Spiritan Magazine Vol. 31 No. 4 Calendar

Spiritan Magazine Spiritan Magazine

Volume 31 Number 4 Calendar Article 1

11-2007

Spiritan Magazine Vol. 31 No. 4 Calendar Spiritan Magazine Vol. 31 No. 4 Calendar

Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/spiritan-tc

Recommended Citation Recommended Citation (2007). Spiritan Magazine Vol. 31 No. 4 Calendar. Spiritan Magazine, 31 (4). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/spiritan-tc/vol31/iss4/1

This Full Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the Spiritan Collection at Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Spiritan Magazine by an authorized editor of Duquesne Scholarship Collection.

https://dsc.duq.edu/spiritan-tc

https://dsc.duq.edu/spiritan-tc/vol31

https://dsc.duq.edu/spiritan-tc/vol31/iss4

https://dsc.duq.edu/spiritan-tc/vol31/iss4/1

https://dsc.duq.edu/spiritan-tc?utm_source=dsc.duq.edu%2Fspiritan-tc%2Fvol31%2Fiss4%2F1&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages

https://dsc.duq.edu/spiritan-tc/vol31/iss4/1?utm_source=dsc.duq.edu%2Fspiritan-tc%2Fvol31%2Fiss4%2F1&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages

November 2007 / $2.50

Catholic Education: Nurturing Faith and Learning

2

From the Editor

Volume 31, No. 4November 2007Spiritan is produced by

The Congregation of the Holy GhostTransCanada Province

Editors: Fr. Gerald FitzGeraldFr. Patrick Fitzpatrick

Design & Production: Tim Faller Design Inc.

CONTENTS2 From the Editor:

Catholic Education

3 Neil McNeil High School 1958-2008A Spiritan Endeavour

January — Thunder Bay CDSB. Courtesy OCSTA.

February — Neil McNeil High School.Photo by Tom Switzer.

March — St. Ignatius of Loyola High School,Mississauga, Ontario. Photo by Bill Wittman.

April — University of Fondwa, Haiti. Photo by Brian McElroy.

May — Duquesne University, Pittsburgh.Photo by Keith Hodan.

June — Neil McNeil High School. Photo by Tom Switzer.

July — Non-formal education, Ethiopia.Photo by Wilma Peters.

August — Neil McNeil High School. Photo by Tom Switzer.

September — Holy Ghost Prep,Philadelphia. Photo by Kevin Montco.

October — Sacred Heart School, Scar-borough, Ontario. Photo by Gino Ruffo.

November — Non-formal education,Ethiopia. Photo by Wilma Peters.

December — Neil McNeil High School.Photo by Tom Switzer.

Front cover: Neil McNeil High School. Photo by Victoria Zeltins

Back cover: Pokot student, Kenya. Photo by David Conway.

Spiritan is published four times a year by theSpiritans, The Congregation of the Holy Ghost,121 Victoria Park Ave., Toronto, ON M4E 3S2. Tel: 416-698-2003. Fax: 416-698-1884. E-mail:[email protected]. All correspondence and changes of address should be sent to thisaddress.

One year subscription: $10.00.

Printed by Mediavision International, Toronto.

Canadian Publications Mail Agreement no.40050389. Registration No. 09612. Postage paid atToronto, ON.

We acknowledge the financial support of theGovernment of Canada, through the Publica-tions Assistance Program (PAP), toward ourmailing costs.

Visit our Web site atwww.spiritans.com

Bringing CatholicEducation to LifeA glance along just one bookshelf in my room reveals the many-sided diamond

that is Catholic Education: Educating for Life, Formation for Evangelization,Strengthening the Heartbeat, Teaching with Fire, Reimagining the Catholic School,

Teaching and Religious Imagination, Catholic Education and Politics in Ontario.More than forty years immersion in the sometimes turbulent waters of Catholic

Education has taught me a thing or two. My students, my colleagues, the parents, someinsightful speakers and writers have educated me. I was far from fully prepared when Istood in front of my first French class at Neil McNeil in 1964. I needed the challenge of thereligion classes in the 1970s, the four summers at Boston College’s Institute for ReligiousEducation, the Catholic Teachers Centre and the Adult Faith Formation years at Torontoand Dufferin Peel Catholic School Boards and now my work as chaplain to the OntarioCatholic School Trustees Association.

