St. Jerome School Weekly Newsletter
March 16th, 2022
“The ultimate goal of fasting is to help each one of us to make a complete gift of self to God."
Pope Benedict XVI
From Mr. Merrick
Dear St. Jerome Families,
I hope that you are all enjoying the longer days and weather we have had this week! On Monday, Fr. Reilly, Mrs. Carolan, and I visited Sister Lisa and the students and teachers of St. Lucy at their current location. We were inspired by the joy and excitement that they all had for relocating to our parish. The next step is that Sister Lisa will visit to meet our students and teachers, and then she and I will be meeting to work on logistics. I will continue to keep you informed along the way.
We are now into the third trimester and approaching spring. Please help us at home by encouraging your child to do his or her best, be kind, be prepared, and complete their assignments. We want all of our students to finish the year strong and be ready for their next grade. Working together, we can provide the very best school experience as we continue with the last third of the year and approach summer.
Students may wear a green shirt in place of their uniform shirts (appropriate for school) and green socks on Thursday for St. Patrick's Day.
Please save the date for two upcoming Home and School Events; please note that the Father/Daughter is in May and not in April:
- Spring Family Bingo: Friday, April 22nd 6:30 PM-8:30 PM
- Father/Daughter Dance: Saturday, May 14th 6:00 PM-9:00 PM
More event and RSVP information will be sent home as we get closer.
For Read Across America Week, our students participated in a "Design a Bookmark Contest." The winning entry in each class was copied, laminated, and will be distributed to the entire class. Congratulations to: Giuseppe Giannetti, Jude McDaniels, Ian Clark, Jake Profka, Lorenzo Pavese, Lucas Santiago, Anthony O’Brien, Destenee Fallas-Espinoza, Lucas Brescia, Logan Rivera, Brendan Vena, Teaghan Adams, Chidera Odor, Alex Vena, & Daniel Silva. Thank you to Mrs. Carolan for coordinating and her work in producing the copies of the bookmarks. She and I were able to present the bookmarks and prizes to the 1st-8th graders today; we will be around to Pre-K3, Pre-K4, and Kindergarten tomorrow morning.
We also wish to recognize the winners of our Read Across America Hat Counting Contest in the Blessed Mother Building: Grades 1-3: Vincent Johnson (2nd) with a guess of 220. There are 223 hats. Grades 4-8: Amelia Brown (5th) with a guess of 143. There are 143 hats.
Thank you to our Home and School Association for providing our 7th graders with their Confirmation Lunch last Thursday.
This Saturday, March 19th, is the Feast of St. Joseph. Please join us in praying in a special way for the living and deceased Sisters of St. Joseph who taught in our school for many year and have left a legacy of faith and service. Let us join in their mission as we use our gifts to do all we can to meet the unmet physical and spiritual needs of others.
Also, we are having an open house for prospective families on Sunday from 11:00 AM-1:00 PM. Please invite family, friends, and neighbors who may be interested in learning more about our school.
Please join us for Winchester Wednesday this evening from 4:00 PM-8:00 PM.
This coming Tuesday, there is no school for our annual faculty retreat.
Have a great rest of the week; St. Jerome, pray for us!
Protecting God's Children Lessons
In the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, Article 12 calls for all dioceses to establish "safe environment" programs at all grade levels. This ongoing education is presented to the students in the parish and regional elementary schools of the Archdiocese as well as in the Parish Religious Education Programs (PREP or CCD) two times during the instructional year. This is a mandated obligation from the Archdiocese with the two lessons provided for our teachers.
The lessons are available for you to review by visiting http://www.aopcatholicschools.org/about/programs and clicking on Safe Environment.
St. Jerome School will conduct these lessons on Tuesday, March 29th. If you choose to have your child removed from the lesson, please return the form (sent home in the Wednesday folder as well as posted below) by Friday, March 25th. You only need to return the form if you opt your child(ren) out.
Disciple Maker Index Survey
The link will be on our Facebook page, Instagram, and the church website beginning March 2nd. All responses are confidential and the parish will only receive information about the community as whole. We will share the link with you a bit closer to the launch of the survey.
We are trying to get the highest response rate possible. This information will be invaluable to Fr. Reilly and our various ministries as we plan for the future and strive to be the best disciples we can be. We will receive the results this spring/summer at which time we will share what we have learned with the entire parish.
If you prefer a paper copy you may pick up a paper copy of the survey in the parish office on or after March 2nd. Printable version of the survey will also be available to print from the church website when the survey opens. To submit the completed paper survey, please drop it off at the rectory or in the basket at church.
Thank you for helping with this important project!