Spiritual Growth
Spiritual growth is a central focus for each student at Saint Jude Catholic School. As part of their spiritual life, students participate in religion classes, daily prayer, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, weekly all-school Masses, Eucharistic adoration, and sacrament preparation.
Religious Education
The religion program is the core of the curriculum at SJCS. Daily religion classes are directed toward instilling in students an understanding and appreciation for Catholic teachings, beliefs, and practices. All students participate in classes and all religious events at SJCS.
Students attend weekly Mass as well as special liturgies and prayer services for holy days of obligation, special feast days, and other celebrations. The dates and times for all-school Masses and prayer services are posted on the monthly calendar. Parents are always welcome to join the students and staff for Mass and prayer.
Prayer is a part of the daily routine at the beginning and end of the day and before and after lunch. A variety of prayer experiences are offered for students during each liturgical season throughout the school year.
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd
The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is presented in addition to our Religion curriculum. Students in Pre-K thru second grade spend time each week working in the Atrium, the sacred space set aside for this catechesis.
The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd philosophy stresses that even very young children have a religious life. God is present to them in their deepest being and they are capable of developing both a conscious and intimate relationship with God. We provide materials based on age-appropriate Scripture passages and liturgical signs that nurture their relationship with God. The program balances exposure to our liturgy and the richness of our communal sacramental life with reading the Bible.
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd lessons offer children a time of prayer and song, a time for the “presentation”, or lesson, and a time for individual work. The child's work is their prayer, and is the most important part of their visit to the Atrium.
Sacraments
Sacrament of First Reconciliation
Having already received the first Sacrament of Initiation, Baptism, our Second grade students are now ready to begin preparing for Reconciliation.
Reconciliation, the sacrament of healing, is a sacramental celebration in which, through God’s mercy and forgiveness, the sinner is reconciled with God and also with the Church, Christ’s Body, which is wounded by sin. (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1422, 1442-5, 1468)
Sacrament of First Eucharist
“… the Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being.”
— CCC, nos. 1325
To participate in the Mass, we need to resist a tendency to passivity when gathered in an audience-like setting. At Mass, we are an assembly of believers called to be a community joined in the praise and worship of God. We are called to offer our bodies as sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Not simply our flesh and bones, but rather our very selves – spiritual sacrifice.
As children approach the sacrament of the Eucharist, they are in the early stages of their spiritual journey. In the preparation of our first communicants, catechist and parents aid in their journey and self transformation. Only Jesus can transform us into himself. But it is through the aid of sacramental preparation that Jesus can become present in their immediate lives. Our inner receptivity is critical. To receive love, we need to be open to it. The sacrificial gift of self at every Mass is the best way to be continuously transformed into Christ. Then in Christ we become bread for the world’s bodily and spiritual hungers.
Eucharistic Sacramental Preparation for our Second graders is not only for “first time” Eucharist; more importantly, it is a preparation for a lifetime of being nourished at the table of the Lord. Preparation for the sacrament, then, is not only about cognitive learning but very significantly about a period of spiritual preparation.
Sacrament of Confirmation
Our Eighth grade students will receive the final Sacrament of Initiation, Confirmation. In the Sacrament of Confirmation, the baptized person is "sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit" and strengthened for service to the Body of Christ. Confirmation deepens our baptismal life that calls us to be missionary witnesses of Jesus Christ in our families, neighborhoods, society, and the world. We receive the message of faith in a deeper and more intensive manner with great emphasis given to the person of Jesus Christ, who asked the Father to give the Holy Spirit to the Church for building up the community in loving service.