The Patriot Report – December 16, 2022

“Christmas is a ray of light for all, because it reveals to us God’s love and makes us feel the presence of Jesus with everyone, especially with those who are suffering. Just for this reason Jesus willed to be born in poverty and in the abandonment of a cave and to be laid in a manger.” – St. John Paul II

Ever since I was a child, I have always loved Christmas lights. As a family we would sometimes drive around neighborhoods looking at Christmas lights and my face would be glued to the car window, lost in the splendor of the colors shining in the dark of the night. Today, I find myself doing the same thing with my children. Sometimes I purposely drive a different route home just for them to see different displays. 

The joy that comes from seeing Christmas lights reminds us of the power of light when surrounded by darkness. The darkness of our world can be found in suffering, in tragedy, in places of violence, hunger, and oppression. The Gospel writers draw our attention to the darkness surround Christ’s birth. First, there is no room for Mary and Joseph so Mary is forced to give birth to her son among the animals. Second, Herod seeks to kill Jesus and orders the massacre of the infants. Third, the Angels appear to the shepherds to tell them of the good news for the shepherds were among the humble and lived on the outskirts. 

The infancy narrative of Jesus teaches us that our light shines all the more brightly in darkness. As Jesus’s birth was a light for humanity, our acts of generosity, of kindness, of kinship, of mercy, of tender compassion, will shine brightly when we bring our love to those who are suffering and are in pain. In that we find the true message of Christmas.

Thank you to all families that supported our Sock Drive and our efforts to collect food for the food bank. Your generosity is appreciated. 

Socks were delivered to Agape Street Ministries and the food was brought to the local food bank at Frog Hollow. 

It was so good to have our first in-person Christmas Concert since 2019. The concert was a success and I wish to thank Miss Smillie and Mrs. DeSousa for the efforts in working with our actors and our singers. Many hands made the Christmas Concert. I give my thanks to the teachers and educational assistants who helped with classes and with decorations and props. I give my thanks to the parents that helped with building our stage extension. I give my thanks to the Gr. 7 students who assisted in many ways. 

Thank you to all the parents and extended family members that came out to watch the Christmas Concert. 

This week, the primary teachers and their students led our school in our final Advent assembly.  The last candle to be lit is that of peace. Peace is the result of placing trust in God. When we let go of our worries and fears and trust in the Lord, peace will fill our heart. 

We had a blast wearing Christmas sweaters and funny Christmas hats, singing Christmas carols, making winter wonderlands, and drinking hot chocolate this week! Thank you to the dedicated teachers who always try to make this week special for our students! 

Vancouver Elite Basketball had an amazing first two months of training. If you signed up, we thank you for being a part of it! We are already looking into the new year and training sessions are live on the website now. Please give it a look as we have redesigned our schedule for this upcoming term.

Hot Lunch orders for January to June is now available. The deadline to order for the week of January 3, 2023 is December 30, 2022. The deadline for ordering for each week is set to the Friday before. This allows our Hot Lunch Coordinators time to connect with our vendors. 

Our vendors for the remainder of the year are:

Pampanga’s, Pizza Hut, Churches Chicken, Caveman Cafe, and Got 2 Eat Meals

We continue to use Munchalunch for all of our ordering. 

Thank you

St. Jude Parish is offering the following mass times for Christmas:

Dec. 24th
– Children’s Christmas Mass at 5 pm and Midnight Mass at 11 pm

Dec. 25th
– Christmas Day Masses at 9 & 11 am and 5 pm.

St. Jude Parish is looking for 10-12 children to participate in the performance of a Christmas Nativity scene prior to the Christmas Eve mass at 6pm on December 24. Please email cglsussey@yahoo.com if you are interested. There are many different roles and speaking parts are typically 1-3 short lines. Costumes are provided. On December 24, the participating children will gather at 4pm at St. Jude Parish to get into costume and do a short rehearsal. The play is only about 15 minutes in length. This is a great way to be involved with parish at this time of year.  

We are now accepting new applications for the 2023-24 school year.  Please get an application form from here or email the school office for one.  

There will be no newsletters over Christmas Break. The next Patriot Report will be on January 6, 2023.

Inclement Weather Decision Making Process

The decision making process for closing the school due to snow includes:

• assessment of sidewalks & stairways
• assessment of parking lots
• assessment of staff driving routes
• assessment of general driving conditions
• assessment of weather, current & projections
• consultation with neighbouring schools and principals – especially Notre Dame Secondary School
• consultation with PEC and staff that live in the area
• prayer

Some of the factors which make St. Jude School unique when considering these decisions include the following:

• we’re not a neighbourhood school, but nearly exclusively a commuter school
  students travel from different parts of Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, and Richmond
• staff travel from Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, North Van, Coquitlam, and Maple Ridge
• we live in a region that does not get much snow and many drivers are ill prepared (no snow tires) to drive in snow yet do so anyway
  the risk of car accidents greatly increases in such conditions and commute times become exceptionally long with many arriving very late.

Other factors all schools must consider:

• are we able to provide a quality learning experience if we have 1/3 or 1/2 of our students in the building?
• if some teachers aren’t able to make it to school, do we have the support from our Teacher On Call pool to handle the sudden demand?
  are we able to provide adequate supervision if staff cannot make it to work?
• can we confidently say that we made the best decision to open if an injury or fatality occurs?

When the school is closed due to inclement weather, communication will be through Facebook and Twitter first, then the school website by 7am at the latest. Lastly an email will be sent out through mailchimp. It is the responsibility of the parents to check our Facebook or Twitter feed, the website and their email when snow is in the forecast.

In difficult weather, our hope is to open our schools as soon as it is possible while considering all educational and safety perspectives. We thank you for your prayers and support!

Our Gr. 7 Student Ambassadors will be available to provide tours of our school to prospective families. If you know of someone who might be interested in attending St. Jude School, I encourage you to tell them to sign up for a tour. Any interested family can email registrar@stjude.ca to schedule a tour. 

Please subscribe to our school calendar for a list of important dates. 

To subscribe to our calendar feed copy the link below and paste it into your calendar app:
https://stjude.ca/events/?ical=1&tribe_display=month

This past year we handed out $1200 in rewards to parents that referred students to our school. Every student that is referred and enrolls in our school for the year results in a reward of $200 for the the referring family. 

To learn more about the referral program, please click here.