Dear Fabulous Families -

• Don't forget to get your Follies tickets! See the information below and support our awesome 8th graders!

• Registration is now open for our Summer Camp Program. See the information below.

• We encourage families to apply for financial aid through the Archdiocese. Please use this link for information and to apply. If you have received financial aid in prior years, you can use the same link to re-apply. Financial Aid Link

• There are always lots of items to go in the school newsletter throughout the year. Please send in submissions by noon on Monday before the Wednesday publication. Graphics should be a jpeg or png - not a PDF.

Peace and Joy -

Tonya McEnery

Principal

St. Gabriel the Archangel

Dan Winkeler

Assistant Principal

St. Gabriel the Archangel

The registration fee is $100 per child. The registration fee will increase to $150 per child after March 27.

Parent will need to log into TeacherEase to find this.

If you are a current family with an incoming student, you must pre-register that student and wait for approval before registering your current student(s).

Please note the requirements for admission to an elementary school from the Archdiocese:

Requirements for Admission (4102.1)

Catholic schools are unique expressions of the Church’s effort to achieve the purposes of Catholic education among the young. Academic excellence and a disciplined formation will always be the desired goals of the Catholic school. Central to the school, however, is the understanding of the Catholic tradition and growth in faith. Parents wishing to enroll their children in a Catholic school must understand and agree to the purposes of Catholic schools.

Admission to a Catholic elementary school at any point of entry is contingent upon:

1. the family’s desire for this special kind of school where Catholic teaching and moral formation are an integral part of the school; (Non-Catholic families must give the same assurance that they understand the religious requirements and expectations of attending a Catholic school). Evidence of any family’s desire to be a part of this type of school includes:

a. participation in the spiritual and social life of the parish or religious congregation;

b. support of the concepts upheld in the Witness Statement

c. agreement to follow the policies and procedures of the school;

d. willingness to cooperate with the teachers and administration in the moral, psychological, emotional, spiritual, and academic development of their children.

2. the child’s fulfillment of the age requirements listed below:

a. for admission to kindergarten, the child should be five years of age before August 1;

b. for admission to first grade, the child should be six years of age before August 1.

On behalf of the American Heart Association and Mrs. Morris, thank you very much for your generous donation of $29,281 for the 2023 Kids Heart Challenge event. This is St. Gabriel’s second best year ever! Your efforts make a tremendous impact and help millions of Americans through increased awareness of cardiovascular disease, lifesaving scientific research, and critically needed education efforts. We greatly appreciate your participation and hope you take pride in knowing your contributions will help save lives.

The summer program registration is currently open to all St. Gabriel School families. Please read through all the information at the beginning of the form before selecting the days/weeks you are signing up for. Registration will remain open through the end of March at which time I will evaluate signups to determine what weeks are still available and what is full. Sign ups are taken on a first come first serve basis and we have a max of 50 kids each week. If you have signed up and we have reached over our maximum, I will contact you and let you know as soon as possible.

There is a $50 registration fee per family due at the time of registration. This is a non-refundable fee. All other payments will be due 2 weeks prior to the week your children are attending camp. Below is the google link to registration and a faith direct link to pay the registration fee. You may also pay the fee by check payable to St. Gabriel and send to the school office in a marked envelope "Summer Program". All this information can also be found on the school website.

Registration - https://forms.gle/v1UasVmdmnD7g3CL7

Registration Fee Payment - https://forms.ministryforms.net/viewForm.aspx?formId=e77ea66d-32e2-4455-b7c9-07857fff149c

Save The Date! Totus Tuus will return to St Gabriel’s this summer during the week of June 26-30. The day program is for school aged children entering grades 1st-6th from 9 am - 3 pm in the school. There is also an evening program for those entering 7th-12th grade at 7:30 pm in the Gabriel House.

For those who are unfamiliar with Totus Tuus, it is initially a Catholic version of a VBS led by missionary and seminarians from across Missouri. Totus Tuus includes Confessions, Mass, and Adoration as well as learning about the Catholic faith!

This is also an opportunity for high school students to volunteer who are in need of completing service hours.

Please stay tuned for further information and registration! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Faith Kremer at vfaithkremer@gmail.com

TICKETS ARE STILL AVAILABLE!

