Recently, Cathedral’s Middle School students watched a video in their history class featuring the work of Feed the Hungry, an organization helping the poorest areas of the world by providing food, wells, medicine, etc. The students were so moved by what they saw, that they decided to hold a “Dress-Down for Hunger” day fundraiser where students throughout the school paid $1 to wear casual clothes rather than uniforms for a day. This raised $203. The question of where to send the funds was answered with the arrival of specially invited guests, Anne Johnson and Ursula Slavick of Sacred Heart / St. Dominic’s parish in Portland. This parish, part of our Cluster 21 parish family, works tirelessly to support Christ the King parish in Morne Rouge on the Caribbean island of Haiti—the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Sacred Heart / St. Dominic’s Parish has been helping to educate Haitian school children since 2000. It sends funds for teachers’ salaries and a noon meal for Christ the King students as well as school supplies. Fundraisers and donations have been sufficient to build two classrooms; it is hoped that funding will make possible two more. The SH/SD Haiti project has also enlisted “sponsors” for 92 Cap Haitian students, providing uniforms, school supplies, a meal and tutoring. Members have visited Haiti every year or two. For more information on this outreach, please contact Ursula Slavick at 773-6562 or Anne Johnson at 929-3088. What a wonderful way to put faith into action! A few days after this visit by Ms. Slavick and Ms. Johnson, Haiti was hit by a devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake. In an email, Anne Johnson reported, “Most of the people we help in Haiti are in Cap Haitien, in the north, and so were not hit directly by the quake. However, Sr. Angela and her sewing cooperative (a group we help) is very near Port Au Prince and we have not had any word yet on their condition.” Our prayers go out to them and everyone affected by this disaster.

One day a week, each class at Cathedral School has Bible Story Time with school principal, Miss Barbara Ann Arnoldo. As “the Bible Story Lady,” Dr. Arnoldo visits with the students in their classrooms and focuses her lesson on the upcoming Sunday scriptures. “I’ve been the Bible Story Lady in all the schools I have served and I just love spending this time with the students,” says Dr. Arnoldo. In addition to presenting age-appropriate liturgy lessons to students from Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 8, Dr. Arnoldo also mixes in games, hand-outs and sometimes even a video on the lives of different Saints. A weekly handout to staff and faculty outlining her lessons keeps everyone at the school informed. “Part of my focus as Principal is to keep faculty and staff (as well as our students) spiritually enriched,” says Dr. Arnoldo.

A special thanks goes out to our friends at Cheverus High School for sharing their time with Cathedral students as part of their annual Social Justice Retreat Day. Nearly a dozen students participated in the retreat, with each of them visiting a homeroom and helping out with lessons and classroom activities. Both Cheverus and Catherine McAuley High School students visit Cathedral School throughout the year—often as part of their community service outreach. Many thanks to them for their gift of time and friendship!

Here's a feature designed to make your support of our school easier than ever!  Our online donation option is user friendly. The service we are using accepts all major credit cards and is completely secure. Once at our website, click on the “Support Cathedral School” button at the top of our menu bar. Follow the directions to either go directly to the donation form or choose the “email a friend” option. This option will allow you to personalize a letter that you can send to friends and family letting them know about our online donation option. Simply personalize the letter by filling in the areas marked with “( )”. Then, just forward the email to all of your friends and family. It’s really that simple!  Remember, Cathedral School is a non-profit organization with a 501 C 3 tax-exempt status which means your donation is completely tax deductible. Should you have any questions about this or our website in general, please call the school at (207) 775-1491.