Congratulations to our honor roll students [see email/paper tidbit]
PRINCIPAL NOTES: Please read carefully the enclosed flyer and support our School Board's efforts to help our school with our big raffle. Only 1,000 tickets will be sold at $100 each. $32,000 will be given out, which includes the Grand Prize of $15,000! The family selling the winning ticket receives $1,000! Spread the word to your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. Be sure to purchase your tickets in time for the two Early Bird drawings! The success of this raffle will bring big revenue to our school! The winning ticket will be drawn at the Day at the Races event on Saturday, May 2nd.
Catholic Schools Week begins this Sunday, January 25, 2009 through January 31, 2009. Please join us at our Sunday Mass at 11:00 on January 25th. The school will be open immediately following the 11:00 Mass until 1:30 on Sunday for all parishioners and any new families to visit and register for the next school year. We ask that children stay with their families and not run up and down the stairs or in the corridors.
Our Invention Convention, Owl Pellet Dissections, and Biomes will be open for viewing on Sunday after Mass in the Windemere Room. You are most welcome and invited to join us, also, in a variety of activities we have prepared for this exciting week.
Congratulations to Kathleen L. who won the National Catholic Education Association Distinguished Graduate Award for her continued ministry to our school and parish! This award is always given to a former graduate of St. Barbara School who remains involved in parish life. Also, congratulations to Mrs. Cathy Carone, our Administrative Assistant, Mrs. Angela Lawler, our School Financier, and Mrs. Barbara Pasymowski, our Preschool Aide, who each won the Heart of the School Award for their contributions as support staff. Presentations of both awards will take place at the 11:00 Mass this Sunday.
Invitations are being sent out this week to all of our volunteers to invite you to the Catholic Schools Week Volunteer Mass at 8:00 a.m. followed by a continental breakfast to be held on Friday, January 30th. If you do not receive an invitation, you may have been inadvertently omitted. If this happens, please accept our apologies and please feel free to join us.
Everyone is invited to the see the 8th graders take on the Faculty & Staff in our Annual Volleyball Game on Tuesday, January 27th at 12:45 in the gym.
Parents, please make sure to send a snack with your child(ren) if they are attending Extended Day after school. Every day there are children asking others for food because they are hungry.
Thanks to everyone who patronized Alex & Aldo's Restaurant on Sunday, December 14th (Family Mass). Alex & Aldo's Restaurant donates 10% of all sales on Family Mass days. We received $86.60 for December! Also, thanks to Frank, the owner Alex & Aldo's!
WE ARE CALLED TO SERVE: These students have demonstrated their willingness to serve others through the weeks of December 8th – December 19th: [see email/paper tidbit]
ALUMNI NEWS: The following alumni made the Honor Roll at St. Joseph High School: A Honor Roll: [see email/paper tidbit]
HOT LUNCH: All lunch orders were due today. No late orders will be accepted. If you have any questions, call Jenny G[].
FSP has been assured by the manufacturers that all peanut butter products they serve are NOT involved in the recall.
FSA MEETING TONIGHT will be held in the Windemere Room instead of the Faculty Room.
SCHOOL RAFFLE WINNER: Congratulations to Jim S[] who won the January drawing! The ticket was sold by the S[] family.
ANNULMENT PROGRAM RESCHEDULED: Due to the recent inclement weather, the annulment information session has been rescheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 28th in Prairie Rooms A & B. Elsie Radtke, of the Archdiocesan Family Ministries Office, will present a program that will answer all of your questions about the annulment process following a divorce. Also, mark your calendars for a program on Lay Ministry Opportunities presented by Paul Wheeler, director of the Camboni Lay Missionaries. The session will be at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 18th, also in the Parish Center. These programs are part of the ongoing adult education series sponsored by the Evangelization Team. For more information, call Deacon Dave []
Build a Culture of Life in 2009---St. Barbara Vigil For Life January 26th at 7pm
January 22, 2009, is the 36th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision eventually legalizing abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy. Since then, an estimated 50 million babies have lost their lives to abortion in the United States. Come to church this Monday, January 26th, at 7pm for Eucharistic adoration, vigil for life and rosary. Pray for the conversion of our nation and particularly for conversion and healing of all women and men and families who have been affected by abortion.
"A new generation of Christians is being called to help build a world in which God's gift of life is welcomed, respected, and cherished—not rejected, feared as a threat, and destroyed. A new age in which love is not greedy or self-seeking, but pure, faithful, and genuinely free, open to others, respectful of their dignity, seeking their good, radiating joy and beauty. A new age in which hope liberates us from shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deaden our souls and poison our relationships. The Lord is asking you to be prophets of this new age, messengers of his love, drawing people to the Father and building a future of hope for all humanity."
Pope Benedict XVI, Homily at World Youth day, July 20, 2008
TRANSPORTATION REIMBURSEMENT: Serious Safety Hazard-Children who live less than 1 1/2 miles from school but have to cross a busy street, railroad tracks, or walk by a street without sidewalks may be eligible for a refund of some of their parents' transportation costs. You can go to www.cook.k12.il.us and click on Serious Safety Hazard Information to obtain the Serious Safety Hazard Application. This form needs to be completed and returned to the Suburban Cook County R.O.E. postmarked by the February 1st deadline.
MANNA EXPRESS: Interested in lowering the cost of your tuition? Consider being a Manna Express certificate seller. Contact Cathy K[] for further details and available dates. Remember you do have control over your tuition cost.
LOVING STAY-AT-HOME MOTHER of a St. Barbara School student will care for your child/children in my Brookfield home. Full-time and part-time available. Please call Erin [school office].
POP TOPS FROM CANS: We continue to collect the pop tops from pop cans, etc. These are donated to the Ronald McDonald House where out-of-area families stay while their seriously ill children are in the hospital. This is a wonderful cause and very easy to contribute to. You can collect and send in pop tops in a baggie or some kind of container throughout the year. Thanks for your help!