Sunday, January 25, 2009 Fr. Pat Grile

Catholic Schools Week

As Jesus said in the gospel, “The reign of God is at hand.” Sometimes maybe we like to think, well, what does it mean, the kingdom of God or the reign of God? It’s not a thing. The reign of God is in our hearts and in our lives. And when Jesus said, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is here” He didn’t necessarily mean turn away from sin. But the idea was you would embrace a whole new way of living. A way of living according to God’s way. Which means, look at the life of Jesus and all the different ways that Jesus came to teach you and me. So if we are going to be people who follow and live in the kingdom of God we will be a people who live according to Jesus. We will be people who give compassion, mercy, forgiveness, love, understanding, joy, thoughtfulness, kindness, sacrificing for one another. All the things that Jesus did and taught, that’s what you and I are called to do as well.

When we live that way. When we do those things we are making present the kingdom of God. Not the kingdom of this world, not the kingdom of power, not the kingdom of control, not the kingdom of possessions, but the kingdom of Jesus in our hearts.

In all of us here today that way of living got started when you and I were baptized and entered into this kingdom, this family of the Lord. And then we have nourished that life through our instructions in the ways of Faith. You, as parents, are the first teachers of your children in the ways of Faith. In the baptismal liturgy we tell you parents, be the best teachers in the ways of Faith for your children. Everyone of us, it got started in our own families and homes.

And then we have to augment it, we have to strengthen it, we have to nourish it. And that’s why we have our Faith Formation programs, our religious education programs. That’s why we are fortunate that you and I here at St. Alphonsus Parish have a Catholic School.

I went through Catholic school all through eight years of grade school, four years of high school, four years of college and four years of graduate school. So I am a product of Catholic education. As really all of us are because of our families, our homes. Maybe you and I, some of us had the opportunity to go to a Catholic school as such. Maybe we didn’t and we had Faith Formation programs and in turn would nourish that Catholic faith.

So today to celebrate Catholic Schools Week, our Catholic heritage and tradition we have three different speakers. The first one will be Mr. Bob Terry, who is the principal of our parish school. After Mr. Terry finishes then I will introduce our two other guest speakers.

Mr. Robert Terry:

Good morning. A large captive audience is too much to hope for. I did promise I will keep it brief but I could go on a big soap box and talk forever. Catholic schools is really a wonderful thing. And I’ve spent most of my life in Catholic schools. As Father had mentioned, he had his education also.

I have two purposes today. One is that we are trying to track down alumni. We are having a big alumni reunion as part of the 50^th Anniversary of the Parish and that’s going to be next fall, but meanwhile we are trying to track down all of those kids that went to school back in the 60’s, 70’s, early 80’s. We can probably find the ones in the 90’s and the 21^st century. We’re enlisting your help. And I see a number of seniors here. If your children went to school back in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s we’d like to have you either get a hold of us. We have a table outside in the hall out here. If you’re going to ice cream on an ice cool day, out by the CSSR the table has some signups for former students and we are trying to find out where they are, California, Alaska, Mexico, wherever they might be so that we can contact them and let them know that we’re going to have this big reunion. So that’s number one.

Number two: We have our kindergarten information night. We have a wonderful kindergarten program. As a matter of fact we’re a model of the all-day, every-day program. And a lot of people don’t understand that our cost for our kindergarten program are about the same as what the public schools are charging for their all-day program. So we would like to have anybody who is interested in kindergarten to find out, “What’s the difference between a Catholic school all-day program and the public school program?” So if you could come, or you know people who are looking for kindergarten in the next year, or the following year, we’re going to have our big Kindergarten Roundup, kindergarten information night on Tuesday at 6:00.

That completes my part of what we are talking about and I’ll let Father turn it over.

Thank you Mr. Terry. Now those of the school families know Mr. Terry, that was probably one of the shortest talks he’s ever given, right? So I will try to follow suit.