Don't miss out on the chance to see your favorite 8th grader(s) on stage in our very own gym!

Saturday, February 25, 2023

Doors Open at 6:30pm | Show Starts at 7:00pm

General Admission Tickets are $10 each

Click Here to Purchase Follies Tickets

The 8th Grade Class of 2023 is selling delicious, frozen, St. Louis Style, 12" pizzas from St. Louis City Pizza, AND an 8th grader will deliver to your door!

* 11 kinds of pizza to choose from!

* Orders must be placed by Wednesday, March 8th.

* Deliveries should be made the week of March 20th.

* For more information and to order use the link or QR Code.

Thank you for supporting the 8th Grade Class of 2023!

Click Here for Pizza Order Link

We have added Wednesday to the list of opportunities to volunteer for recess duty.

In doing so, you will provide opportunities for teachers to take a much needed break. Each session will start with picking up the kids in the cafeteria at 10:50 and will conclude at 12:35. Thank you for donating your time to help our fabulous teachers and staff! There will be 2 teachers and 2 volunteers at each recess.

Protecting God's Children and Safe Environment Training must be complete.

Feel free to bring activities to mix up the fun for the kids:)

School Community: Recess Duty (signupgenius.com)

Contact Mrs. Roell if you have questions: mollyroell@me.com

We are looking for interested candidates to consider running for the St. Gabriel Board of Education and would love to have those interested come to one of two informational sessions to find out more! If you can not make the dates and times above or if you have more questions please reach out to:

Kristen Favazza (board member) at: KFavazza@gmail.com

Or
Margaret Lake (board member) at: Margoh28@sbcglobal.net

Here is the link to sign up to be a lunch volunteer for the third trimester Volunteer sign-up

Dear Parents,

Lent can be such a holy time. It is a time to reflect and change some of the things we would like to work on. The actions on which we focus are-pray, fast, and give alms. I love the litany prayer service on Fasting and Feasting. Here are a few lines and a link:

To fast from judging others and feast on what makes them special, Lord help us.

To fast from unkind words and feast on kindness, Lord help us.

To fast from jealousy and feast on offering compliments, Lord help us.

To fast from getting angry and feast on being patient, Lord help us.

https://www.catechist.com/fasting-feasting-prayer-service-lent/

CRS Rice Bowls are being sent home today. Here is a link that explains the program and has additional resources:

https://www.crsricebowl.org/about

Tuesday Masses

2/28 3P

3/7 4M

3/21 4S

3/28 3H

Wednesday Masses

3/1 5K

3/8 7M

3/22 7D

3/29 7A

Thursday Masses

2/23 2G

3/2 2A

3/9 1M

3/23 Patrick House

3/30 1K

Come pray with us. Please join us whenever you are able! Masses are at 8:00 am in church.

Sacrament Days for 2022-2023 School Year:

8th Grade

Confirmation Retreat Day- April 18th

Confirmation-April 20, 2023 at 7:00 pm

2nd Grade

First Communion Parent Meeting- March 30 at 6:30 pm in church

First Communion-May 7, 2023 at 2:00 pm

Peace and blessings!

Deborah DaLay

Coordinator of Religious Education

Dates below are subject to change and additional days will be added as we continue to plan for the upcoming year.

February 25 - Follies

February 26- Archdiocesan Band Festival (Concert Band)

March 10- Planning and Collaboration- NOON DISMISSAL

March 13-17- Spring break- NO SCHOOL

March 25- Auction

March 30 - First Communion Parent Meeting, 6:30 pm, Church

April 6- Holy Thursday- NO SCHOOL

April 7- Good Friday- NO SCHOOL

April 10- Easter Monday- NO SCHOOL

April 18- 8th Grade Confirmation Day of Reflection

April 20- Confirmation 7pm at SGA

April 21 - 8th Grade Off School Due to Confirmation

April 21- Planning and Collaboration- NOON DISMISSAL

May 7- First Communion, 2:00 pm, Church

May 8- 2nd grade Off School Due to Confirmation

May 9- Vocal concert (Kindergarten, 1st, 3rd, 5th grades, and Honor Choir), Art Show

May 10- Band concert, Art Show

May 12- Field Day- NOON DISMISSAL

May 23- 8th Grade Graduation (6:00pm)

May 26- Last day of school- NOON DISMISSAL

SGYG is open to all high school teens. We meet on Wednesday evenings from 7:30-9pm (Doors Open at 7:15pm) in the Gabriel House Chapel. No sign-up necessary! High schoolers can attend on a regular basis or drop-in as it fits their schedule!

