Take Home Tuesday

The window to take the Panorama Spring Family Survey is now open (closes Friday, April 14). Please click on the link, choose our school, and complete the questions for your family. You only have to take this survey one time, regardless of how many children you have enrolled at St. Cecilia.

Please expect 33 questions that fall under three themes: Communicating with the School, Perceptions of Child, and School Environment. There are then five additional background questions at the end. There is one question that asks what grade your child is in and you are allowed to only choose one. Families with more than one child enrolled, please choose one grade level.

We utilize the Panorama survey data to check on the progress of our social-emotional learning (SEL) goals. Students have their own surveys, which they complete in the classroom, along with teachers and staff. By providing this information, we can continue to prioritize educating the whole child here at St. Cecilia.

Each family who completes the survey earns an out of uniform day for all of your children. This out of uniform day will be on Monday, April 17th.

Here is a reminder of our Panorama Fall Student results from the Fall of 2022. As you can see, we established our "needs improvement" areas and action steps to help improve in those areas. We are excited to see our students' and families' feedback this Spring.

We are in the final stretch of our Lenten season and that means there are some pretty big moments coming up. As a community who welcomes all, Catholics and non-Catholics, here is some insight into these big moments:

"This is the day we remember Judas betraying Jesus, telling the high priest when Jesus would be in a place where he could be more conveniently arrested, in exchange for thirty pieces of silver. it's traditionally called Spy Wednesday because of Judas' sneakiness" (Tierney, 2018).

As a family, this would be the time to read the parts of the Gospels that tell this part of the story:

Matthew 26:14-16

Luke 22:3-6

This is an opportunity talk about how dangerous greed can be and how it can be easy to make bad decisions when money and power are involved. Judas knew Jesus, was a devout follower for three years, and had seen him perform countless miracles. It can be tempting to write Judas' off as a bad guy but he was close to Jesus. "When Luke says about Judas that 'Satan entered him,' this shouldn't be understood to be something that happened to Judas passively. Satan is able to enter a person only if the person opens himself up to Satan in some way. Judas had been thinking about betraying Jesus. When he finally made his decision, at that point he was resolved that he would do this evil thing: betray his friend and turn over a man he knew to be innocent to be tried and punished. That is when he gave Satan permission to enter his soul" (Tierney, 2018).

"The evening of Holy Thursday begins the Triduum (pronounced trij-oo-um) and when we focus on the Last Supper, when Jesus observed the Jewish feast of Passover with his apostles, washed their feet, and instituted the Eucharist and the sacramental priesthood. On this night Jesus said to his followers, 'A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another' (John 13:34). This verse is the reason Holy Thursday is also called Maundy Thursday; the word 'maundy' comes from the Latin word mandatum, which means 'commandment.' Sadly, on the very night that Jesus tells his followers to imitate his love for them, Judas betrays him and Peter denies him three times.

Following the Holy Thursday Mass, the Blessed Sacrament is removed from the tabernacle in the Church, which is left open and empty. The Blessed Sacrament, in a temporary tabernacle or a pyx, is placed on an Altar of Repose in a different location in the Church, or adjacent chapel, or another room on the parish grounds. Afterward people can pray before the Blessed Sacrament until late at night, in imitation of the apostles who were with the Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane" (Tierney, 2018, p 195).

One fun tradition for your family to try is the Seven Churches Visitation. You can work together as a family to put together a map of seven Churches you want to visit that are close together, pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament, and participate in any of those parishes' special Lenten events. Miss Jen loves visiting St. Peter, Immaculate Conception, St. Cecilia, St. Joan of Arc, Christ the King, and St. Gerald. Please visit websites to check Adoration hours.

"Good Friday is meant to be a solemn and somber day. It is also a day of fasting and abstinence from meat. How much of Jesus' suffering and death to share with little ones is a question many parents struggle with. It can be overwhelming to feel as if you have to introduce so many facts and concepts and characters all at once, especially if your kids are perhaps more concerned with how close they are to getting to eat treats again than with the details of Jesus' Passion. Reading about the Passion from the Gospels will give you different accounts of the event but if you read from the Children's Bible, it will more likely be age-appropriate" (Tierney, 2018).

One family activity could be honoring the time from 12:00 - 3:00 PM, the time when Jesus was on the cross, by engaging in silence and silent activities. If you have older kids, have them put their cell phones, iPads, or other electronics on the kitchen counter (you included)! No TV or music. You could visit your closest parish or stay home and pray the Rosary. Check with your Church to see if they are offering Stations of the Cross during this time.

"Holy Saturday is our Church's day of great silence. No bells, no sacraments. Holy Saturday is a day of preparation and longing. On the first Holy Saturday, Jesus' body rested in the tomb. His apostles were lost, confused, heartbroken, and could do nothing much about it because it was the Sabbath. Except for Mary. We know that Mary understood Jesus' mission and plan in a way that no one else among his followers did.

Good Friday and Holy Saturday are the ONLY two days of the whole year when it's forbidden to celebrate marriages and baptisms except in the danger of death. We don't even celebrate the Mass or consecrate the Eucharist. The waiting is almost over" (p 206-207).

THANK YOU to all of you for the support you provided for making the playground a reality. The playground equipment by itself (not including the rubber grounding) cost approximately $76,000 and we raised that money in THREE MONTHS!

I remember when we started to plan this project and I was told by a few individuals that I should lower my expectations as this could take 3-5 years to raise this kind of money. I remember exactly who was in the room with me when it was said as I smiled back and said "we'll see." I had no doubt in my mind that we could raise the funds at Comedy & Cuisine 2022. And we did!

Thank you to last year's chairs: Candice & Trevor Towey, Molly & Eric Neuman, and Maura & Joe Neideree. They helped push the vision and motivate our community around this project. Thank you to Quinn Kulik and Joe Kramer for being the voices for our school to get the equipment installed this school year. Thank you to our parents, grandparents, and donors who dug deep to bring this playground to our kids. It's a pretty special thing when we all come together for a common cause.

We are currently hiring for the following positions:

• Middle School (Grades 6-8) CTE Teacher (CTE stands for Career & Technical Education)
• PK-8 PE Teacher
• 5th Grade Teacher
• Cafeteria Manager

Email: jpick@stcecilia.net
Website: https://www.stcecilia.net/
Location: 3869 Webster Street, Omaha, NE, USA
Phone: 402-556-6655
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StCeciliaSchoolOmaha
Twitter: @StCeciliaOMA