From: The Record
Catholic Schools Week, Jan. 31 to Feb. 6, is off to a slow start with Monday’s snow day, but elementary and high schools in the Archdiocese of Louisville have scheduled service, prayer and amusements for the rest of the week.
Following is a sampling of planned activities that schools shared with The Record ahead of the celebration.
• Student ambassadors and volunteers at Bethlehem High School in Bardstown, Ky., plan to deliver baskets of homemade bread and other gifts to the mayor’s office, Flaget Memorial Hospital and the Bardstown police and fire departments. A statement from the school said they want to thank members of the community who are working especially hard during the pandemic and assure them Bethlehem is committed to forming the next generation of “good citizens.”
Bethlehem freshmen planned a scavenger hunt to learn about their school’s history and charism.
The student body is slated to pray the rosary together and hold a “penny war” to raise funds for Bethlehem University in Palestine.
Students also will be reading and responding to letters written to them by alumni serving the church. A large number of priests, religious and lay ecclesial ministers have graduated from Bethlehem, including Bishop J. Mark Spalding of Nashville.
• St. James School, 1818 Edenside Avenue, plans to make kindness the focus of Catholic Schools Week when it installs an interactive exhibit in front of the Highlands church along busy Bardstown Road.
The school will debut an “interactive” chalkboard featuring acts of compassion and kindness, where “members of the community can interact and share their thoughts,” an announcement said. The school also will introduce a “kindness rock garden” in front of the church, where the community can find a rock “to spread this love and compassion.”
• St. Raphael School at Bardstown Road and Lancashire Avenue plans to hold its annual school spelling bee Feb. 2 and live-stream the contest to classrooms.
“We want to recognize the achievements of our students and show the younger grades that we celebrate academics from kindergarten through eighth-grade as they watch the older students compete,” said a statement from the school.
• St. James School in Elizabethtown, Ky., will host its annual community breakfast for business professionals virtually this year. The school has invited 75 individuals from Hardin County to the virtual event, which includes sharing videos of the school’s outdoor classroom, morning prayer and pledge of allegiance on the school’s Facebook page.
St. James students, members of the faculty and staff are raising funds through dress-down days to benefit St. Louis High School in Lake Charles, La. The school was destroyed by hurricanes Laura and Delta and is being rebuilt.
• Students from Holy Trinity School’s St. Matthews and Clifton campuses, 423 Cherrywood Road and 2117 Payne St., respectively, will hold a food drive to benefit a new food pantry planned on the campus of Holy Name Church, 2914 S. Third Street.
Students will also create a time capsule. It will include photos, letters and other items from the 2020-2021 school year. The hope is to “capture and preserve the last year so that future generations will be able to experience this historic time in the school’s history,” the school said.
• Mercy Academy, 5801 Fegenbush Lane, will hold a school-wide virtual prayer service Feb. 3. The student council is hosting a drive to collect toiletries to benefit Free2Hope, a local non-profit whose mission is to raise awareness and provide a supportive environment for women who are the victims of sex crimes, including human trafficking.
Students also wrote and mailed letters to their families, thanking them for sacrificing to send them to Mercy. Parents also sent thank you cards to members of the faculty and staff.
• Students at Sacred Heart Preschool, 3105 Lexington Road, will collect school supplies for the Backside Learning Center at Churchill Downs. They plan to make Valentine’s Day cards for veterans at the VA Hospital. And they will be making special cards or videos for Ursuline Sisters.
• Students at Sacred Heart Model School, 3107 Lexington Road, plan to read Scripture pertaining to the celebration each day and connect a Bible story to a related activity. For example, they planned to read John 13:1-7 and make colorful placemats with positive messages that will be sent to children at Norton Children’s Hospital.