Prayer life
If we are truly to come to know God, we must enter into a relationship with God through prayer. Each school day begins and ends with prayer either within the classroom or as a school community.
In addition to classroom prayer our school community gathers to begin each week and for seasonal and special occasion prayer services and to celebrate the Eucharist. These opportunities include prayer services for Advent and Lent, for Catholic Schools Week, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, as well as the traditional devotions of the Rosary during October, the Stations of the Cross during Lent, and Lessons and Carols during the Advent season. The celebration of the Eucharist takes place monthly, prepared by individual classes, and on holy days. The students and teachers of grades three through eight gather to celebrate Reconciliation during the Advent and Lenten seasons.
Catholic Identity
It is for the purpose of religious education and faith formation that St. Joseph School exists. As a religious educational community our mission includes the following goals
- To help each student to relate this living Christ to his/her personal life in relationship with others.
- To share with our young people the Gospel Message of Jesus Christ in an atmosphere of love, respect, and understanding, that they may in turn share this message.
- To create a Christian community within our school and classrooms.
- To provide opportunities for the development of the prayer life of the school community.
- To impart Catholic Doctrine to our young people through the use a planned process of instruction.
- To enable our young people to grow in the love of Jesus Christ and one another through the sacraments, in particular through the Eucharist and Reconciliation.
- To provide opportunities for parental involvement and instruction through preparation for the children’s reception of the sacraments, through participation in prayer and sacramental celebrations, especially the Eucharist, and through written and verbal communication.
- To foster the understanding of our call to serve others, both within our community and beyond it.
As a Catholic Christian community not only do we nurture our relationship with God through prayer and study, but also, in serving others. Our school community offers many age-appropriate opportunities to answer our call to serve through food collections at Thanksgiving, Rice Bowl collections during Lent, and various outreach activities throughout the school year. Some of these opportunities include the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Math-a-thon, and cards and letters to our troops overseas. Students experience service within the school community through our “buddy” programs, through peer tutoring, cooperative learning and other occasional activities. Older students extend service to the soup kitchen through meal preparation and to local convalescent homes and other non-profit organizations, offering volunteer service during after-school hours.
Parent Role in Education
St. Joseph School, in keeping with the documents of the Roman Catholic Church, recognizes parents as the first educators of their children. As parents entrust to us the most precious gift of their children, our mission calls the administration, faculty and staff of St. Joseph School to provide an excellent academic education within the spiritual development and faith formation that we are called to provide. It is the parent’s role to assist their children and to support the mission and policies of the school, its administration, faculty and staff in carrying out this mission.
Upon enrolling their children at St. Joseph School parents entrust the most precious gift of their education and faith formation of the children parents, administration, faculty and staff cooperate and collaborate through the positive, personal communication with one another. The Home-School Association also acts a vehicle of communication between the home and the school. Parents are expected to observe and respect in word and action the mission, policies, administration, faculty and staff of the school. The expectation is that all in our school family will model for our children Jesus the Master Teacher.