November 1st is the Solemnity of All the Saints, a day in which we recognize all of those who responded to the will of God and now enjoy eternal life.  This year it was celebrated very differently at Saint Joseph School.  

The first change was that school was in session for the day.  For decades, as All Saints Day was a Holy Day of Obligation, classes were not held.  But in the past, it would have been common for families to attend Mass on the day.  For many years, this has not been the case.  The result was that Catholic school students were not attending Mass on a day when it is a clear expectation of the Church that they would do so.

The first responsibility a pastor has to a parochial school is to maintain its Catholic identity and mission.  In planning for this year, Father Klein proposed to the faculty that we have class on November 1st, even though students are not at the best following a night of Trick-or-Treating.

The solution was to move Grand-friends Day, normally celebrated in late October to November 1st. Hosting grand-friends already removes students from class time, though it is a highly valued activity for the school. 

Fall is also the time when new altar servers complete their training and are publicly installed.  Why not do that on All Saints Day when so many family members and friends would already be present for the Mass? 

The result was that a very large congregation was on hand to welcome the grand-friends and the new altar servers.  

And lest the character of all the saints being celebrated be lost in our observance of the day, Doctor Catherine Strecker organized the seventh and eight grades to present two plays about two canonized saints: our own Saint Joseph and Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, a late medieval princess who cared for the poor and the sick.  If you would like to view these plays, probably the best ever produced by the school, click here.  View the play videos