The Patriot Report – January 13, 2022

“How many disasters do we to go through in order to realize that all of humanity has a stake in the liberty of one person; whenever one person is offended, we all hurt. What begins as inequality of some inevitably ends as inequality of all.” – Abraham Joshua Heschel

Abraham Joshua Heschel was an influential Jewish Rabbi, theologian, scholar, and an advocate for civil rights and social justice. He worked with the Catholic Church to promote interfaith dialogue and was an observer at Vatican II. In 1963 he was invited to speak on “Religion and Race” at a conference in Chicago, organized by the National Conference of Christians and Jews. In his talk, he clearly instructed the audience that religion and race are two words that should never go together because “to act in the spirit of religion is to unite what lies apart, to remember that humanity as a whole is God’s beloved child. To act in the spirit of race is to sunder, to slash, to dismember the flesh of living humanity.”

As a Catholic school, one of our core values is to welcome and value each person as made in the image and likeness of God. There is no place for racism inside our walls. Rabbi Heschel reminds us that to think of humans “in terms of white, black, or yellow is more than an error. It is an eye disease, a cancer of the soul.” The remedy to the cancer of racism is found in sacrifice. Scripture points out time after time, from Abraham to Moses to the Prophets to Jesus, that proper sacrifice redeems the world. We are reminded that sacrifice requires one to selfless and humble. Both are essential tools in the fight against racism.

We are committed to creating an inclusive and welcoming environment, free from racism, as a means towards creating a more just and equitable society.

St. Jude School invites all of its students to the Sunday 5pm Mass on January 15th. Students are encouraged to wear their uniform to highlight that they are St. Jude School students. 

St. Jude Parish and School was informed by the Office of the Archbishop, that Archbishop Miller will be conducting a Parish and School visit on February 3, 4, and 5. Presently, February 3rd is scheduled to be a Pro-D day. We are going to move this Pro-D to March 3, 2023 in order to accommodate Archbishop Miller’s schedule. 

February 3rd – Regular Day of Instruction 

March 3rd – Pro-D Day – No School 

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.  

We were experiencing technical difficulties with our calendar earlier but these problems have since been solved. 

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

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. 

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. 

Heavenly Father, we come to you in humility, acknowledging our own sins and the sins of our ancestors. We confess that we have not always loved our neighbors as ourselves, and have not always treated all people with the dignity and respect they deserve as your children.

We turn to your word, Lord, and find guidance and inspiration in the scriptures. In Leviticus 19:18, you command us to “love your neighbor as yourself.” In James 2:9, you remind us that “if you show partiality, you are committing sin.” And in Galatians 3:28, you remind us that “there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

Lord, help us to see the humanity in all people, regardless of their race or ethnicity. Help us to love and respect all people, and to work towards the elimination of racism in our hearts, our communities, and our world. Give us the courage and strength to stand up against injustice and discrimination, and to work for the equality and dignity of all people.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.