The Christian season of Lent ended earlier this month. This
40
–day period of preparation for Easter was traditionally marked
by
”
pious deprivations,
”
”
giving up
”
minor pleasures like sweets or movies. At Gilroy’s St. Mary
Catholic School, however, students were challenged to take part in
a Lenten Mission Drive.
The Christian season of Lent ended earlier this month. This 40–day period of preparation for Easter was traditionally marked by “pious deprivations,” “giving up” minor pleasures like sweets or movies. At Gilroy’s St. Mary Catholic School, however, students were challenged to take part in a Lenten Mission Drive. This was an opportunity for all students to reach out beyond themselves and sacrifice to benefit those less fortunate.
Water is a powerful symbol in the Bible. God’s spirit moved over the water in creation, the Israelites crossed the Red Sea in escaping the Egyptian army, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the River Jordan, Christians are incorporated into the Church through the sacrament of Baptism with water. This year’s Lenten Mission Dive was called “Come to the Water.” While we take our access to safe, clean water for granted, millions of people around the world do not have this basic human right.
Several years ago the Rev. Felix Ipanthemi served on the staff at St. Mary parish. He was very popular with the students, visiting classrooms, joining in play, sharing his culture with them. Since he returned to Nigeria he has kept in touch with the community through phone calls, e-mails and return visits to Gilroy.
This Lenten project is an attempt to help Father Felix’s parish in Africa get an electric generator and pump to draw water from the village’s well. The cost could be as much as $15,000. Cecile Mantecon, the school’s religion coordinator and a seventh grade teacher, allowed her students to become “evangelists” for the project, sending them to every classroom with a challenge to take part in the drive. The idea was for participants not to just bring money from their parents to donate, but to earn money or contribute money they would otherwise have spent on themselves.
- 34 kindergartners made a model well for their classroom. As each brought in a donation, he or she told the class how the money was raised and added a paper brick or drop of water to the well. A thermometer on the bulletin board recorded more than $1,300 in donations.
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Three second graders solicited pledges and earned $78 from a Run-a-thon.
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Another class has collected two large garbage bags full of empty plastic bottles; the proceeds from recycling will go toward the project.
Mantecon explains that St. Mary wants its students to “develop a habit of giving, an ethic of stewardship.” She feels they will continue in alms – giving as they become adults through such school experiences.
During Advent (the season leading up to Christmas), the younger students focused their efforts on the local community by donating money and toys to St. Joseph’s Family Center, an ecumenical charity sponsored by several local churches.
Junior high students adopted a children’s cancer ward at Kaiser Hospital. Since children undergoing chemotherapy often spend hours in treatment without much to occupy themselves, they collected books, a video game player and crafts for the patients; members of student council delivered the gifts to the hospital.
In February, seventh- and eighth-graders participated in a Hunger Banquet. This idea comes from the Oxfam, an international non-profit charity which fights poverty. The activity means to develop among students an awareness of world hunger. Seventy students were randomly assigned to groups representing the world’s population:
- 10 were served meals from In-N-Out Burger.
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20 sat at tables eating rice and beans from plates using forks.
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The remaining students had to sit on the floor eating a small serving of rice with their hands.
Fourth grade students have participated in a number of outreach activities. For example, they collected winter clothing for a Hollister ministry which sent them to an orphanage in Mexico. They also read 100 books as part of a Scholastic Book Club program, winning 100 books which were sent to a school on the Apache reservation in Arizona.
For information, call (408) 842-2827 or e-mail
ma******@st**********.org
. Tax deductible donations for the Nigerian project can be sent to 7900 Church St., Gilroy, CA 95020
