stewardship

(December 21, 2022)  Third graders at St. Philomena are focusing on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy for their classroom stewardship this school year. Since the 2014-15 school year, our third graders have had a relationship with residents at Buehler Home.

Through the years they have prayed daily for the residents, made lots of decorations for doors and windows to brighten up their homes and recreation areas, gone caroling, played games and puzzles with residents, read stories together and even conducted interviews so they could get to better know their Buehler friends.

The pause to those visits during the COVID-19 pandemic made third graders all realize how much they really love going to Buehler Home. The teachers had to find ways to connect with them in the absence of personal visits. Things like sending the link for the Christmas program livestream so the residents can enjoy our students’ performance.

Mrs. Morgan Fehl and Mrs. Traci Heppard, third grade teachers, feel that the service to Buehler Home residents opens up the students’ eyes to the world around them.

“We become so focused on our own lives, we need to see that there are people suffering and lonely. People who receive no cards or visits from family,” shared Mrs. Fehl. This reality strikes a chord with the students when they think about a birthday or holidays without cards or family.

The teachers focus on the importance of keeping things simple, the service doesn’t have to be a grand gesture. “We’ve found that just reading a book is one of the residents’ favorite things to do,” said Mrs. Fehl.

One of the goals of Mrs. Fehl and Mrs. Heppard is showing and helping the students to learn and build a life of service at a young age. “A life of service is so important. A card seems small, but it can brighten someone’s day,” stated Mrs. Fehl. “We want them [students] to continue a life of service. Our hope is that they continue to grow in this way.”

Wizard of Oz Auditions: Spring 2023 School Musical

This school year our student musical will be “The Wizard of Oz.” The production will be March 24-26, 2023 at Peoria Players Theatre. Auditions will be held on January 4 and 5 after school. Audition forms must be completed by January 3. If your child in grades 5-8 would like to participate in the spring musical, you will need to fill out the online audition form and sign your child up for an audition time, (see links at the end of this post). 

The songs for auditions can be found on Mrs. Smith’s school webpage under the “Practice” tab, or click here. Please have your child choose a song and work on it over break. Students have the option to audition solo or in a group.

There is a closed Facebook group where information for cast families will be posted over the next few months. Please be sure to join that group to stay in the loop. The group is called, “St. Phil’s Wizard of Oz 2023,” click here.

If you have questions, please contact Anne Kennedy at anne.mw.kennedy@gmail.com

Click here: Audition Form
Click here: Audition Time Slot

Adoration Chapel Visits

(Dec. 6, 2022)  During the Season of Advent, all junior high students are making a weekly visit to the Adoration Chapel. During a recent visit, they prayed with the Sunday Gospel and meditated on the virtue of hope. We are grateful to have access to a chapel on our campus and to be able to offer this time with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament to our students.

5th Grade Stewardship

(November 21, 2022) — Fifth graders at St. Philomena are participating in the “St. Gianna Ministry” project as their service focus this school year. The goal of this project is to connect with mothers who are expecting a child and then provide a gift bag once the baby is born.

Each month on the second Sunday, pregnant mothers are invited to receive a special blessing after Mass. On those weekends students from fifth grade are present to read an announcement and greet the parents before Father David’s blessing.

Kevin Crusen, Irving Hughes, Caroline McKee and Jacob Wilburn are among the students who have read the announcement at Mass so far. Not only are the students helping a family in our parish, they are gaining valuable skills like public speaking, greeting people they may not know, and organization.

“The first time I spoke I felt nervous, but now I feel more confident speaking publicly,” said Kevin. The other students agreed. Said Irving, “At school Mass there are a lot of people, it’s the whole school. But on the weekend it’s more spread out. Once I did it the first time, I felt better after that.”

“There are three Masses we do each weekend. Saturday evening and then at 9 o’clock and 11 o’clock on Sunday morning. One person reads and the others are there for support or as a backup in case the reader can’t come,” said Caroline. “The teachers are always there, too.”

While Father David is greeting people after Mass, the students meet the expectant parents at the statue of Mary. They hand each family a paper with a QR code that directs them to an online form to complete.

“On the form we ask them when their baby will be born, if they know if it’s a boy or girl, is there anything they really need. When the baby is born we plan to deliver the gift bags,” said Jacob.

Elise Fahey is part of the group who is helping put together the wish lists on Amazon and assembling the gift bags with those items that are purchased. She said “On the wish list we have diapers, baby bottles, bibs, pacifiers, blankets, baby shampoo. Our teacher also added some items for the moms.”

Elise explained that the teacher emailed the wish list to everyone in the class. Fifth grade families can order from that Amazon list and items are sent to school. Those students who signed up to help with packaging will then work on those bags for the expectant mothers. Caroline said, “I’m really excited about giving the gift bags out.”

The students estimate that they have heard from about 8 to 10 expectant moms and dads so far in just two months of their project. They know that there is one baby due in December, a few in January and February and four in March. After Christmas break they will be very busy preparing for the newest little Tigers in our parish family.

If you know of a family in our parish who is expecting a baby, please let them know about this project and that they are invited to our monthly blessing. If you have questions or would like to receive the wish list to purchase an item, contact either of our fifth grade teachers: Mrs. Emily Esparza (emilespa@stphils.com) or Mr. Rick Mathern (rickmath@stphils.com).