Catholic Schools Week - January 27 to February 2, 2013.

What does Catholic Education mean to me? 

It means that my faith impacts my daily life and decisions in ways too numerous to say.  It means that my parents, who also had Catholic educations in the US and Ireland, valued theirs too and thus sent my brother and sisters and I to Catholic elementary and high schools. 

I want to thank those sisters and priests that taught me about my faith and life:  Sr. Cornelia( my first piano teacher), Msgr. Vincent J. Cloos, Sr. Dorathella ( a ferocious 2nd grade teacher), Sr. Noel (loved 5th grade), Sr. Dolores (kept us 8th graders on task), Fr. O'Donoghue, Sr. Therese,  Sr. Carolyn and Sr. Philomena (high school music teachers), Sr. Alberta, Sr. John Therese (gym teacher), Sr. Gretchen (Chemistry), Sr. Jeanette (an amazing Math teacher), Sr. Mary Margaret (English and Drama - taught me to be happy wherever God puts you and whistle down the halls!), Fr. Virgil Blum (Constitutional Law at Marquette), Fr. Naus (midnight mass at Schroeder Hall), Fr. John P. Raynor (a guiding light as President of Marquette in the 1960's and '70's), Fr. Karl Acker (always encouraged me to play and pray at Mass with the school kids at IC School and didn't mind my little ones crawling around during the school Masses), Fr. Tom and Fr. Pat( providing insightful leadership as we continue our clustering relationship).

Port Catholic is a great place to grow up, learn from top notch teachers and peers, and be a kid!  I heard Kyle Johnson speak at St. Peter's 4:00 pm Mass last Saturday about why he likes Port Catholic.  He likes the teachers, his friends, and that he can go to Mass weekly during school and learn about his faith while studying language arts or social studies.  Me too Kyle,  my sentiments exactly.  My children, Port Catholic alumni, would agree with Kyle.

Catholic Schools Week's theme this year is "Catholic Schools Raise the Standards."   Call Port Catholic and come and see what's happening in Catholic Education right in our community and parishes.  Visit their website:  www.portcatholic-org.web25.winsvr.net, and learn more about one of the positive missions' our three parishes support.

In my life, I have learned from Franciscan sisters, BVM's, OP's, Adrian Dominicans, Jesuits, and now Franciscans again as I take classes at Cardinal Stritch University.  My choices have always included Catholic schools for a reason - God has a place in my life and in my school.  That is important to me.  I know it is important to our parishes as we continue to support Port Catholic School.

See you at Mass.

Linda Guokas

What is God Calling You To?

As we end the week of Vocations, it's important for us to consider what a vocation is. The Catholic Faith Handbook for Youth defines it as "A call from God to all members of the Church to embrace a life of holiness. Specifically, it refers to a call to live the holy life as an ordained minister, as a vowed religious (sister or brother), in a Christian marriage, or in single life."

I want for a moment to concentrate on that first part of the definition  - that we are all called to embrace a life of holiness. What does that mean? Do we think of ourselves as living holy lives? Or do we think that is better left to those people with a "real" vocation  - the priests and sisters? What does it mean to be holy? If you Google the word holy, you get about 541,000,000 results. Dictionary.com defines it as dedicated or devoted to the service of God. Isn't that really what we are all called to do? By virtue of our Baptism, we are all called to the priesthood of the faithful, meaning we are called to live our lives serving God and God's people with whatever gifts or talents God has given us. So live out your vocation - whatever that is. Be holy! And check out this video - and share it - which may help clarify for you a little more what that means...