As teachers we talk a lot. We need to listen and learn. I remember the student whotaught me most about teaching. He was leaving Neil for a Public School. We talked after theFriday class. He asked if he could say something before he left: “Do you mind if I say this?You always seem to look over our heads instead of into our eyes.” I went home and all thatweekend I asked myself, “Was he right?” If so, I was overlooking all that was going on inand behind those eyes — the joys and sorrows, the dreams and fears, the hopes andquestions. “It’s so important to invite them to ask their questions and to pick up on these,”said a teaching colleague in a recent conversation. Any life-giving curriculum is to be foundin both the textbook and the world of the student.

First Nations woman, Krystal Kewayosh, introduced me to her people’s basiccurriculum at a convention. “Teach the fours,” she advised us. The four seasons, the fourwinds, the four dimensions, the four elements, the four human components (mental,physical, emotional, spiritual), the four cardinal directions (creator, self, neighbour, earth),the four types of students (sponge, sieve, strainer, funnel).

She got me thinking: as Catholics we could add a few more fours — the four gospels, thefour Eucharistic actions (Jesus took, gave thanks, broke/poured, gave away), the fourdimensional Sign of the Cross, our birth-life-death-resurrection story.

I remember talking with a mother of two — a girl starting high school, a boy still ingrade school: “Light a fire in the kids about learning. Don’t just pass on what’s in thetextbook. How you choose to see the children makes all the difference. Affirm them in theirstruggles, their disappointments, in whatever makes them feel less. Encourage them in theirdesires and dreams and commitments.” Poet W.B. Yeats’ words came to mind: “Educationis not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

No one can sum up in one sentence what it means to be a Catholic teacher. But PopeJohn Paul II came as close as anyone else: “To teach means not only to impart what weknow, but also to reveal who we are by living what we believe.”

What we believe is modeled on Jesus the Teacher. He began to do and to teach —actions first, then words — words made flesh. We see how he dealt with people, how hefound in their daily life examples of God’s presence and what God’s kingdom was like, howhe challenged the rules and regulations people, what his priorities were, who his kind ofpeople were.

In our 2008 Calendar Catholic educators in the so-called missions come face to face witha people who realize the importance of the spiritual in human life. Their counterparts in theso-called developed world come face to face with a majority overwhelmed by the concernsof the marketplace and poorly informed about religious matters. To both groups ofeducators Jesus would say, “The kingdom of God is at hand. Find ways to bring it to life.”

Pat Fitzpatrick, CSSp

Spiritan / November 2007 3

Neil McNeil launched into life as the onlyCatholic boys’ school east of Yonge Street inToronto. A determined, youthful, energetic,

focused educational endeavour, more than 99% male,mainly Irish in its outlook, it gradually evolved into themore cosmopolitan way of life in east end Toronto andScarborough. Soon gone were the “strap” and the week-ly report books borrowed from the Spiritan schools inIreland, and taken home for parental perusal and signa-ture each week. A weekly assembly assured the learningof Neil Boys Are We — any graduate of the school thenand since can sing this school anthem by heart and oftendoes so whenever two or three classmates gather together(especially if a glass of beer lubricates their larynxes).

Over time at Neil the Irish influence diminished butnever disappeared. At one time there were up to 12 Spir-itans on staff, the result of annual reinforcements fromIreland. Too many talents in one location as it turnedout. Dispersal followed to Edmonton, a communitycollege, two Greater Toronto Area school boards and asfounding principals of three new Catholic high schools.Lay principals have now takenover leadership, many womenteach on staff, student enrollmenthas dipped but resurfaced to avery encouraging level, innovativeprogrammes ensure that all stu-dents are given an opportunity tosucceed, a younger staff relatesvery well to the current multi-hued, multi-faceted student body.Neil remains an all-boys school— one of several single-genderhigh schools in the TorontoCatholic District School Board.

