Patty Bajek / Thursday, February 8, 2024

Saints Speak from Mrs. Marshall - 2/8/2024 - Always Move Toward What is Good

I am out of the building today and tomorrow as I participate in the Diocese of Joliet Winter Seminar for all Diocesan principals. Please keep us in your prayers during these days of retreat and professional development! If you need anything in my absence, please contact Mrs. Maggie Detwiler (mdetwiler@ascacademy.org).

Please take a few minutes to reflect on these words from Pope Francis:

“Each of us has a vision of good and of evil. We have to encourage people to move toward what they think is good…Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place.”

When I first read this message from Pope Francis, I was resistant. I kept thinking to myself, in so many cases, right is right and wrong is wrong. As I spent more time with these words, I realized maybe I was focusing on the wrong part of the message. Perhaps Pope Francis isn’t saying that we each get to decide what’s good and what’s evil. Perhaps he is asking us to avoid making choices that we KNOW to be wrong. Too often it’s our human nature to follow the crowd, make the easy choice, even when we know it’s not the right one. Pope Francis is challenging us here to do what we know to be good. Each time we make that choice, we’re helping make the world a little bit better place.

Valentine’s Day

Since Valentine’s Day falls on the same day as Ash Wednesday this year, we’ll be celebrating early. Class Valentine’s Day parties as well as the junior high Bowlero field trip will take place on Tuesday, February 13^th. Students may be out of uniform on this day if they wear Valentine’s colors (pink/red). If your child plans to pass out Valentines to classmates, please make sure that he/she has one for each child in the homeroom and avoid bringing in food items.

Ash Wednesday, Lent, and Almsgiving Opportunity

We begin the Lenten season on Wednesday. Please join us for our Ash Wednesday Mass at 8:15am. Since we have Mass, all students should be in perfect uniform on this day (no spirit wear).

During the Lenten season, we often focus on three things to bring ourselves closer to Jesus in preparation for Easter – prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. One opportunity for prayer is our family Stations of the Cross on Wednesday, February 21, at 6:30pm. Please consider joining us that evening so we can pray together as a school community.

We also have an almsgiving opportunity for any families that wish to participate. During the week of February 20, we will be collecting items for the migrant families that have recently arrived in Chicago. This collection is in partnership with Our Lady of Mercy Parish and will be led here at school by Ms. Cash’s 3^rd grade class. Click here for a flyer made by our 3^rd graders that shares more about the items we are collecting. We will have bins available at school February 20-23 to collect any contributions. Thank you in advance!

Spelling Bee

Yesterday Lucas Ling represented ASCA at the DuPage County Private School Spelling Bee – and he got 1^st place!! Congratulations to Lucas on this great accomplishment!

Sticky Fingers

You may now sign up for the spring session of Sticky Fingers. Click here for more information!

Saintly Acts

Congratulations to the following students who were recognized today for their recent Saintly Acts: Edward H. (Kdg), Edison L. (5^th grade), Karen O. (3^rd grade), Owen S. (5^th grade), Charlotte W. (3^rd grade), Annalise A. (4^th grade), Jake B. (4^th grade), Samantha C. (7^th grade), Mason E. (7^th grade), Noah G. (3^rd grade), Henry G. (3^rd grade), Clare H. (7^th grade), Reid M. (4^th grade), Edgar M. (4^th grade), Kaya P. (3^rd grade), Emily P. (5^th grade), Sapphire R. (6^th grade), Luca R. (3^rd grade), Ashley S. (7^th grade), Rose T. (7^th grade), Shyla T. (4^th grade), Vedhya C. (3^rd grade), Aedan C. (3^rd grade), Mateo D. (3^rd grade), Maggie E. (3^rd grade), Ben J. (3^rd grade), Russell D. C. (2^nd grade), KJ G. (1^st grade), Jordyn L. (1^st grade), Julio M. (2^nd grade), Safa Q. (2^nd grade), JP S. (2^nd grade), Charlie E. (Kdg), Kayden K. (7^th grade), Kieran M. (6^th grade), and Will P. (8^th grade). Keep being saintly!