Principal Notes October 7, 2011 Praying of the Rosary

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1 Principal Notes October 7, 2011 Praying of the Rosary The Catholic Church encourages Catholics to recite the Rosary---a meditative prayer honoring the Virgin Mary and contemplating the mysteries of Jesus--every day. The origins of the Rosary are sketchy at best," says Father William Saunders, PhD., although "the use of prayer beads" and repetitive prayer go back to the early days of the church. Saint Dominic gets credit for creating the current version of the Rosary and its prayer beads in the 12th century. An article about the history of the rosary for your teachers or catechists is attached. The original Rosary prayer consists of 15 decades or mysteries of Jesus. The mystery groups--the Joyful Mysteries, the Sorrowful Mysteries and the Glorious Mysteries---each contain five individual mysteries for a total of 15 decades. In 2002, Pope John Paul ll added five more mysteries of Jesus---the Luminous Mysteries- --bringing the total of decades to 20. When reciting the Rosary, you can choose to meditate on all 20 decades for a full Rosary or contemplate only five decades at a time. If you meditate on only five decades per day, the Church recommends the following order: Recite the Joyful Mysteries on Monday and Saturday, the Sorrowful Mysteries on Tuesday and Friday, the Luminous Mysteries on Thursday, and the Glorious Mysteries on Wednesday and Sunday. As a reminder, the basic version of saying a rosary begins with the sign of the cross. You then hold the crucifix and recite the Apostles Creed. Move to the next large bead and recite one Our Father. Follow with three Hail Marys on the three small beads and one Doxology ("Glory Be") on the next bead to complete the beginning section. As you meditate on each individual mystery, recite the Our Father and say one Hail Mary for each of the 10 smaller beads on the strand. Repeat this until you finish all the decades you intend to meditate on that day. Finish the Rosary with the Hail Holy Queen prayer. Almost everyone offers an intention before reciting the Rosary. You can even choose to recite a different intention before each decade. Intentions range from praying for the Pope to asking for special favor. A Catholic prayer for "special graces" repeated nine times is called a novena, which is Latin for the number nine. Novenas are used for many purposes, such as praying for others, praying for specific outcomes, praying for forgiveness of sins, etc. Saying the Rosary nine times in a row---nine times in nine hours or for nine consecutive Saturdays are most popular-- constitutes a Rosary novena. One of the most powerful novenas, according the Catholic Church, is the 54-Day Rosary Novena. Saying six Rosary novenas in row totals 54 days. Meditate on what you are asking for in the first three novenas. Give thanks in advance for future gifts and good fortune in the last three. In the family Rosary, family members pray the Rosary out loud together. Each member takes turns leading the Rosary prayers. The church offers no official guidelines for praying the family Rosary; families are free to do what works best for them. (please see attached History of the Rosary) 1

2 5 th Grade Fundraiser Here is a chance to double your support of St. Cecilia School in the coming week. The 5 th Grade students will be having a fundraiser on October 10, 2011 at the Valentino s at 823 Wheeler Street Suite#1 Ames, IA Use SCRIP to pay for your Valentino s purchases. This is a total win win win. Support the 5 th Grade, support the school with the SCRIP purchase, and enjoy a delicious meal with you family. VIRTUS If you volunteer one hour or more per week, you must complete this one time VIRTUS training. See attached. If you have any questions, please contact the school office. Thank you. After School Art Program Please see the attached files from Diana Richards who provides a very enriching afterschool art program. S.T.E.M. Please see the attached files regarding S.T.E.M.. If you have questions please contact Kim Townsend (kht@amtownsend.com, ) or Karen Wickert (kwickert@engineering.iastate.edu, ). S.C.R.I.P. News Just a reminder to send your scrip orders in by Monday at 9:00am. You can also your order anytime. Check out for a list of all the national businesses that offer scrip. Scrip also has a new business as well $10 gift cards to NOODLES! Every little bit helps and thanks for the continued support of the SCRIP program.. Thanks to all who support Saint Cecilia School by using scrip! Connie Vaclav ( , vaclav@iastate.edu) F.S.A. Make a difference at St. Cecilia - be part of the Family School Association! The Family School Association (FSA) is composed of parents and guardians of St. Cecilia students. It supports the administration, faculty and school board by organizing fundraising and spiritcentered events that enrich the school days of our children and express our commitment to quality education. The FSA is always looking for new ideas for fundraising, programs and events, and welcomes anyone who would like to share their ideas or volunteer their time! Please join us on Tuesday, October 11th at 7:00 p.m. in the School Library for a short meeting to help plan upcoming events. We look forward to seeing you there! 2

3 Hy-Vee Smart Points Dear Parents, It s that time of year again! The Hy-Vee SMART Points promotion is back by popular demand! Hy- Vee, Procter & Gamble and Sara Lee have partnered together to help build a brighter future for our students, teachers and our school. SMART Board interactive whiteboards engage students in exciting new ways, inspiring a higher education within a more creative environment. The power of this technology remains the focus of this great promotion. Every $20 of Procter & Gamble products purchased at Hy-Vee, in a single transaction, earns the shopper 100 SMART Points to donate to the school of their choice. This year you can earn even more points for our school! Get an additional 100 SMART Points when you purchase two or more of Sara Lee Fresh Bakery products in the same transaction as your qualifying $20 Procter & Gamble purchase. Printed on the receipt will be a promotional code(s) to be entered on Once the code is entered, select the school for which you would like to make the donation. Shoppers can earn SMART Points from October 1, December 30, Over 200 Schools with the most points will win!* Visit and click the SMART POINTS Logo to see where our school stands compared to other participating schools in our area. Plus, this year the participant with the most points earned from each winning school will win an ipad tablet for a student attending our school. We encourage you to invest in the future of our school and share the details of this promotion with your friends and family during the promotional period. (Please see attached Smart Points PDF) Sincerely, Mr. Snakenberg 3

4 Upcoming Events Wednesday, 10-12: 9 a.m. All School Mass & 2:15 p.m. Early Dismissal Weeks of & 10-17: Kindergarten to 5 th Grade ITBS Testing (Please make sure your children eat a good breakfast and get enough sleep in order to do their very best.) Monday, 10-17: 9-11 a.m. Fire Prevention Assemblies Wednesday, 10-19: 9 a.m. All School Mass & 2:15 p.m. Early Dismissal Thursday, 10-20: 2:15-5:45 p.m. FSA Fundraiser Pick Up in Social Hall St. Cecilia School Yard Signs Fall is near as are tailgaters and fans so it is a great time to show your pride in our school! The signs have the slogan - In Christ: We Live, Love, Learn. Yard signs are available from Kathy Ramirez ( ) or Diana Thatcher ( ) or the school office and are $15. Box Tops for Education St. Cecilia School collects Box Tops for Education. You may bring them and put them in your student's bin located outside of the multi-purpose room. Thank you for your continued support of St. Cecilia School. Catholic Daughters The Catholic Daughters is having their annual Mother Daughter breakfast on October 23 rd in the south social hall after the 8:30 a.m. Mass. This is for girls in 2 nd grade or above. If you are interested, please complete the attached form and return to the address on the form. Thank You Thank you so much for your purchase of the Casey s Donut and Pizza Cards with the proceeds going to the Jason Darland Memorial Fund. We raised an additional $300 with this fundraiser, along with the jeans day donation of $700, our grand total donation will be $1,000. Thank you so much for your generosity we are truly a giving community. 4

5 Academic Performance If you have any questions please contact me my information is: phone , cell , and Home Principal s Website: Skype at - brandt.snakenberg Please continue to visit and as we update the NEW St. Cecilia websites. 5

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