Spiritans who went elsewhereand those who remained con-tinued to embody the spirit ofNeil McNeil: a high regard for

quality education, an ability to teach students and notonly subjects, an ease in relationships, a desire to pro-mote a worldwide view, a missionary outreach that has a special care for those on the margin of church or cul-ture, a sense of tradition combined with a willingness toread the signs of the times, a belief that Catholic Edu-cation must touch the heart as well as the head and thespirit as well as the body, a sense of gratitude for themany people they have met as colleagues and SchoolBoard personnel, as parents and trustees, as coaches andconsultants. If Spiritans have given much to CatholicEducation they have received more than much in re-turn. Theirs has been a ministry uniquely blessed in itscoming and its going.

The 2008 Spiritan calendar captures elements of lifetoday at Neil McNeil. It also pictures Spiritan educationin several other settings across the world. Neil does notstand alone. It belongs in a larger cluster of educationalendeavours enabling young people to aspire to thefullness of life, east of Yonge Street and in exile east ofEden. ■

Former Spiritan principals of Neil McNeil High School: (left to right) Gerald FitzGerald,Peter Fleming, John Geary and Michael Troy.

1958-2008A Spiritan

Endeavour

Nei

l McN

eil H

igh

Scho

ol

CATHOLIC EDUCATIONCATHOLIC EDUCATIONCATHOLIC EDUCATION

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 31

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday SaturdayNew Year’s Day

Epiphany of the Lord

Baptism of the Lord St. Anthony, Abbot

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

St. Francis de Sales

St. John Bosco

Mary, Mother of God

World Day of Peace

Spiritan Martyrs, Congo

First Friday

St. Agnes St. Timothy and St. Titus

St. Elizabeth Seton

Conversion of St. Paul

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

January 2008

St. Basil and St. Gregory

Martin Luther King Jr.(U.S.A.)

www.spiritans.com

St. Marguerite Bourgeoys

February1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 910 11 12 13 14 15 1617 18 19 20 21 22 2324 25 26 27 28 29

December 20071

2 3 4 5 6 7 89 10 11 12 13 14 1516 17 18 19 20 21 2223 24 25 26 27 28 2930 31St. Thomas Aquinas

All teachers should be short so you could look them in the eye. — Grade 1 student

World Day of Migrants and Refugees


He shared his soul with us. Every good teacher does as much. — Thomas Groome

1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29

Blessed Daniel Brottier, Spiritan

St. Cyril and St. Methodius

Presentation of the Lord

Francis Libermann Co-founder of the Spiritans

Valentine’s Day

St. Peter Damian

St. Jerome EmilianiAsh Wednesday

World Day of the Sick

St. Agatha

1st Sunday of Lent

March1

2 3 4 5 6 7 89 10 11 12 13 14 1516 17 18 19 20 21 2223 24 25 26 27 28 2930 31

January1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 1213 14 15 16 17 18 1920 21 22 23 24 25 2627 28 29 30 31

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fast and Abstinence

Têt – Vietnamese and Chinese New Year

Our Lady of Lourdes

3rd Sunday of Lent

2nd Sunday of Lent Chair of St. Peter St. Polycarp

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

February 2008 www.spiritans.com

First Friday


1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30 31


March 2008 www.spiritans.com

Hearing the human cry to belong.

St. Joseph, Patron of Canada

4th Sunday of Lent

First Friday

World Day of Prayer

St. John of God

Jewish observance: Purim

Annunciation of the Lord

St. Katherine Drexel St. Casimir

5th Sunday of Lent

April1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 1213 14 15 16 17 18 1920 21 22 23 24 25 2627 28 29 30

February1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 910 11 12 13 14 15 1617 18 19 20 21 22 2324 25 26 27 28 29

Passion (Palm) Sunday

Easter Monday

Easter Tuesday Easter Wednesday Easter Thursday

Good Friday Holy Saturday

St. Patrick’s Day

Monday of Holy Week Tuesday of Holy Week Wednesday of Holy Week Mass of the Lord’s Supper

Easter Sunday

Resurrection of the Lord

Easter SaturdayEaster Friday

Development and Peace

Daylight Saving Time begins

2nd Sunday of Easter

Divine Mercy Sunday

Alleluia!

