News and Events: Saint Joseph Academy Pig Fest

This week Saint Joseph Academy in Walton is having the annual Pig Fest.  The Fest is Friday June 17th and Saturday June 18th.   How many places can you go to have fun and support a good cause?  There will be rides for the children, games, and music.

 Come out and see over 100 baskets and 100 gift cards in the Silent Auction room.  You can bid on things like a Grill, Disney World Hopper Passes, Cincinnati Reds tickets, U.K. themed basket, a TV stand with an electric fire place.  The Chinese Raffle has a chest Freezer, a tool box and other wonderful items.  The sisters have a competition going for the Chinese Auction.  Five of us have made either afghans or quilts which are up for sale.  The sister with the most bids gets bragging rights for the year!

Sister Margaret Mary and her afghan.

By coming the the Pig Fest you support our mission of education at Saint Joseph's Academy.  We are a self-supporting school and do not get financial help from the parish.  The tuition helps to pay for the teachers salaries and benefits but that money doesn't cover anything else.  Teachers who work in a Catholic school make just a fraction of what they could make if they work in the public school system.  But our teachers believe in the importance of a Catholic Education.  So the money from the fundraisers like Pig Fest, the Golf Outing and Fish Fry help to cover the costs of operating the school.

 Our Mission at Saint Joseph Academy is instruct the children in the faith.  The children are instructed in the principles of Christian faith and morals which will serve them as guidelines so that they live a life worthy of heaven.  We also strive to give them a good solid academic education.  Our students go on to become lawyers, doctors, teachers, scientists and above all, faithful Christians.

One of the many baskets in the Silent Auction. 

Without your help, the children will not be given the tools to help them cope with the dangers, distractions, and temptations that our world bombards them with. So we look forward to seeing everyone at the Pig Fest.

A Day in the Life: Never a Dull Moment!

Well, friends, this week has been one crazy whirlwind of activity, and I haven't had time to really write a post for this morning. Our school's Fish Fry starts tonight, and I have errands to run this afternoon. Anyone who thinks religious life is boring should ask someone in it! If there was boredom, we would have found it by now...

Painting that hangs in our recreation room.

In lieu of a post, here's a poem I wrote a few weeks ago. Hopefully, I will have something for you next week!

Signs of Contradiction

Sr. Cecilia Ross

January, 2016

Alpha, Omega, Lion, Lamb

Creator of being,

Born in a cave.

Cornerstone and stumbling-block.

Master of everything,

Servant of all.

Death into life,

Bread into Body,

Wine into Blood.

God and man, divinely human.

And through the ages,

Rank on rank,

Fools following an outcast.

Saints and sinners,

Hermits and addicts,

Scholars and simpletons,

Virgins and mistresses,

Doctors and drunks,

Kings and barbarians,

Bishops and beggars.

Humbled and exalted,

Dying to live.

This paradox in unity,

A cacophonic harmony.

News and Events: Lent and Fish Fry

This week we begin the holy season of Lent.  A time to reflect and prepare ourselves to celebrate to great feast of Easter.  We miss the mark when we think of Lent as just a time to give up some kind of food.  We can begin to think of Lent as a kind of 40 day Catholic diet plan. While it is a good thing to look at what we eat and make changes, there are many other ways we can observe Lent.  Mother Ellen, our foundress, wrote:  "When we talk of penance and mortification, somehow people so often think in terms of food, especially in terms of doing with less of eat....  There are many other ways to do penance.”

The first station of the cross at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption

 Also beginning this week is the annual Fish Fry at St. Joseph Academy, Walton.  Each Friday during Lent, the parents, teachers, sisters and volunteers  prepare and serve thousands of fish dinner.  This is the main fund raiser for the school and without it we would not be able to continue to function.