All Schools Mass

As part Catholic Schools Week Jan. 27 - Feb. 2, the annual All Schools Mass at St. Mary Cathedral, Lansing, was held Monday, Jan. 28, at 10 a.m. Representatives from Catholic Schools around the Diocese participated in the celebration of Diocese of Lansing Catholic Schools: Where Faith and Knowledge Meet.

You can dowload the following Quicktime video files, and watch either the Presentation of Journals, which preceeded the Liturgy of the Word, or Bishop Mengeling's homily.

Presentation of Journals
(file size: 11.3 MB)

Bishop Mengeling's Homily
(file size: 10.2 MB)

If you don't have QuickTime installed, download it here

Oh, It's a Wonderful Time of the Year

Before you start wondering if I'm still celebrating the holidays (hopefully the Funk family Christmas tree will be down by the time you're reading this), or if I'm really looking forward to Valentine's Day (I'm not - chocolate really isn't my thing), I am ready to celebrate Catholic Schools Week. Yes, I said Catholic Schools Week. The way I see it, I don't have to be a student or a teacher at a Catholic school to celebrate - although pajama day does sound like a lot of fun! I'm something just as important. I'm a parent of a student enrolled in a Catholic school, and I thank God everyday for the education my son is receiving.

The decision to send Adam to a Catholic school was one that my husband, Doug, and I made long before we knew there was even going to be an Adam in our lives. We both knew that a Catholic education stressed academics and self-discipline and that was exactly what we wanted for our future child. And this was coming from two people who attended public schools (and one of whom is not even Catholic)! In fact, I'm not sure I had even stepped foot in a parochial school until I started working for the Catholic Times newspaper (my first assignment, interestingly enough, was covering the 50th anniversary of St. John Vianney School in Flint).

So, once we settled in Flushing a few years ago, the first place we scouted out was St. Robert Bellarmine Parish, with an eye specifically towards the school. We knew we had made a good decision when a friend of ours - a retired Flushing public school teacher - asked which elementary Adam would be attending. We answered St. Robert's. Her reply: "Oh, that's an excellent school!"

Granted, I might have been a bit obsessive-compulsive about the matter when I made Doug take Adam's enrollment papers to the school the morning AFTER kindergarten round-up. I prided myself on being prompt - he chided me once he found out there really wasn't a waiting line of parents as soon as the school opened with their enrollment papers in hand. Oh, well. Adam was in and that was all that mattered.

And we haven't regretted our decision once. OK, my heart was a little broken when Adam came home from one of his first days in kindergarten and said, "Oh, Mommy, Mrs. Pelikan has the most beautiful face. She looks just like an angel." Suddenly there was another woman in his life besides me, but it didn't matter for long. Mrs. Pelikan was an angel and I can't imagine anyone better suited to a vocation as a teacher than she is.

And so is Ms. Strickland, our first grade teacher. You read that right, our first grade teacher. St. Robert, just like every parochial school throughout the Diocese of Lansing, stresses the relationship between home and school. We're all in this together. There isn't anything more important to me than going through Adam's blue folder when I get home from work every night. I can't wait to see what he has learned and he can't wait to show me his "stars."

Doug and I have learned a very important lesson about Catholic schools which goes beyond the academics - the presence of Christ. I know this is something that should have come as a given but it was one aspect we hadn't thought of too much. It's hard to describe but knowing that Jesus is at the heart of Adam's education is one that we find comforting. It's almost as if Jesus has whispered, "Don't worry. I'll look after him and guide him."

And if that isn't reason enough to celebrate Catholic Schools Week, I don't know what is.

- Kathy Funk

Celebrate Catholic Education During Catholic Schools Week Jan 27 - Feb. 2

Following is a list of Catholic Schools within the Lansing Diocese:

Elementary Schools:
Charlotte: St. Mary School
Grand Ledge: St. Michael School
Hudson: Sacred Heart School
Jackson: Queen of the Miraculous Medal School, St. Mary Star of the Sea/St. Stanislaus Kostka School, St. John the Evangelist School, St. Joseph School
Michigan Center: Our Lady of Fatima School
Okemos: St. Martha School
Owosso: St. Joseph School
St. Johns: St. Joseph School
Westphalia: St. Mary School
Williamston: St. Mary School

Elementary and Middle Schools:
Ann Arbor: St. Francis of Assisi School, St. Thomas the Apostle School
Brighton: St. Patrick School
Burton: Holy Redeemer School
East Lansing: St. Thomas Aquinas School
Fenton: St. John the Evangelist School
Flint: DuKette Catholic School, Holy Rosary School, St. John Vianney School, St. Pius X School
Flushing: St. Robert Bellarmine School
Fowler: Most Holy Trinity School
Grand Blanc: Holy Family School
Howell: St. Joseph School
Jackson: Jackson Catholic Middle School
Lansing: Holy Cross School, Immaculate Heart of Mary/St. Casimir School, Resurrection School, St. Gerard School, St. Therese School
Mt. Morris: St. Mary School
Owosso: St. Paul School
Pinckney: St. Mary School
Swartz Creek: St. Mary Queen of Angels School

High Schools:
Ann Arbor: Fr. Gabriel Richard High School
Flint: Luke M. Powers Catholic High School
Jackson: Lumen Christi High School
Lansing: Lansing Catholic Central High School