Holy Cross turns classrooms into 'households'

Holy Cross Catholic School in Batavia has instituted a “households” program to promote brotherhood and a culture of family within a larger classroom setting.

Each class functions as a household for which they choose a name; this name will be their household name throughout their time at Holy Cross. Students were creative in coming up with their household name, some of which include the Courageous Saints, Guardians of the Faith, Warriors of the Word and Goliath Fighters.

Each household also develops a mission that describes how they act, learn, pray and love each other as members of a household family. The name, motto, emblem and banner they create will be part of their communal experiences, including special Masses throughout the year.

Another aspect of the households program is Lord's Day where the students take 15 minutes before Friday dismissal for praise and worship, intercessions, opening to the Gospel for the coming Sunday, thanksgiving prayer and a closing song. The idea is to prepare them for Sunday Mass with awareness of the Gospel and its meaning. The intercessions and thanksgiving prayer continue to build an atmosphere of compassion, trust and family in which each is known and loved. It is much harder to be unkind to someone when we know who he or she is, care about them and are praying for the difficulties they shared during Lord's Day.

The concept for this program originated when Holy Cross Principal Tricia Weis saw a need to bring the traditions of our faith and the needs of students together in an intimate and deep sharing of the soul. Monsignor Dan Deutsch introduced the idea of households, a program he learned about during his sabbatical at Franciscan University. Together they worked to assimilate the program to fit the grade school level.

For information on Holy Cross Catholic School in Batavia, visit www.holycross-batavia.org/hccs/ or call (630) 593-5290.