St. Mary s Catholic School 1019 South 7 th Street, Temple, Texas 76504 254-778-8141 St Mary s, Moving Forward and Renewing Our Commitment to Quality Catholic Education Falcon s Pride A weekly newsletter of the current events at St. Mary s Catholic School Named by Gayathri Devi Thirunavukkarasu 2014 April 28, 2015 Issue 34 www.stmarys-temple.org Dear Parents and Guardians, Today was our first annual Walking for Education to raise money for tuition assistance. What a day it was. We were blessed with perfect weather and many volunteers. The purpose of our event was to ensure that no child is denied a quality Catholic education due to financial difficulties. It is so important that we are successful, not only for our 2015-2016 families, but for those yet to realize what a life-long benefit a Catholic education can be for their child. All monies raised will be placed in our tuition assistance fund. A very special thank you goes out to Mrs. Evon Vargas, who was the organizer and idea person behind this event. She worked tirelessly with Mrs. Shadburn, teachers, students, parents and parishioners to bring this day to fruition. We are all very grateful to her! Thank you to our students who worked hard to bring in their pledges and to our parents, guardians and parishioners who have supported, and I have no doubt will continue to support this worthy cause. Recognition is also given to our sponsors (as seen on the back of the Walking for Education yellow t-shirts). Johnny and Lisa Walker of Emporium Spice St. Mary s Catholic Church and Parishioners Our Lady of Guadalupe Church and Parishioners St. Luke s Catholic Church and Parishioners Christ the King Church and Parishioners Belton Knights of Columbus Council #7196 Pop-A-Lock Parker Uniform Smart Tuition Target
3G Resources Woodward Creative Group It is not too late to turn in your donations for this fund. Tuition assistance for the 2015-2016 school year will be awarded in May. The deadline to apply for tuition assistance is this Friday, April 30 th. Remember, there can be no in-house tuition assistance or tuition payments moving forward. Both must be directed through our third party, SMART Tuition. Last Friday, our students were treated to a presentation by Hayden Wolf, the 2015 American Honey Princess and Chelsea Clifton, the representative from Walker Honey Farm. Not only did our students learn about honey bees and the process of making honey, they also were able to see an active honey producing hive and get a little taste of honey. Thank you to Mrs. Stewart, mom of David and Waverly, for setting up our presentation. Sunday we held our April Family Mass at St. Luke s Parish. Thank you to Mrs. Quintana and her fourth graders for such a beautiful Eucharistic celebration. Thank you to all families who attended. It was wonderful to see so many of our students! Our last Family Mass for this school year will be Sunday, May 10 th, at Christ the King Parish in Belton. This Saturday our students will be traveling to the PSIA State Competition at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. Please keep our students in your prayers as they compete for the state awards. Best of luck to Gayathri Thirunavukkarasu, Victoria Haenel, Matthew Maldonado, Francesca Higgins, Emily Atkins, Lakshmi Aravindan, Faith Ann Go and Doye Baker. Sunday, our second graders will be receiving their First Holy Communion. What a special day for our students. Please keep them in your prayers. Congratulations to the following students. Rocio Avila Owen Boethel Barrett Burdine Brynne Eichelkraut Arianna Gonzales Pedro Karshis Courtney Khuc Julian Leon Victoria Lucksinger Leah Lukose Jacob Lynch Liliana Maldonado Natalie Maldonado Dylan Mikeska Austin Morgan John Mottram Denise Quintana Juliann Tomasek Have a wonderful week and God bless you. Mrs. Wyles
NEWS AND INFORMATION A Smile From Father Steve "The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us." Choir Practice Choir practice for this Thursday, April 30 th is cancelled. Family Mass May 10 th Family Mass at Christ the King is Sunday, May 10. We will need lectors, greeters, ushers, and gift bearers. We are looking forward to bringing our wonderful students to Christ the King. Please contact Suzi Rockwood for more information at srockwood@stmarys-temple.org. Memorial Day Concert The 1st Cavalry Division is having a free concert in honor of Memorial Day on 18 th May at the CAC. The Band would like to offer an invite to the parents and students. Please see attached flyer. Elementary Science Day! April 29th is the Elementary Science day! Experiments will be on display in the parish hall all day. Students may bring their experiments before school from 7:30 to 8:00. They will need to be accompanied by a parent back over to the school. After 8:00, students will need to bring projects over with their teacher. If you have any questions, please ask. We can't wait to see all the interesting projects your children have been completing! Heather Quintana Middle School Football for the 2015-2016 School Year Dear Parents, I need to see how many boys are going be interested in playing six-man football next school year. We need at least 12 boys to form a team. Also I will need someone to be able to volunteer to coach the boys after school. I will need to know before the end of the school year I can schedule games. It is not fair to the other teams or our boys to schedule games without a firm commitment. Nita Bigon St. Mary's Catholic School nbigon@stmarys-temple.org Bus Service News
