40 Days for Life - Our Lady of Good Counsel

2 | The Good Counsel Courier Vol. 5 | Issue 5 | November 21, 2013www.olgcnj.orgWe Remember, We Celebrate, We Believe.By Father Damian McElroyAs the season changes and we experiencethe falling of the leaves, we say farewell to thewarmth of summer and anticipate the winter. Wefind ourselves pensive, wistful, reflecting.Many find the absence of loved ones morereal at this time of year, they are missed, and weexperience loss. As we think of our loved ones,a whole torrent of memories and emotions comeswirling into our hearts and minds.As those good memories come into our hearts we are warmed bythem, it’s almost as if we relive them for a little moment. However thereare other memories, sad ones. Those thoughts and emotions can weighheavily upon us.Often when I officiate at requiem masses, I hear someone one say,“He’ll always live on in our memories”, which is true! We should givethanks for the love and companionship of those we have lost, we shouldremember but it is not enough! We believe that our loved ones are morethan a memory, that the present life of those who have passed on is notdependent on our memory.For Christians, life is not ended with earthly death but changed, with itPrincipal’s Post: First Trimester UpdateBy Frank X. McAneny Ed.D., principalcomes the gift of eternal life.What sort of life, life with God, the fullness of life, that we only get aforetaste of here on earth.The fullness of life. Fully mature, fully-grown in Christ, with no illnessor frailty. Not simply restored but transformed, all that was lacking inour lives is purged away. All that was missing, fulfilled. Every yearningrealized.Life has changed not ended.The preface of the mass for the dead makes the observation, that forthose who have died, Life has changed not ended.That is also true for us who grieve or mourn. At times our loss is sodevastating, that our life seems to have ended, or at least a part of it hasdied, a part of us has died.Yes we must acknowledge our grief and loss but we can’t remain there.Let us pray for the transforming gift of hope. We pray for resurrection notonly for those who have died but also for ourselves here on earth.Not only do we pray for the dead but they also pray for us. Those whohave gone ahead of us, encourage us who are still on the journey. Theysay to us, “lift up your hearts”.They encourage us to choose life, to live life to the full. Live good lives,live holy lives. Some day we shall all be together, reunited, face to face inthe presence of God. We remember, we celebrate, we believe.As you read thiscolumn, we areapproaching the end ofthe first trimester withReport Cards beingdistributed to studentsbefore the end of thismonth. It is hard toimagine that we havealready completed onethird of this school year.During this time staff and students wereengaged in many activities to enhance studentlearning and progress. Writings displayedthroughout the building demonstrated the manyinterests of our students. There were manystories displayed about favorite locations visitedby families recently and some very imaginativestories about Halloween and Thanksgiving.Students in Mrs. Allen’s class used a RAFT(Role/Audience/Format/Topic) model, whichrequires them to consider different aspects oftheir writing assignment. You may also wantto ask the students in Miss Mulholland’s abouttheir Turkey Projects!!! They decorated theirown turkeys, carried their turkeys with themfor a week and then complete a journal reportof what occurred during the week from theturkey’s perspective. There should be some veryinteresting stories.The writing program is a component ofthe recently completed Middle States reportand school Strategic Plan. It is obvious fromthe many displays around the building thatour students enjoy these opportunities to beinvolved in writing projects and are takingadvantage of learned skills to extend theirwriting abilities.In addition tothese writing projects,our instructionalfocus continues onexpanding readingexperiences andstrategies across allcontent areas andenhancing technologyopportunities tosupport all learnersand levels of learning.During the recentweeks we wereinvolved in severalschool events plannedby our StudentCouncil for all studentparticipation. The firstevent was a CancerAwareness Day whenstudents were permitted to wear pink items toschool for a donation of 25 cents. Our studentsand staff raised over $200 during this eventand our Middle School students and staff metin the parking lot to create a life sized PinkRibbon which can be seen on our website andFacebook page.Student Council also sponsored a ScarecrowContest where each class was able to designand display a scarecrow of choice for specialprizes. The First Place winner looked veryeerily like the school principal!!! Pictures ofour scarecrows can also be seen on the sitesmentioned above.Students also participated in a freeHalloween Tag Day and seemed to enjoy thecostumes worn by staff on that day. Staff wasasked to contribute $5 if they wished to wear acostume with the proceeds going to the OLGCThanksgiving Food Drive for the purchase ofturkeys.Through the rest of this month our students,families and staff will all be participatingin this traditional Thanksgiving Communityproject that will allow families in need to enjoyThanksgiving together.All students and staff participated in theFun Walk to raise money on November 4 forthe OLGC Technology. Many thanks to Mrs.Mackuse and Mrs. Judge for coordinating thisevent and to all the parents, students and staffwho made this day such an enjoyable day.As you can see, our days are very busy atour school. As noted in our Mission Statementall of our planned activities serve to formyoung minds, hearts and hands in the image ofJesus spiritually, academically, physically, andsocially through authentic Catholic teachingwithin a faith community of respect andcompassion for others.