Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2009 / Catholic schools put service in full-swing during Catholic Schools Week
Catholic schools put service in full-swing during Catholic Schools Week
by Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published February 6, 2009
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Gregg McIntosh | The Michigan Catholic
Students from St. Mary School in Mount Clemens give thank-you cards to members of the Macomb County Sheriff’s K-9 unit. During Catholic Schools Week, students did Christian service projects and, in many cases, thanked others who serve their communities. |
Detroit — While the eyes of the local Church were focused last week on the installation of Detroit's Archbishop Allen Vigneron, students at Catholic schools took the time to celebrate their schools.
During Catholic Schools Week, a national celebration of Catholic education that took place Jan. 25-Jan. 31, students at Catholic schools around the Archdiocese of Detroit did service projects, attended school Masses and took part in other activities to celebrate what Catholic schools are all about. There are 106 Catholic elementary and secondary schools in the archdiocese.
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Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic
Maggie Delevie, a third-grader at Our Lady of Victory School in Northville, shows off a Valentine’s Day card she made for a resident of Addington Place, a senior residence near the school. |
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Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic
Cabrini High School seniors Gina Krupnak and Ray Yesh show off a couple of gift baskets their class made to give to the needy. |
And while Catholic schools typically include Christian service projects as part of their regular curriculum, a special emphasis was placed on service this year as the National Catholic Educational Association chose the theme "Catholic Schools Celebrate Service" for the week.
"That's kind of like what we're supposed to do as Catholics," said Genna Chiara, a seventh-grader at Our Lady of Victory School in Northville. "We're supposed to help people out."
Students at Our Lady of Victory, for example, colored placemats and wrote cards for the residents of a nearby nursing home, Addington Place. Other schools collected food items for the poor, held fundraising drives for both local and international causes, and took the time to thank those in society who serve them, such as police officers, firefighters, and of course their parents, teachers and pastors.
"We're hoping to form good disciples of Christ, overall," says Paula Nemeth, principal of Our Lady of Victory. "By doing (service) on a regular basis, we hope to instill those values that are Christlike and help our students grow into good disciples of Christ."
Nemeth added that the students generally have fun with their service projects, and they feel good about their good deeds. Her students seem to agree.
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Gregg McIntosh | The Michigan Catholic
A student at St. Mary School in Mount Clemens colors a thank you card. |
"It adds a lot of morals and values to what you do," says seventh-grader Jared Jollay. "And it helps you along the way."
It's not just grade school students getting the message, either. High school students in the Archdiocese of Detroit oftentimes have more of an opportunity to serve their communities. They participate in everything from building houses with Habitat for Humanity to blood drives to working at soup kitchens.
During Catholic Schools Week, students at Cabrini High School in Allen Park, for example, assembled baskets of goods for the needy. Senior Brian Obrycki says it's nice to work together with his classmates to give to the less fortunate.
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Gregg McIntosh | The Michigan Catholic
Students from St. Mary School in Mount Clemens show off the goods they collected during a Catholic Schools Week food drive. |
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Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic
A classroom full of 9th graders at Cabrini High School in Allen Park pose for a photo, showing the types of goods they collected to make food baskets to be distributed through their parish. |
"Here, you know everyone, and everyone's got an assignment and counts on each other to come through," Obrycki says. His classmate, Sondra Plante, says that service projects also help each student draw closer to the Lord.
"It brings us together, closer to God," Plante says, "because we help other people who don't have a lot in the community." The students agree, too, that the service connects them to Christ.
"Doing a service project for somebody, it's like Christ gave Himself to us so we can be saved," says Jared at Our Lady of Victory. "(Our own sacrifice) is not as important — but it makes somebody's day and think that, even if they have nobody, somebody actually cares about them in the world. So they have that assurance."
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