Dear St. Raphael School Families and Parishioners,

Jesus Christ is risen today, He is risen indeed! I wish you a most Blessed Easter and hope you have time to celebrate joyfully with family and friends.

As you can see from our school Mission Statement, we focus on Faith, Character, and Academics at St. Raphael the Archangel School. I’d like to focus this week on the Faith portion of our Mission:

FAITH – St. Raphael the Archangel School guides its students as they form their knowledge of the Catholic faith and their love for Jesus Christ, in an environment that promotes compassionate hearts through habits of personal prayer, reflection, and community service.

Every word and phrase is purposeful in this statement. First we guide our students - we follow the example of our patron saint, St. Raphael, and we guide rather than push. This is a gentle way to teach, and we embrace this wholeheartedly in our school. Second, our students form their knowledge of the Catholic faith, and they form their love for Jesus Christ. This knowledge and love does not happen instantly. Rather, students’ knowledge and love forms slowly and carefully, step by step, always growing.

Our school environment is critical and we work very hard to make that environment loving, accepting, and nurturing. When we say we promote compassionate hearts, we really mean it! We try to model this in all that we say and do with students and families. Compassionate hearts are formed when kindness and compassion are expected and demonstrated every day.

We form important habits of personal prayer by going to mass every day, praying a decade of the rosary every day, praying the Angelus every day, and praying in our classrooms every day. We encourage and allow time for reflection throughout the school day, including reflection on the message of the homily each and every day.

And finally, we are always involved in community service, through food drives, collections of items for the cold and homeless, raffles to benefit the needy, and more. Our all school community service projects are tied to the Corporal Works of Mercy so that our students understand this connection to their Catholic faith. Our older students plan and carry out service projects on their own, proving that children are never too young to serve others.

Are we perfect? Of course not! We recognize that there is, and will continue to be, much room for improvement in accomplishing the Faith portion of our Mission. With your help and prayers, we will keep moving forward with this incredibly important work.

Looking Ahead….

Monday, April 6th………..No School for Preschool - 8, Easter Monday

Tuesday, April 7th……….Science in a Tree, Grades 7-8

Kindergarten Screening for 2015-2016, No School for current

Kindergarten students

SRA night at Mathew’s Kitchen

Wednesday, April 8th…...Science in a Tree, Grades 5-6

Kindergarten Screening for 2015-2016, No School for current

Kindergarten students

Thursday, April 9th……...Science in a Tree, Grades 3-4

Chess Club, 3:15 to 4:15pm in Art Room

Friday, April 10th………..Special School Mass, 8am

5th Grade Field Trip to Notre Dame HS for theater performance

Sunday, April 12th……….Bow Sunday for 2nd Grade, 10am Mass

Peace & Blessings,

Kim Vangel

Principal