To Teach as Jesus Did:

Catholic Education in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee

April 2012

Catholic Schools: “Bringing Lent to Life 2012”

The season of Lent 2012 has been a serious time to focus on prayer, self-sacrifice, and charity within the 119 Catholic elementary and secondary schools of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.   All our Catholic school communities have intensely tried to grow in relationship to God, each other, and the Church since Ash Wednesday and are currently engaged in any number of special Holy Week commemorations and events.

Some of the special practices, activities, and themes for Lent 2012 in our Catholic schools have included the following:

• Living Stations of the Cross performed by students in many school and parish communities, including St. Roman School, Milwaukee, Shepherd of the Hills School, Eden, St. Mary Visitation School, Elm Grove, and St. Joseph School, Wauwatosa.

• Classroom doors decorated with a spiritual or corporal work of mercy at Mary Queen of Saints School, West Allis.

• A Lenten prison ministry project at St. Francis Borgia School, Cedarburg, based on the theme, “I was in prison, and you visited me.”

• The depiction of a caterpillar’s transformation into a butterfly with wings constructed from students’ good deeds and Lenten sacrifices at St. Gregory the Great School, Milwaukee.

• Service projects that included outreach to the Angkor Children’s Hospital in Cambodia at St. John the Baptist School, Plymouth, fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma “Pennies for Patients” Society by St. Peter School, East Troy, and collecting money to purchase solar lanterns for La Sagrada Familia in the Dominican Republic by St. Rafael School, Milwaukee.

• A “Crown of Thorns” made from toothpicks at St. Mary’s School at Blessed Trinity Parish, Sheboygan Falls.  Students removed a “thorn” when they had done an act of kindness for someone else and placed it on a tray next to the crown.

• Dramatization of various Scripture stories by sixth-graders at St. Rita School, Racine.

• Illustrations of  the Stations of the Cross digitalized in an ePub book by second graders at Lumen Christi School, Mequon.

• Liturgical ministry involvement on four nationally televised “Heart of the Nation” Masses for Palm Sunday and the Easter season by Pius XI High School choirs, students, and parents.

• “Given up” chatter at the beginning of the school day by students at St. Anthony on the Lake School, Pewaukee.  Students entered in silence and remained silent until the first bell, creatively communicating without words or sounds.  Similarly, students at St. Paul School, Genesee Depot, sacrificed five minutes of their social time at lunch to listen to sacred music and reflect on the things for which they are grateful.

• Weekly school-wide activities related to the upcoming Sunday’s Scripture readings at Our Lady Queen of Peace School, Milwaukee.

Finally, St. Jude School, Wauwatosa, chose “Bring Lent to Life” as its Lenten theme for 2012, a theme that beautifully describes the Lenten initiatives of all our schools this year.   As we now prepare for the Triduum in our parish communities, we give thanks for all the ways in which we’ve been inspired, enriched, and transformed by our Catholic educational ministry this Lent.

A blessed and joyous Easter season to all!

Kathleen A. Cepelka, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Catholic Schools