Brick by Brick

Come Sing about Love!

Last night's opening of Godspell was awesome...Friends of JPII or just good theatre -- You must see this show!

Two shows left: Tonight at 7:30 PM and Sunday at 3:00 PM. Come and see the great things happening at JPII!

"The Poster Child of Former Catholics is a Disaffected Teenager"

There's plenty to chew on when reading "Faith in Flux: Changes in the Religious Affiliation in the U.S." recently released by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

[Read the U.S. Catholic Bishops' press release and the full report by the Pew Foundation.]

The report indicates that for those who have left the Catholic faith, more than any one cause or crisis moment, they simply drifted away over time. Most who left did so in their teens and early twenties.

Why?

The Center for Applied Research Apostolate put it well: "More often than not its not about teachings, beliefs, or scandals. This is about Youth coming of age and not feeling connected to their faith...The poster child of former Catholics is a disaffected teenager."

This is why Pope John Paul II High School exists. What better argument can there be for healthy, vital Catholic high school education than our critical role in guiding young people to a mature adult faith connected with the life of the Church? Imagine the spiritual confusion or even emptiness when navigating young adulthood without a foundation in our faith and a sacramental life. Reading this study ought to confirm for all of us involved with Catholic education the importance of our mission.

Your comments welcome.

Part of the Plan

A nice way to spend a sunny Friday afternoon. Girls tennis, already up three matches, enroute to a home victory over Sturgis. Boys baseball, across campus, caps the comeback with a ninth-inning winning run against Cape Tech.

Congratulations, Lions!

Love It!

With a pair of 4-1 wins, JPII Girls and Boys Tennis teams notched their first victories of the season (and the program!) over Cape Cod Tech yesterday. The Lions' swept the their six singles matches on route to the wins.

Congratulations Lions tennis, Coach Wile and Coach Gaudet!

Tripping Lily

I was already jazzed for Red Molly this spring, having seen them earlier this winter in Martsons Mills and then adding some of their great music to my iPod.

Now, I'm extra-juiced: Mark Girardin, JPII music teacher, mentioned Tripping Lily, a Cape-based folk/ uekelale-type ensemble, one day in the copy room. Two conversations later, they're added to the bill on June 6. Gonna be some great music!

Check out Tripping Lily on youtube.

Looking Good...

Despite a 7th inning, 7-5 loss to Cape Tech in the home opener, Lions baseball looked good with their play and the new uniforms. Check out these photos (below). Next up: Girls softball home opener today!

         

          

Going into the 7th...

Cape Tech 5, JPII Lions 5 in the home opener -- heading into the 7th.

Go Lions!

Matthew Kelly, in Twenty-Five Words or Less

Still glowing after an awesome Matthew Kelly presentation last night. Five Hundred(!) people packed the JPII auditorium and enjoyed words with genuine wisdom that left much to ponder.

It's funny how each of us can hear something a little different, yet converge on truth. In Chapel today, I asked students a simple question:

In one sentence, What did Matthew Kelly say last night?

Taken together from the wealth of Matthew's presentation,I got a great look at what is important to our students.

Care to comment?    

Go ahead and post your favorite Matthew Kelly line, thought, sentence or mantra from a great night!

Their World

Pardon my downtime...while numerous new and noteworthy events have transpired since my last post (Congratulations, Alissa!), I've been remiss in keeping up. Anyone with an RSS feed likely thinks we've disappeared.

Intentional reference, RSS feed is. This is a term and concept I only recently discovered. While I   consider myself passably competent in computer usage and technology, I'm also realizing that keeping up takes commitment and its worth it.

Why? Because it's their world.

By this, I mean that the world of ready digital access is the world that our students live in and act from. We help students a great deal when the web of meaning and values teachers desire to impart become, if not fully integrated, at least  something more than tangentially related to their (digital) world. From social networking to user-driven content, blogging to virtual classrooms, learning in their world calls for their tools. 

Toward this end, this week's school in-service for teachers will explore the necessary (and exciting, at times!) terrain of 'their world' in an effort to allow digital tools to enhance the meaning and values from 'our world' we are entrusted to teach.

Old wine, new wineskins.

Sound the Retreat!

 It's nice to have big brothers and sisters sometimes, especially in these first "underclass" years. For the second year, senior Campus Ministry students from Bishop Stang High School assisted JPII staff with our (very important) day of retreat for the Class of 2011.

I was impressed (again!) and grateful to these young women and men for their time, the seriousness of their faith commitment, and their generosity of spirit. Their example will serve as great inspiration for JPII students assisting St. Pius X School with their eighth-grade retreat later this spring. Stay tuned.