Next we have two young people that would like to talk to us. I don’t know who’s going to go first. So Megan Muehlberg, who is actually an 8^th grader in our parish school is going to come up next. And then Emily Rouse, who is a senior and has been involved in many of our Faith Formation programs and SALT, a very wonderful program for our young people. After Megan finishes then Emily will be on

Megan Muehlberg:

Good morning. My name is Megan Muehlberg and I have been asked to talk to you today about what Catholic education has meant to my life. I have attended St. Alphonsus school since kindergarten. I am now in 8^th grade and this will be my last year here at St. Al’s. This school is small enough where I know almost everyone in all grades. I continue being friends with people who have already graduated from here and I am sure I will have friends from this school for a lifetime. My education at St. Alphonsus has shown me how to lead as well as how to be a good follower. I have learned leadership by taking care of the younger kids during Wednesday Mass. Each year my class has led several Wednesday Masses through liturgy, choir and cantoring. I am now a more confident person in front of people whether I am singing, playing guitar for Mass or speaking. I believe I am a better leader because I need to set good example for the younger kids here at St. Alphonsus. I learned about volunteering at St. Alphonsus. It is required for all middle school students to put two volunteer hours each trimester. The true learning came from how I felt about myself when I helped others. Because I was able to participate as a leader at school I believe my self-esteem and kindness towards others will continue to be good, just as Christ intended for all of us. I have also been influenced at St. Al’s to be a good follower. I am grateful for the chance to learn about Jesus, Mary and the saints, about my Catholic beliefs. The teachers here have given me a first-rate education as well as shown me that they care for me and love me. I am an example of a Catholic education.

Emily Rouse

Good morning. I have been asked to talk to you today about what Catholic education has meant to my life. My name is Emily Rouse and I have been a part of the parish for 17-1/2 years and a part of the St. Alphonsus Leadership Team for the last four. The SALT program has shaped me into the person that I am today because of it’s love, faith and volunteerism. I live in Maple Grove and I make and effort each week to come down here for Mass and SALT on Wednesdays. I do this because I am going to see friends that love and care about me and share a similar faith. It has taught me the incredible feeling of volunteerism and what I can provide for my community. No matter what I am doing it’s making a difference. The education program has helped me to excel in my Confirmation sacrament because I really want to become a Eucharistic Minister during the Mass and be able to serve. It has shown me to be proud and open about my Faith with others and that I can apply it to all aspects of my life. It is great to be able to pray, volunteer and play with the same group of people. I have built a strong relationship with my mentors, friends and God forever through this education program. I am an example of Catholic education.

You know sometimes you hear things on the news and in the newspaper about how our young people today are, don’t seem to be doing many good things with their lives. You come here this morning and you see Megan and Emily and all of our other students here, young people in our parish school and all the other people. Young students have been talking at all the Masses, every Mass this weekend different young people have been talking. And it just makes you feel so proud and so good to see our young people. I mean we have got some of the best in the in the whole crazy country. So thank you. We’ll put our young people up against anybody in the whole wide world. Okay. So that is great.

Last night. Oh I tell you last night was just a super night too. I’m kind of on a high this morning because last night we had our Cana dinner. And we pulled something off last night. It was the first time really we had such a great gathering of so many different cultures and people coming together to celebrate this beautiful sacrament of marriage. And the hall was filled last night. We had bilingual presenters and they spoke in Spanish and in English. There was dancing afterwards. The food was great. You had tables where different people were sitting across from each other that probably had never sat with each other. Maybe they sat here in church but they were on that side, and the others were on that side. It was a coming together and a celebration of the Church Universal. I witnessed it last night. I said, “This is what St. Al’s is about.” You are about this this morning as well. Look around you. What do you see? You see people all different ages. You see people young and old. You see people with different colored skin. You see people of different ethnic origins, different background, educations, everything. And we are all here to celebrate God’s love for each and everyone of us. It’s powerful. It’s beautiful. It’s happening here in St. Alphonsus Parish.

Again last night the guest speakers, who’ve never been here before. In the middle of their talk they stopped and said, “Do you realize what you have here? We’ve been across this archdiocese doing talks on marriage. We’ve never witnessed what we are experiencing here tonight at St. Alphonsus Parish.” It’s powerful. It’s wonderful. And you all are making it happen.

So celebrate, not only Catholic schools, the Catholic heritage and tradition, but we need to celebrate everyday the beautiful gift of who you and I are, right here at little old St. Al’s.