International Women’s Day


1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30


April 2008 www.spiritans.com

Teaching is planting seeds, throwing little pebbles into a pond. T he ripples go in every direction. — Fintan Kilbride

St. George

St. Peter Chanel

St. Louis Grignion de Montfort

St. Mark, evangelist

Jewish Passover begins

St. Fidelis Our Lady of Good Counsel

3rd Sunday of Easter

St. Anselm

Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha4th Sunday of Easter

World Day of Prayer for Vocations

May1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 12 13 14 15 16 1718 19 20 21 22 23 2425 26 27 28 29 30 31

March1

2 3 4 5 6 7 89 10 11 12 13 14 1516 17 18 19 20 21 2223 24 25 26 27 28 2930 31

First Friday

St. Isidore

St. John Baptist de la Salle St. Stanislaus

5th Sunday of Easter

Earth Day

6th Sunday of Easter St. Catherine of Siena St. Pius V, pope


We go to people to be with them, live with them, walk beside them, listen to them, and share our faith with them. — Spiritan General Chapter 1998


May 2008 www.spiritans.com

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31

First Friday

Visitation of Mary

Mother’s Day

Victoria Day

St. Philip and St. James

Ascension of the Lord

St. Philip Neri

Pentecost Novena begins

St. Joseph the Worker St. Athanasius

Pentecost Sunday

Holy Trinity

Canada Health Day

St. Matthias

World Communications

Day

St. Eugène de Mazenod

June1 2 3 4 5 6 78 9 10 11 12 13 1415 16 17 18 19 20 2122 23 24 25 26 27 2829 30

April1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 1213 14 15 16 17 18 1920 21 22 23 24 25 2627 28 29 30

Memorial Day

Corpus Christi St. Augustine of Canterbury Sacred Heart of Jesus

Our Lady of Fatima


Neil was our meeting place, our place of congregation. We had the chance to find who we really were. — Robert Fiorino, Class of 2003 Elected Valedictorian


June 2008 www.spiritans.com

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30

10th Sunday in Ordinary Time St. Ephrem

St. Peter and St. Paul

St. Anthony of Padua

St. John the Baptist

St. Aloysius Gonzaga

St. Irenaeus

St. Boniface

Father’s Day

First Friday

St. Norbert


Eucharistic Congress, Quebec City, June 15-22

St. Barnabas

St. Cyril of Alexandria

July1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 1213 14 15 16 17 18 1920 21 22 23 24 25 2627 28 29 30 31

May1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 12 13 14 15 16 1718 19 20 21 22 23 2425 26 27 28 29 30 31


9th Sunday in Ordinary TimeSt. Charles Lwanga

and companions


Respecting and affirming the world’s peoples, religions and cultures.


July 2008 www.spiritans.com

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 31

Canada Day



St. JamesSt. Lawrence of Brindisi

St. Ignatius of Loyola

St. Anthony Zaccaria

St. Joachim and St. Anne

St. Elizabeth of Portugal

St. Benedict

Independence Day (US)

First Friday

St. Thomas


17th Sunday in Ordinary Time St. Peter Chrysologus

St. Bridget of Sweden

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

August 1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 910 11 12 13 14 15 1617 18 19 20 21 22 2324 25 26 27 28 29 3031

June1 2 3 4 5 6 78 9 10 11 12 13 1415 16 17 18 19 20 2122 23 24 25 26 27 2829 30

St. Bonaventure

St. Mary Magdalene

St. Martha


Developing not only skills but also attitudes.