SGYG & 8th Grade led Silhouette Stations of the Cross: April 5th

*We are in need of 5 more teens to help lead Stations. Please contact Sarah if you're interested.

LUKE 18 | 8th Grade Retreat: May 5th - 7th

*Registration is OPEN! - Current 8th graders need to use the QR Code in the flyer or visit the parish website. Current High Schoolers who want to prepare and lead the retreat need to contact Sarah.

Steubenville STL Mid-America 2023: July 7th - 9th

*Registration is closed, but extra spots were purchased and are available on a first-come basis. Contact Sarah asap if you want to claim one of these spots!

Stay Connected with SGYG

Follow us on Instagram @stgabesyg

Like our Facebook Group: St. Gabriel Youth Group (SGYG)

Join the Flocknote Group: Youth Ministry

Visit the Youth Group page on the parish website

Contact our Youth Minister: Sarah Henderson - hendersons@stgabrielstl.org

Dear Parishioners:

Lent is a season of hope. With ashes on our foreheads and hope in our hearts, we go forth to love and serve in His strength and with His love. For by God's grace in Christ Jesus, we do not have to stay the way we are. God loves us just the way we are, but He loves us too much to let us stay that way. Lent is a time set apart, a holy time, to allow God to have His way with us in a deliberate, focused way so that we may indeed step forth, ready to live, love, and serve in His Holy Name. Ash Wednesday opens the door to the 40-day season of Lent, a process of preparation for Holy Week.

Lent, which comes from the Germanic word for “springtime,” can be viewed as a spiritual spring cleaning: a time for taking a spiritual inventory then cleaning out those things which hinder our relationship with Jesus Christ and our love and service with Him. Lent is really a time of revival in liturgical churches as God's people prepare to celebrate the Resurrection with depth and significance.

Our Lenten disciplines are to ultimately transform our entire person: body, soul, and spirit and help us become more like Christ, not in our own power, but in His. Eastern Christians call this process theosis which Saint Athanasius describes as “becoming by grace what God is by nature.

The Lenten practices, of prayer, fasting, and giving provide us with concrete examples of how to more closely connect our lives with our Lord. Obviously, Lent is NOT the only time we can practice these spiritual disciplines; we should indeed be practicing them all year long. This Lent presents us the opportunity to do a “deep cleaning,” to focus more fully and completely on weak areas of our spiritual walk. Lent is a season that reminds us to repent and ask God to re-center our lives around Him, with our priorities straight and our hearts forgiven and cleansed. Yes, we should do so each day of the year. But sin is an insidious thing, slipping in here, taking a little ground there, and, wrapped up in our busy lives, we often do not notice the darkness creeping further and further into our souls.

Ash Wednesday and Lent provide us with a time set apart to present ourselves before God, asking His help and guidance in doing a “spiritual spring cleaning,” a fresh chance to say “Yes” to the Lover of our Souls who created us, who made us in His own image. Lent is the time for a restoration project that will reveal the beauty of God's design for us. As we begin this Lent let our prayers ask God to reveal to us where He wants to work on our hearts during this Season of Lent.

Lastly, let us pray this Lent, in a special way, for those women and men, both here at St Gabriel and throughout our Church, preparing to enter the Catholic Faith this Easter. Today they meet with others seeking to join the Church at the Cathedral Basilica with the Archbishop, in the Rite of Election. Let us keep in our prayers.

Lenten Blessings!

Msgr. John Shamleffer

7th Grade Shadow Visits will begin in March. We have dates available that students can register for. All visits are for a half day and include lunch.

Movie Night is on March 3rd. DB will host its first Movie Night for Middle School Students. Doors open at 6:00pm and event ends at 9:30pm.

Mouse Races is on March 4th for parents. Great way for parents to have fun and meet DB parents.

Summer Camp registration is now open.