There will be NO mini-bus during Final Exams (May 26-29) week at Holy Trinity. The morning and afternoon route will run at the same times, just no trip to HT in the afternoon. Yearbook News Yearbooks are still $23.00 until May 1st and then they will increase to $27.00. We still have several yearbooks for sale, but they go fast so order yours today! Art Show News: The 2015 Artworks Art show will continue to be available for viewing until May 22, 2015 at the Cultural Activities Center Monday - Friday 8:30-4:30 located at 3011 N 3rd St, Temple, TX 76501 (254) 773-9926 Uniforms Changes and Options for the 2015-2016 School Year At our PTC meeting on March 4 th new uniform options and requirement were presented. The official uniform list, with prices, will be available April 1 st and will be sent home. In the meantime, the samples are in the office and include the following: Required: Girls jumpers in Pre-K through 5 th will now have a school logo. Those who have jumpers, still in good condition, wishing to use again next year will be able to turn them in on the last day of school for the emblem to be sewn on. The cost for this will be $4.95 per jumper. White New Balance shoes will replace the saddle shoe for the girls. The Junior High girls may choose to wear the white New Balance shoe or the slip on black shoes they currently wear. Black New Balance shoes will be the only shoe worn by the boys at all grade levels. Optional The girls in Pre-K through grade 5 may wear a light blue polo, with the school logo, and a skort, Monday through Thursday. The boys in Pre-K through grade 5 may wear a light blue polo, with the school logo, and their regular school pants Monday through Thursday. The boys and girls in Junior High may wear a dark blue polo, with the school logo, and their current skirt for girls and pants for boys, Monday through Thursday. Uniforms with school logo must be purchased through Parker uniform company. If you have questions please let us know. Family Masses: Mark Your Calendars May 10 th : Christ the King 10:30 a.m. Important Dates to Remember Thurs. April 30 th *2 nd Grade Retreat
Fri. May 1 st *All School Mass 8:15 *Adoration Sat. May 2 nd *PSIA State Competition Sun. May 3 rd *First Communion Thurs. May 7 th *Spirit Day Fri. May 8 th *All School Mass 8:15 Sat. May 9 th *NJHS Field Trip *Troy Solo and Ensemble for Junior High Band Sun. May 10 th *Last Family Mass: Christ the King 10:30 a.m. *Happy Mother s Day Fifth Sunday of Easter, Cycle B May 3, 2015 This Sunday's Readings First Reading Acts of the Apostles 9:26-31 Paul is accepted by the apostles at Jerusalem. Responsorial Psalm Psalm 22:26-27,28,30,31-32 The whole world shall praise the Lord. Second Reading 1 John 3:18-24 God commands us to believe in Jesus Christ and to love one another. Gospel Reading John 15:1-8 Jesus teaches that he is the vine and that his disciples are the branches. Background on the Gospel Reading Today's reading from the Gospel of John is part of Jesus' discourse at the Last Supper. Recall that John tells the story of Jesus' Last Supper differently from the other Evangelists. In John's Gospel, the Last Supper begins with Jesus washing his disciples' feet. Jesus then provides them with a series of instructions. We call this section the Last Supper discourse or Jesus' farewell discourse. In these chapters of John's Gospel, Jesus instructs his disciples about the importance of following his example of love and service, about the gift they will receive when Jesus sends them the Holy Spirit, and about their relationship with Jesus and with the world. The Last Supper discourse concludes with Jesus' prayer for his disciples. Today's Gospel reading is taken from middle of the Last Supper discourse. Jesus speaks about his relationship to his disciples. In his metaphor of the vine and the branches, Jesus is referencing the
Hebrew Scriptures. In the Hebrew Scriptures, Israel is the vineyard, and Yahweh himself tends the vineyard. One of the primary themes of John's Gospel is to show Jesus to be the fulfillment of God's promises to Israel. In this passage, Jesus teaches his disciples that his relationship with them will not end after his death; he will remain with them always. This unity between Jesus and his disciples is the basis for their ability to continue to do the work that he began. Similarly, Jesus' presence with us through the Gift of the Holy Spirit enables us to continue the work of love and reconciliation that he began. Jesus also teaches his disciples about the importance of the words he has taught to them. Just as Jesus will remain in the disciples, so too will his words. We come to know Jesus through the Scriptures, the living Word of God. Our commitment to be Christ's disciples is sustained through God's Word. This commitment is also strengthened by our life of prayer and nourished by the Eucharist. Through the Eucharist, Jesus dwells in us, remains with us, and transforms us so that we might bear fruit in his name. We observe many people who act in ways that show their commitment to serve their neighbor. Christians and non-christians feed the hungry, care for the sick, shelter the homeless, and give alms to the poor. These actions become acts of Christian discipleship when they are motivated by our relationship with Jesus. Whatever the immediate results, Jesus promises us that these actions will bear fruit when we undertake them in his name.