August 2008 www.spiritans.com

1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

31


St. Alphonsus Liguori

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin MarySt. Clare

St. Rose of Lima

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time


St. Augustine

Civic Holiday

First Friday

St. John Vianney

St. John Eudes

St. Dominic

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time Mary, Queen of Heaven

Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist

St. Maximilian Kolbe

St. Pius X

Transfiguration of the Lord

St. Monica

St. Bernard

September1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 1314 15 16 17 18 19 2021 22 23 24 25 26 2728 29 30

July1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 1213 14 15 16 17 18 1920 21 22 23 24 25 2627 28 29 30 31

St. Louis of France22nd Sunday

in Ordinary Time


Computers, Internet, BlackBerrys and iPods have put the world’s knowledge at their fingertips.


September 2008 www.spiritans.com

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30

Labour Day

Triumph of the Holy Cross

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time St. John Chrysostom

St. Vincent de Paul

St. Andrew Kim, St. Paul Chongand Korean Martyrs

Holy Name of Mary

St. Jerome

St. Gregory the Great

First Friday

St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael

Our Lady of Sorrows

Birth of Mary

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time St. Padre Pio Canadian Martyrs

Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year

St. JanuariusSt. Robert Bellarmine

October1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 1112 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 2526 27 28 29 30 31

August 1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 910 11 12 13 14 15 1617 18 19 20 21 22 2324 25 26 27 28 29 3031

St. Peter Claver

Sts. Cornelius and Cyprian




October 2008 www.spiritans.com

School is one place where it’s all right to be young.

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31



Thanksgiving Day

St. Ignatius of Antioch

The Guardian Angels


First Friday

St. Luke

St. Marie-Rose Durocher

St. Francis of Assisi

World Mission Sunday


St. Marguerite d’Youville

St. Anthony Mary ClaretSt. John of Capistrano

St. Teresa of Avila

Our Lady of the Rosary

St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus

Hallowe’en

November1

2 3 4 5 6 7 89 10 11 12 13 14 1516 17 18 19 20 21 2223 24 25 26 27 28 2930

September1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 1314 15 16 17 18 19 2021 22 23 24 25 26 2728 29 30

Yom Kippur – Jewish Day of Atonement

St. Callistus I

Sts. Simon and Jude



November 2008 www.spiritans.com

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30

First Friday

All Souls Day

Remembrance Day

Christ the King

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time St. Cecilia

Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

Thanksgiving Day (US)

All Saints

St. Martin de Porres

St. Leo

St. Elizabeth of Hungary

St. Andrew Dung-Lac andVietnamese Martyrs

St. Albert the Great

Presentation of Mary

St. Josaphat

Daylight Saving Time ends

December1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 1314 15 16 17 18 19 2021 22 23 24 25 26 2728 29 30 31

October1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 1112 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 2526 27 28 29 30 31

St. Charles Borromeo

1st Sunday of Advent

I touch the future: I teach. — Christa McAuliffe, teacher and astronaut


Experiencing the God who listens, understands and forgives.


December 2008 www.spiritans.com

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30 31

2nd Sunday of Advent

3rd Sunday of Advent

Immaculate Conception of Mary

First Friday

St. Lucy

St. Nicholas

Our Lady of GuadalupeBlessed Juan Diego

Hanukkah begins

Christmas Day

New Year’s Eve

St. Thomas BecketThe Holy Family

St. John

Christmas Eve

St. Francis Xavier

January 20091 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 12 13 14 15 16 1718 19 20 21 22 23 2425 26 27 28 29 30 31

November1

2 3 4 5 6 7 89 10 11 12 13 14 1516 17 18 19 20 21 2223 24 25 26 27 28 2930

4th Sunday of Advent

Hanukkah ends

Boxing Day

St. Stephen

Return Address:Spiritan121 Victoria Park AvenueToronto, OntarioCANADA M4E 3S2

P.M.#40050389

Whatever makes a student more fully, richly andauthentically human

Whatever opens a student’s will,

Brightens a student’s imagination,

Encourages a student’s ability to act and choose

Whatever gives a student courage and hope and insight

Whatever makes a student more truly human

is simultaneously making the student holy.

Whatever humanizes, divinizes.”

— Michael Himes

Documents

Spiritan Magazine Vol. 31 No. 4 Calendar