Marian to kick off Catholic Schools Week

At Marian Central Catholic High School in Woodstock, Sunday, Jan. 25, marks the beginning of its annual observance of Catholic Schools Week, a national celebration of Catholic education.

Each day during Catholic Schools Week, students and staff gather to honor the people who help provide the academic excellence and spiritual values that make the school special.

This year's theme is "Catholic Schools Celebrate Service." Every day during this week, they recognize the people of the Marian community who inspire faith, hope and charity in the students - parents, teachers, support staff, volunteers and the students themselves.

The highlight of the celebration is the Catholic Schools Mass at 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, hosted by Ss. Peter and Paul School in Marian's gymnasium. Catholic elementary and middle school students from St. Margaret Mary in Algonquin, Ss. Peter & Paul in Cary, St. Thomas the Apostle in Crystal Lake, St. Joseph in Harvard, St. John the Baptist in Johnsburg, Montini Middle School in McHenry and St. Mary in Woodstock, as well as priests from all over McHenry County, will join the Mass.

However, the celebration of Catholic Schools Week is only a part of the way Marian promotes faith in the students. Throughout the year, they hold spiritual retreats, a daily morning Mass, monthly all-school Masses, athlete-coaches Masses, and a communal penance service during Lent.

All year, Marian Central encourages its students to get involved with volunteer work and offers opportunities for students to contribute their talents and time to charities through extracurricular organizations such as Project Hope, Operation Snowball, Student Council, Key Club and the National Honor Society.

Students in Project Hope collected nonperishable food items for McHenry County PADS and Home of the Sparrow during the holiday season in honor of Marian students Jeremy and Jonathan Scholnick, who passed away on Oct. 26, 1999. Marian Central NHS officers gave a student workshop at the national convention in Orlando, Fla., titled "Service with a Smile" designed to help create effective service projects. They also received the Outstanding Service Project Award for the "Hurricare Project" which created care packages for patients at Children's Memorial Hospital.

National Honor Society will be conducting a service project during Catholic Schools Week again this year. Previously, they have hosted the Soup-er-Bowl, a canned drive competition benefiting area food pantries and a book drive.

In addition to the celebration at Marian, the many Catholic elementary schools of McHenry County are also planning special events for their students and staff. If you have any questions about their plans, contact the principals at these local schools:

• Algonquin: St. Margaret Mary School, Sue Snyder, (847) 658-5313 or school.saintmargaretmary.org.

• Cary: Ss. Peter & Paul; Sister Katrina Lamkin, (847) 639-3041 or peterpaulschoolcary.org.

• Crystal Lake: St. Thomas the Apostle, Deanne Roy, (815) 459-0496 or stthomascl.org.

• Woodstock: St. Mary, Diane Vida, (815) 338-3598 or stmary-woodstock.org.