Crusader Chronicle

I have found Holy Week to be a unique and moving experience for many years. The week has an arc to it, from the joy of welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the power of the Last Supper to the sadness of Jesus' crucifixion on Good Friday and the emptiness of Holy Saturday as Jesus is in the tomb. We are given this opportunity once a year to experience what the Apostles experienced, and the Church offers the liturgies and the traditions that bring us closer to Jesus in ways that we do not experience at other times of the year.

We begin with Palm Sunday, when we hold palms to remind us of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, the shouts of "Hosanna to the Son of David!" that Jesus heard, and the reading of the story of Jesus' suffering and death, a re-telling in which we are participants as we read certain parts of the story as a congregation.

We continue with Holy Thursday, as we remember the night Jesus instituted the Eucharist, reenact the washing of the feet of the Apostles, and remember Jesus' Agony in the Garden. After the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper, the congregation processes to another location with the Eucharist as we recall Jesus' journey to the Garden of Gethsemane, and we pray as we stay with Jesus at this "Altar of Repose" and join Him in His Agony in the Garden.

Good Friday is the only day of the liturgical year on which we do not celebrate Mass, although you can also say that Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil are one continuous Mass. On Good Friday, our churches and altars are stripped bare, the tabernacle doors are left open, and the vigil lamp is extinguished. When we go to the church building to pray or to join in the afternoon service on Good Friday, as we survey the emptiness of the interior atmosphere and see that the tabernacle is empty, we should experience something of the heartache and emptiness that the Apostles must have felt after Jesus was taken away and imprisoned. The Good Friday Service is unique as well, with the veneration of the cross and the special general intercessions that are prayed only on Good Friday.

Holy Saturday gives us the opportunity to reflect on what the Apostles felt when they knew Jesus had been laid in the tomb. The sorrow and emptiness of Good Friday are amplified as the reality of Jesus' death and burial are cemented in the hearts of the Apostles. Once again, the Apostles are faced with the uncertainty and the pain of the loss of Jesus.

As we complete this year's Lenten journey, may we take the time to reflect, to mourn, and to try to understand what the Apostles experienced in those final days. Let us remember the power of the Eucharist, Jesus' agony in the garden, Jesus' suffering and death on the cross, and the fear and emptiness the Apostles felt when Jesus was taken from them. Although we know what the Apostles did not know at that time - the glory of the Resurrection that came after Good Friday and Holy Saturday - may we also know as fully as we are able what Jesus suffered for all of us during this Holy Week.

Thank you to the Passion Play Cast and Crew for an inspiring performance of this year's Passion Play. This was a wonderful event for our Lenten preparation for the celebration of Easter.

Special thanks to Mrs. Shinkle and Mrs. LaMorte, who once again served as director and co-director for the Passion Play. Thank you to Matt Badman, who served as music director, and to the other St. Ignatius alumni who helped with many aspects of this year's production. Thank you to Mr. Perini, who gave so much time to coordinating the sound and lighting for the performance. Thank you as well to the many St. Ignatius parent volunteers who helped with feeding the cast and crew, chaperoning the rehearsals, making costumes, setting up the stage, and countless other tasks to make the Passion Play a success.

Congratulations to our 5th and 6th Grade Reading Olympics Team, which came in second place on March 29 in this year's Reading Olympics Competition! Thank you to Mrs. Hastings and Mrs. Gray for helping to prepare our students for the competition.

Thank you to all our students and families for their generosity this past Thursday, March 30th. The total of our donations for the Opening Day Dress Down was $1000! We will be donating that money to Our Mother of Consolation School in Chestnut Hill as they recover from the devastating fire that destroyed their school.

Thank you for contributing to this year's Rice Bowl campaign for Catholic Relief Services. If you did not bring your contribution to Mass this weekend, you can bring it to Mass on Easter Sunday, or you can bring it to school.

Be prepared for your classes by purchasing supplies from the School Store. The School Store has replenished supplies and has folders, notebooks, copybooks, colored pencils, red and blue pens, pencils, and erasers. Supplies range in price from 10 cents to 2 dollars. 6th Grade Honors Math runs this endeavor to learn about managing a business, from setting prices to inventory control to accounting for profit. Support the School Store!

