St. Mary Catholic Schools News

• Student Leadership at SMCHS
• Celebrating Athletic Excellence
• Scrip News
  
• Advent and Christmas at SMCS

Student leaders at St. Mary Catholic High School are working together to create a positive culture in their community! Check it out in this week's High Five Friday!

Join us as we celebrate a history of athletic excellence at St. Mary Catholic Schools!

On Thursday, November 17 we will unveil the top ten girls basketball scorers. On Tuesday, November 29, we will do the same for the boys scoring leaders. Unveilings will take place during halftime of the varsity games.

All alumni attending these games will receive free admission!

The leaderboard was purchased and made possible by friends of Steve Larson.

Winter Sports Schedule: Be sure to bookmark the Big East Calendar to keep track of all of the winter sports excitement at SMCS!

Calling All Dads! Zephyr Dads is a place for all dads connected to the SMCS system to connect to each other. We have Dads with alumni all the way down to Dads with preschoolers! Learn more about Zephyr Dads here, and make plans to join them at an upcoming event.

It's the most wonderful time of year to get more bang for your buck when you shop with Scrip! Raise Days run November 17 and 18 and include extra bonuses on more than 150 gift card options. Purchase these gift cards to do your own holiday shopping, or to gift to friends and family!

In addition to Raise Days, a couple of local businesses are in the spotlight for extra Scrip rebates! Kwik Trip cards purchased through the end of the year have a 10% rebate and Broken Tree Pizza in Neenah has an increased rebate of 15%!

Want to learn more about Scrip? Click here.

If you're going to be doing any Christmas shopping on Amazon, you can give the gift of your support to St. Mary Catholic Schools by using Amazon Smile! Simply start your shopping at smile.amazon.com and select St. Mary Catholic Schools Neenah as your charitable organization! Amazon will donate .5% of eligible purchases to St. Mary Catholic Schools whenever you shop!

Scheduling reminder: all St. Mary Catholic Schools campuses will be closed Thanksgiving week. Enjoy the holiday!

The Advent season is right around the corner. In partnership with the Catholic Parishes of Neenah and Menasha, we are working on a schedule of concerts, masses, and special events your family may enjoy as you prepare your hearts for Christmas.

Look for more details on our website next week!

A message from Steve Pable, Director of Adult Discipleship Formation Catholic Parishes of Neenah & Menasha. Learn more about Steve's role here.

In the sanctuary of Christ the King Parish in Nashville, there hangs an enormous crucifix with a unique feature. Suspended several feet above Jesus is a gigantic crown.

As Catholics, we see the cross so frequently that it has lost its shock value. But seeing the crucified Jesus juxtaposed with a majestic crown overhead shows the scandal of the cross. It’s a jarring visual illustration of the paradox of this day. How do we come to worship the One Who we treated so cruelly? How do we draw our strength from the One Who became weak for our sake?

We should be startled by our faith. We should be troubled by the implications of the Gospel. When we place ourselves up there on the cross next to Jesus, in the role of the Good Thief, our own frailty and failing come into sharper focus. We deserve the sentence, and yet Jesus pays the price. What king would do that for His subjects? No ruler of this world, that’s for sure!

If we think Christianity is just for the crown, we are missing the path to get there. That path, as Jesus and all the saints have shown, goes only by way of the Cross. As Advent approaches, how will I serve others and make my own sacrifices to follow my King?

©Steve Pable, Director of Adult Discipleship Formation