CCD Happenings On December 15 & 16 we celebrated "Festival of Carols".  Children acted out the Nativity story with narration and Christmas carols.  Our annual Advent project was collecting coins and baby items for the Life Center in Elgin. First Reconciliation was on December 12.  The children celebrated by adding their sheep to the Good Shepherd mural. Thanks to all those who helped with this special day. We had a CCD Thanksgiving Mass on Wednesday, November 25.  Children from all sessions and their families attended this special Mass.  We had All Saints Day celebrations on October 27 and 28.  Several saints came to visit us and we learned about their lives.  We celebrated with a procession of saints.  Then we learned more about saints though games.  Children received halos to remind them that we are all part of the communion of saints. Below are the highlights from our 2008-2009 school year.  We had a great year! We had a great June Vacation Bible School!  We listened to stories; acted out by Fr. Doyle (he is telling the story of St. Peter in the above picture).  We also had fun games, snacks, music and crafts. Thanks to all who helped out.  We also had a fantastic July Vacation Bible School - "Totally Yours".  Our 2010 Vacation Bible School will be June 14 - 18. On April 4, all the students preparing for First Communion had a retreat.  The children learned about the parts of the Mass and all the things used at Mass.  They learned that when they go to Mass they gather, listen, offer, thank, share, and pray so that they can go forth to bring the light and joy of Christ to everyone they meet.   On Wednesday, February 25, we began our Lenten journey towards Easter.  We had prayer services with distribution of ashes and the kids began their Lenten project.  This year the prayers and sacrifices offered by our CCD kids went to HCA - Holy Childhood Association.  This enabled them to play an active part in the mission we have all been given at Baptism to tell the whole world the “Good News” of Jesus.  They counted their blessings as they put quarters and dimes in their "boxes".  The total they collected was over $1900. On February 3, in celebration of St. Blaise, the children had their throats blessed to protect them "from every disease of the throat and all other illnesses." On December 16 & 17 we celebrated "Journey to Bethlehem".  Children sang Christmas songs and then traveled to Bethlehem, seeing shepherds, Roman soldiers, Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus, and one of the Magi.  It was an opportunity to get a glimpse of what life was like at that time. First Reconciliation was on December 13, at 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM.  Thank you to all those who helped with this. Our annual Advent project was collecting coins and baby items for the Life Center in Elgin. We collected over $1500.  We had a CCD Thanksgiving Mass on Wednesday, November 26.  Children from all sessions and their families attended this special Mass.  Thanks to all for making this celebration special. We had All Saints Day celebrations on October 28 and 29.  Children dressed as their favorite saint and we learned about several saints.  We collected over 300 cans of food for the poor.  These were donated to the FISH food pantry. On October 21 & 22, 4th and 5th graders celebrated a living rosary.  We prayed the rosary together, while children acted out the joyful mysteries.