The current Student Handbook states that "Apple/Smart Watches, iPods, watchband electronic games, and other items that may be distracting or disruptive to the learning environment are not permitted in school." We have noted over the last few months that a number of students are wearing Apple or other smart watches at school. Please be sure that your children are not bringing Apple or other smart watches to school, just as we tell our students who have cell phones to keep their phones in their backpacks. We thank you for your support and cooperation.

As we have published over the last few weeks, Fr. Brownholtz gave us two Pastor's Holidays this year. We enjoyed one holiday on March 13, so this is just a reminder that Tuesday, April 11, which is the Tuesday after Easter, will also be a Pastor's Holiday. There will be no school on April 11.

Thank you again to Fr. Brownholtz for giving us Pastor's Holidays this year!

Our Family Directory is complete! Thank you for updating your information. You can view and print a copy of the Family Directory by clicking on the file below.

Thank you to all the families who have already participated in our SchoolStore fundraiser!

Many of our teachers have received generous gift certificates from their students. If your family has not registered, there is still time, prizes are still available. Click the link below if you want to participate:

https://www.schoolstore.net/cgi/SetSchool?secheck=1&SchoolID=0000120009

Thank you for following the procedures for car drop off and car pick up.

If you need to pick up your son or daughter prior to regular dismissal time, please be sure to pick up no later than 2:15 pm, in order to keep all of our dismissals flowing smoothly.

Car drop off begins at 8 am. If you do not see a school staff member in the drop off area, please do not drop off your child or children and leave them outside the doors under the blue canopy; please wait until a staff member comes out and opens the doors.

For car drop off, please stay in the drop off line and do not drive around the car in front of you. Wait until the car in front of you pulls forward before you pull forward.

For car drop off, please do your best to make sure your child is ready to exit the car when you pull up and stop. Especially if you are the first car in line, please drive away once your child is out of the car and your car door is closed. This will help with the flow of traffic in the car drop off line.

For car pick up, please wait until the school staff member gives the signal for your line of cars to pull out and drive out of the parking lot before starting to drive away.

For Pre-K drop off and pick up, please follow the procedures, leaving the lanes with cones at the ends empty for parents to drive out once they have walked their Pre-K students to the Pre-K building. Please take extra care as you are driving, parking, and leaving after Pre-K drop off and pick up.

If you have someone dropping off or picking up your child that has not dropped off or picked up at St. Ignatius before, please inform them of the procedures so that there will be no issues.

Home and School Weekly Update:

The Home and School Association is thankful for all the parent support for all our recent events. Please mark your calendars for our upcoming events!

Volunteer Clearances

As a friendly reminder, any parent or guardian who would like to volunteer at our school and church events, MUST have up-to-date clearances on file with Jayne Marcinowski, the Safe Environment Coordinator, at the church rectory. She can be reached at hr@stignatius.church. The following link will take you to the Church Safe Environment website where you can follow instructions to obtain clearances.

http://www.stignatius.church/safe.html#more

SCHOOL WEBSITE

Please remember to utilize our school website St Ignatius of Antioch School - Yardley, PA (sischool.org) for finding pertinent information. Here you can find individual class pages, as well as information on uniforms, school policies, school handbook, forms, etc. On the parents' page you will also find a link for our Home and School section. We will list our events on the H and S calendar, as well as links to all sign-up forms. You can navigate there directly at Home & School - St Ignatius of Antioch School - Yardley, PA (sischool.org)

The Home and School Association would like to extend our sincere congratulations to all of our school children and adult volunteers who worked so hard to put on this year's Passion Play! It was such a wonderful show, and we are so happy to see this tradition continue. Thank you for your hard work and dedication in making this year's show a success!

