Confirmation – becoming adults in the faith

On Monday evening most of our Grade Sevens and some members from our Parish celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation.  This sacrament builds on the sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation, and Holy Communion, completing the process of initiation into the Catholic community. Confirmation establishes young adults as full-fledged members of the faith, and bestows special graces of the Holy Spirit upon the person being confirmed (wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety, and reverence of the Lord).  This sacrament is called Confirmation because the faith given in Baptism is now confirmed and made strong.

Archbishop Miller, wearing the traditional red vestments to symbolize the Holy Spirit, presided over the ceremony and administered the sacrament.  The Confirmation ceremony was then followed by a lovely reception (graciously hosted by the Grade Five parents) in the school gym.

May God’s love be in our young men and women’s hearts to strengthen them along life’s path.

Our Lenten Journey

The three tenets of a Lenten Journey are fasting, prayer, and almsgiving.

The community at ICS shared a special prayer experience this Lenten season as a part of our journey. It all began on Ash Wednesday when we met in groupings of children from each grade led by a Grade Seven student; these groupings became our “family” during Lent. Each of us made a Lenten Promise and a banner signifying the Resurrection of Christ.

We then shared in a most beautiful experience by singing the Celtic Alleluia (Alleluia means “Praise God”) which faded into prayerful silence as we left the gym.  After Ash Wednesday we continued to meet weekly in the church in our family groups to share in Lenten prayer, led by a different primary grade each week.

We concluded Lent with a school-wide retreat on Holy Thursday themed “Our Journey From Triduum to Easter”.  For the students, it was a beautiful, prayer-filled morning of reflection on each Station of the Cross.

We thank the parents who shared in our Lenten Journey, which focused on parents as educators using the example of the soon-to-be canonized parents of St. Therese of Lisieux. Maureen Wicken led a reflection on how we embrace and encourage our children to dream and imagine a better world and how God calls them to be in this world.

The “why” of our crown star-halo logo

Our simple logo – a crown star-halo – is rich in meaningful symbols for our school community. It reminds us of the crown of Mary. The crown of stars circling Mary’s head, as found in all statues and paintings of Mary in her title as the Immaculate Conception, speaks to us of the honour we give to Mary as the mother of Jesus our Lord. Within the crown of stars we find the shadow of Jesus’ crown of thorns, a reminder of Jesus’ sacrifice of love carried out for each one of us.

The halo of stars serves as a symbol of the holiness we are all called to strive to live as followers of Christ.  Our star-halo also symbolizes the pure innocence of children, something we work to nurture and protect at our school. We want our children to grow up accompanied by a symbol of goodness that speaks of all that is good and holy and beautiful in our world.

And last but not least, our logo symbolizes the ICS “All-Stars”, the name of our school teams, where our students learn teamwork, sports skills and love of play.  The School Logo is especially meaningful when combined with our Motto: “Today I will grow in knowledge, love of God and service to others”.