CHAPLAINCY AT CARDINAL NEWMAN

He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"John 11:25, 26

It has been over two thousand years since Christ was born and even though we are not first hand witnesses of Christ, we still believe. As a sign of believers, we placed ashes on our foreheads to mark ourselves and to tell the world that we believe in Christ. The first time since 1913, Lent began with Ash Wednesday being observed on February 6th, which made for a busy first week of the semester. The Cardinal Newman community observed Ash Wednesday with a beautiful liturgical celebration with the whole school in the gymnasium that allowed us to reflect on those areas of our lives that are in need of healing. Throughout the Lenten season, the theme of healing remained as focus in our daily prayers as a way to prepare our school community for Jesus’ death and resurrection.

It has been a tradition here at Cardinal Newman to celebrate the birth date or birthday of our namesake John Henry Cardinal Newman, who was born on February 21st, 1801. Some years here at Cardinal Newman, there have been big birthday parties and other years we reflected on the life and times of Cardinal Newman. One thing remains constant throughout the years, we come together as school community and celebrate the Eucharist, the ultimate symbol of our faith. John Henry Cardinal Newman was known for his writings and many beautiful prayers. Even today, his influence is evident through many education systems around world. At our Cardinal Newman Day mass, Father Ron Cote, the founding principal of Cardinal Newman reflected on a beautiful prayer written by John Henry Cardinal Newman called Radiating Christ, a prayer that calls us to the light of Christ in the world.

The sacrament of reconciliation was made available to our school community during Lent. Numerous students took advantage of this wonderful opportunity to prepare their heart and mind for the Easter joy. Special thank you goes out to our parish priests of St. Francis Xavier, Incarnation, Immaculate Heart, St. Luke and St. John the Baptist who took time out of their busy schedules to provide the sacrament.

Holy Week came to a close on Holy Thursday with the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament all day in the chapel. The exposition of the Blessed Sacrament allowed an opportunity for our school community to spend time in quiet prayer and reflect on the life, death and resurrection of Christ. The day came to a close with a special Holy Thursday prayer service, with the assistance of Miss Morris’ drama class, Mrs.Racki-Mahovlich’s Liturgical Choir and the Chaplaincy Team,which allowed our school community to reflect on Jesus’ death and resurrection

Cardinal Newman celebrated Easter with a special liturgy, a Memorial Mass for Michael Cusimano with Fr. Martin Vallely from St. Francis Xavier Church as our celebrant. During this liturgy, we as a school community were given a chance to celebrate the life of Michael Cusimano, who courageously fought his illness and died peacefully on December 24, 2007. While only in grade 10, Michael accomplished so much and touched so many people in such a short period of time. Special thank you to all who helped made this celebration a beautiful tribute to a wonderful young man .

Alms for the Needy...

Our students raised :

Cops and Cats - $1000 donated to McMaster Children Hosptial

Michael Cusimano Memorial Trust - over $2500 and still counting

Canadian Development and Peace - Mr. Kwarczynski’s Religion Classes $148.17 ( Lenten coin collection)