CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK is this week: January 26 – February 1. Catholic schools are a place of learning many things especially our Catholic Faith which teaches us to serve others in charity and a spirit of sacrifice. We strive to teach our students to be leaders in the Catholic Faith by living and sharing the teachings of the Gospel with others. This is the way to true success in this life and more importantly in the life to come. Teaching our children to succeed is to teach them the way to heaven and instill in them the desire to lead others in the same way.
Sacred Heart School is a very important part of our parish community. Our school is where the seeds of faith are nourished. It is where the Catholic Faith is lived out and our children are formed in the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our school is where the children encounter Jesus in prayer, especially the Eucharist, in the Word of God, in the teachers, and in one another. In Sacred Heart School, the children come to know Jesus not only in religion class, but in everything they do and everywhere they go. They can encounter Jesus in the classroom, on the playground, in the hallways, and most importantly in the Mass and in their daily prayers. The presence of Jesus is truly in the spirit of our parish school. We often hear that this is something that visitors experience. There is just something different about our school that is not present in a public school. We may not have the newest buildings and facilities, but we have the awareness of the presence of Jesus which is shared by everyone throughout the day. A Catholic school is such a blessing for all who are there to share in the love and presence of Jesus Christ. He is the reason we even exist.
Please pray for Sacred Heart School and all our students, faculty, staff, parents, and grandparents. Pray especially for our principal Mr. John Czaplicki, he and our teachers and staff do an outstanding job in providing and building up the Catholic environment that we have at our parish school.
Thank you to all of parishioners who contribute so much to our school to make it what it has become over the past 75 years. Let us give thanks for such generosity and for the blessings of Ed. Choice and Angel Scholarship funds which can make Catholic schools more accessible to the people in the State of Ohio. God has truly blessed us in so many ways.
There will be a variety of events planned for Catholic Schools Week here at Sacred Heart beginning with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at 10:30 on Sunday, January 26 followed by a very extensive OPEN HOUSE at the school from Noon to 1:30 PM. Everyone is invited to come and see our school. I would encourage you to consider asking your friends to come and see Sacred Heart School, especially those who may have or will soon have school-age children. We will be serving coffee and donuts, too.
Bishop Malesic has recently written a pastoral letter to the faithful of the Diocese of Cleveland. The letter is available on the diocesan web site, and everyone should have received a copy with their copy of the diocesan magazine, Northeast Catholic. Below you will find a few words from the bishop introducing the letter to everyone. Please take the time to read and reflect on what our bishop has to say.
My Dearest Brothers and Sisters of the Diocese of Cleveland,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I am writing you today my first pastoral letter, and I thank you for taking the time to read it. It has been over four years since I was appointed by Pope Francis to be the Bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland, and the time is right for me to share with you where I think the Holy Spirit is calling us as a diocese, a local Church. The goal of this letter is to provide you with a resource for reflection, that you might be drawn more deeply into prayer and a more intimate relationship with Jesus. This letter is composed of four sections, and they build on each other, like St. Paul’s letters. The first three sections remind us of who we are and whose we are, and the final section articulates specific strategies to boldly follow the call of the Holy Spirit as sons and daughters of the Father.
