A
Celebration of Catholic Education!
Catholic Education Week to Shine the Spotlight
on Our Schools
Each year the Catholic
community of Ontario engages in a week-long
celebration of the unique identity and
distinctive contributions of Catholic education
during Catholic Education Week. . This event is
also an opportunity for the wider Catholic
educational community to discuss issues which
impact on the future of our system - questions
like, " How can we enrich and contribute to
the beautiful and good system we have?"
This year's celebration
is entitled "We are Called" and
is scheduled for all of next week.
The theme “We are
Called” celebrates the incredible fact that
each of us has been called by God, and not just
called as a collective, but called by name.
Isaiah says it beautifully – ‘I have called
you by name, you are mine.’ (Isaiah
43:1) The Ontario Catholic School
Trustees' Association says that amid life’s
joys and sorrows, its challenges and doubts
these words can be our source of strength and
the solid rock of our faith. It says that we are
not alone, that a power greater than ourselves
and our human endeavours is there to sustain us,
provided we are aware of that source and engage
it in our lives.
We invite all members
of our community, especially our parents, to
participate in the celebrations and activities
that will mark the celebration of Catholic
Education Week 2008 at our schools.
System-Wide
Events
On
Tuesday April 29th, the Board will
recognize the abilities and excellence
of our students with the Spirit
Awards at St. Thomas Aquinas
Catholic Secondary School. Students from
each will be honoured, their selection
based on their demonstration of the
Ontario Catholic School graduate
Expectations. This is the sixth year for
the Spirit Awards.
Tuesday
night will also see the awarding of the
LDCSB's highest honour, the Stewards in
Catholic Education Award. Its is given
to a Graduate of our system who “Lives
the Ontario Catholic Graduate
Expectations.” This is the sixth year
for the award. Previous winners include John
Callaghan, a graduate of Catholic
Central High School, long-time
Principal Robert Thibert,
Catholic Central teacher and coach Mike
Circelli and
Sister Margaret Ferris.
A
Snapshot in Time:
Each of of our schools will be taking
part in a unique project on Wednesday,
April 30th. We will be displaying pictures
from every school in nearly real-time on
the LDCSB website, providing a snapshot
of what happens in our school system
over the course of a school day.
The
sixteenth annual Walk Against Male
Violence will be held on Wednesday,
starting and ending at Harris Park.
Secondary students and some of our
elementary students are involved.
Each
school is hosting special events, many
of them open to the public. To find out
what is happening in your school, visit
the schools website (Secondary
Schools, Elementary
Schools) or click
HERE.
The
Ontario Catholic School Trustees'
Association, develops the theme for
Catholic Education Week each year. It
also provides resources for schools to
help to celebrate what Catholic
education means to our students, to our
community and to the province. To visit
the OCSTA website, click HERE.
Five
sub-themes, one for each of the five days of
Catholic Education Week 2008, help students to
understand
the rich meaning of this year's
theme:
Day 1…to Act Justly
Day 2…to Love Tenderly
Day 3…to Walk Humbly
Day 4…to Serve Generously
Day 5…to Live Peacefully
Throughout Catholic Education Week, we are asked
to reflect on the significance of
Catholic
Education's presence and contribution
in our Church, and in our society.
To serve the Catholic
student in a community that nurtures a living faith
and provides a quality Catholic education that enables the individual to
become a contributing member of the Church and Society.
or contact: John
Boles,
Manager of Communications,
519-663-2088, ext 40015
is produced weekly by the
Communications Department of the LDCSB.
Spotlight is a BRAVO Award winner for
demonstrated excellence, recognized by the Canadian Association of Communicators in Education and
a winner of the
Glorya Nanne Award from the
Ontario Association of Parents in Catholic Education for making
a substantial contribution to fostering better understanding of Catholic Education.
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