FATHER DAUGHTER DANCE - APRIL 15th

Join us for a blazing good time at our Father Daughter Dance on April 15th from 6 PM to 9 PM in the Church Auditorium. We will be serving pizza and treats, including S'mores! Get ready for a night like never before. Time to party like it's hot! Sign-ups and additional information are available here: Father Daughter Dance 2023 (google.com)

FATHER DAUGHTER DANCE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED - APRIL 15th

We are in need of some parents to help set up for the dance, and also some parents to assist on the night of the event. If you are able and willing to donate any of your time, please sign up here:

SIS Parent Volunteers: St. Ignatius School Father Daughter Dance (signupgenius.com)

LUNCH DUTY - WE ARE STILL IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE!

Parents, we are in need of at least 4 parents each day to cover both inside and outside recess duty. We've been relying on volunteers to fill these slots and are very grateful to the parents who have continued to volunteer their time month over month. However, at this time, we have seen that there is simply not enough volunteer coverage each day. Some days we have only 1 parent, and on some days, none at all! We implore you to check the Sign-Up Genius and donate even just one day (11:40 AM through 12:30 PM) for the months of March and April. As we have been unable to secure enough volunteers through this method, we are considering an alternative model for covering lunch duty for the subsequent school year.

SIS parents: Lunch/recess duty March, April (signupgenius.com)

CRUSADER WALK - MAY 5th

This year's Crusader Walk will be here before we know it! We are looking for business sponsorships. If you or anyone you know owns a business and would like to sponsor our Crusader Walk, please reach out to:

Helene Crozier: hcrozier@sischool.org

Jackie Kush: jkkush@hotmail.com

Giulia Monaco: giuliamonaco@hotmail.com

Mother/Son Night at Trenton Thunder June 10th - SAVE THE DATE

Tuesday, April 4, is our next Class Mass. Grade 3A will be joining the St. Ignatius parishioners at 9:00 Mass.

Thursday, April 6, through Tuesday, April 11, are the dates for this year's Easter break. Please remember to spend time in prayer by attending the Holy Thursday Mass, Good Friday Service, and, of course, Easter Sunday Mass.

Tuesday, April 11, has been added to Easter break as an additional day off school. There will be no school on April 11.

Thursday, April 13, is the Competition Night for our Grade 7 and 8 Reading Olympics Team. That competition will take place at Unami Middle School in Chalfont. Competition begins at 6 pm.

Friday, April 14, will be our next School Mass. This Mass takes the place of our usual First Friday Mass, as the first Friday of April is Good Friday. On April 14, all students in PreK-4 through Grade 8 will be joining the St. Ignatius parishioners at the 9:00 am Mass.

Wednesday, April 19, is the day for this year's Spring Pictures. Lifetouch has already contacted all the St. Ignatius School parents directly, so be on the lookout for more information on Spring Pictures.

St. Ignatius of Antioch School has developed and maintains an Asbestos Inspection and Management Plan as required by the Asbestos Emergency Response Act of 1986 (AHERA). A copy of the plan is available for your inspection at the rectory office during regular office hours.

Inquiries regarding the plan should be directed to Acer Associates (856-809-1202), the

school's asbestos consultant.

If you have not already taken care of it, please check the school website for Medical Records and Immunizations, under the Parents Tab, for the new school year. The Pennsylvania State law requirements are explained there, and the medical forms are linked for those who may still need them. Please be sure to complete all immunizations and dental examinations required for your child's grade level.

For those of you who need to leave medications at school for your children, please complete the forms from the Health Office. Please bring the medication with the completed forms to the Health Office. See the Health Office Aide or the nurse (Wednesdays only) for more information.

Please check the school website (sischool.org) for updated documents (2022-2023 School Handbook, Responsible Use Policy for Technology, etc.) and for accompanying parent and student signature forms. Please return signed forms as soon as possible. Signature forms are attached here as well.

Please see the flyer below for more information about the upcoming Knights of Columbus Dinner Dance to benefit Special Olympics.

Please see the flyer below - St. Ignatius of Antioch Parish is looking for more adult volunteers to help with the Children's Liturgy of the Word on Sundays. Please prayerfully consider this opportunity and help the children of our parish learn about the readings at Mass each week.

The St. Ignatius of Antioch Boy Scout Troop 230 is recruiting new members. Please consider this great opportunity! See the flyer below for more information.

Please click on the link for information about the Cub Scouts and upcoming events.

https://pack230.org/