St. John the Baptist Catholic School Newsletter 1057 Hughes Road Madison, Alabama 35758 (256) 722-0772 www.stjohnb.com September 03, 2014 September 04 Progress Checks Sent Home via email September 04 Crusader Club Meeting @ 6:30pm September 09 PTO Meeting @ 6:30pm September 10 Mass @ 8:30am September 11 Family Faith Night September 16 Wendy s Night NJHS Meeting: NJHS will meet Thursday, September 4. Students may be picked up by the front doors of the school at 3:30. Any student not picked up by 3:40 will be sent to aftercare. Mass Schedule Saturday Evening 5:30pm Sundays 7:00am, 8:30am, 11:30am & 5:30pm Weekdays Monday 8:30am Tuesday 6:15am & 8:30am Wednesday 8:30am & 6:30pm Thursday 8:30am Friday 8:30am Holy Days 6:00am, 8:30am & 6:30pm Sacrament of Reconciliation Wednesday 5:30pm 6:20pm Saturday 3:30pm 5:00pm Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament Monday Thursday 9:00am 6:00pm Friday 9:00am noon First Friday 9:00am-9:00pm First Saturday 9:00am 10:00am PTO News: Please join us for the first PTO Meeting of the year. See you Tuesday, September 9th at 6:30pm in the cafeteria. The teacher with the most parent participation wins a SCRIP card for their class. Babysitting will be provided in the Youth Room by the 8th grade for a small donation. Come and find out what is happening at our school! Kroger Plus Cards-Thank you to everyone who has supported the PTO through the Kroger Community Rewards Program. Kroger requires that all participants re-enroll every year to continue supporting the organization of their choice. Please log into www.kroger.com/communityrewards to either re-enroll your existing Kroger Plus Card or to enroll your card for the first time. The PTO s organization code is 23348 (a change from last year s code). If you do not have a Kroger Plus Card you can pick one up at the Customer Service counter at any Kroger store or cards will be available at the PTO meetings. This is an easy way to support our school. Thank you! Two 7th-grade Cadettes have recently been awarded the Girl Scout Silver Award for identifying a community issue and planning a resolution -- the Music Room. Rory Smith and Ashley Buchheit built storage shelves for the band instruments. Congratulations on a wonderful accomplishment! Crusader News: Come and give your ideas on how to make St. John's Athletics even better. We plan to have Crusader Club General meeting on Thursday September 4th 6:30pm in the cafeteria. Family FAITH Night September 11th We are very excited to present to the school with another year of Family FAITH Nights with our first one on September 11, 2014. The topic of this event will focus on growing together in our faith as a family. Mark your calendars and please make every attempt to participate in this faith experience as a family. GALA NEWS: Please note: The GALA has been moved from FEBRUARY 14TH TO FEBRUARY 7TH 2015. Thank you.
September 3 St. Gregory the Great (540?-604) Coming events cast their shadows before: Gregory was the prefect of Rome before he was 30. After five years in office he resigned, founded six monasteries on his Sicilian estate and became a Benedictine monk in his own home at Rome. Ordained a priest, he became one of the pope's seven deacons, and also served six years in the East as papal representative in Constantinople. He was recalled to become abbot, and at the age of 50 was elected pope by the clergy and people of Rome. He was direct and firm. He removed unworthy priests from office, forbade taking money for many services, emptied the papal treasury to ransom prisoners of the Lombards and to care for persecuted Jews and the victims of plague and famine. He was very concerned about the conversion of England, sending 40 monks from his own monastery. He is known for his reform of the liturgy, for strengthening respect for doctrine. Whether he was largely responsible for the revision of "Gregorian" chant is disputed. Gregory lived in a time of perpetual strife with invading Lombards and difficult relations with the East. When Rome itself was under attack, he interviewed the Lombard king. An Anglican historian has written: "It is impossible to conceive what would have been the confusion, the lawlessness, the chaotic state of the Middle Ages without the medieval papacy; and of the medieval papacy, the real father is Gregory the Great." His book, Pastoral Care, on the duties and qualities of a bishop, was read for centuries after his death. He described bishops mainly as physicians whose main duties were preaching and the enforcement of discipline. In his own down-to-earth preaching, Gregory was skilled at applying the daily gospel to the needs of his listeners. Called "the Great," Gregory has been given a place with Augustine (August 28), Ambrose (December 7) and Jerome (September 30)as one of the four key doctors of the Western Church. Comment: Gregory was content to be a monk, but he willingly served the Church in other ways when asked. He sacrificed his own preferences in many ways, especially when he was called to be Bishop of Rome. Once he was called to public service, Gregory gave his considerable energies completely to this work. Quote: "Perhaps it is not after all so difficult for a man to part with his possessions, but it is certainly most difficult for him to part with himself. To renounce what one has is a minor thing; but to renounce what one is, that is asking a lot" (St. Gregory, Homilies on the Gospels). Patron Saint of: England Teachers