Religious Life

Living the Faith

Our faith is reflected in everything we do.  In addition to daily prayer, our religious education program includes monthly celebrations of the Sacred Liturgy, Sacramental preparation, Lenten and Advent programs, a Respect Life program, and formal classroom instruction on our faith.

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Mass

Each month we celebrate a school liturgy for grades kindergarten to eight.  A different grade accepts responsibility for this Mass each month.  After the Mass that grade hosts a gathering in the parish hall for their parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles, and other adult parishioners.  Students attend Holy Day Masses when school is in session.  On occasion, individual classes may attend the 9:00 A.M. Mass as a group.

We celebrate a special Mass to open the school year.  A school closing Mass is also celebrated in June.  Traditionally, at this Mass, grade eight students wear their graduation gowns and enter in procession.  Eighth grade graduation takes place at the conclusion of a special Mass. 

Students are welcome to participate in the altar servers and children’s choir programs, offered through the parish. 

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Daily Prayer

Prayer is very much a part of our daily routine at Saint Bridget School.  We open each school assembly and meeting with prayer.  Typically, each class begins and ends the day with group prayer.  Students are given the opportunity to ask for special prayer intentions in a variety of ways, including the parish prayer book at the church.  Students participate in prayer prior to lunch in their classrooms and pray together as a school community at the conclusion of lunch in the cafeteria.  Several classrooms pray the rosary on a regular basis.  We believe in the power of children’s prayers and frequently ask classrooms to pray for one another’s special intentions. 

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Sacramental Life

Students are encouraged to fully participate in the sacraments as often as possible.  This would include weekend Mass in their home parish.  Due to the ages of our students, sacramental preparation is available for First Eucharist and Reconciliation in grade two.  Older students who have missed these sacraments can prepare for them at school or in their home parishes.

First Penance date: January 21, 2012 at 11:00 A.M.

First Communion date: April 29, 2012 at 11:30 A.M.

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Special Programs on Saints

March 2005 saw the introduction of a school-wide program about our Catholic saints. Of course, as it was March, we focused on Saint Patrick and Saint Joseph. Eighth grade students led the program by reading about these beloved saints to the assembled classes.

The program was so well-received that it was decided to continue to have programs like this on a monthly basis, starting in September 2005. This affords us the opportunity to come together as a school community as well as learning about the lives of our Catholic role models. We come together in prayer first. We learn about the saint of the month and then sing "We Are Companions On The Journey" to close the program.

Our pre-school children also learn about saints. Each month, in their classroom, the children are taught a little bit about one saint. This will help prepare those continuing on in our kindergarten to learn more about these very special people in our church’s history.

2011-2012 Saints Program Dates

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Focus on community service

Saint Bridget educated her children devotedly and served the poor and the sick.  In continuing in that tradition, our students, staff, faculty, and families actively participate in serving the needs of our local and world community.

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Values Tree Program

Overview:

This is a program stresses a different value each month.  There is a list posted in each classroom to tell you which value is stressed each month.  A person (student, teacher. parent, etc.)  is “caught” exhibiting that value; a certificate is awarded; a leaf, with the person’s name, is posted on the values tree in the cafeteria.

Goal:

Our immediate goal is to “catch them being good!”  Our ultimate goal is that EACH student would be awarded a certificate at least once each year.

Eligibility:

Certificates may be awarded to ANY person within the St. Bridget School community by any adult/student.  Students may receive more than one certificate.  Teachers, staff members, and parent volunteers are also eligible!

Procedure:

At the start of each month, certificates will be placed in each teacher’s mailbox for the coming month.  Some will be available for nurses and librarians as well.  If you need more certificates, please see Miss Cotter as she keeps extras on her desk.

If you see a student, or other community member, displaying the value featured that month, you fill out the certificate with the information requested (i.e. name, grade, etc.) and leave the certificate in Mr. Cirigliano’s mailbox.  You do not have to do it on the spot; you can write out the certificate at any time.  Do not present the certificate yourself.

At some point, Mr. Cirigliano will call the students down to his office to formally present each student with his/her certificate.

A list of students presented with certificates will be left for Miss Cotter.  She will put the students’ names on a leaf and post it on the Values Tree in the cafeteria.

Help us!

Parents & Teachers:  If you are leaving a certificate in Mr. Cirigliano’s mailbox for a student who is not in your homeroom, please leave a note for the homeroom teacher as well so we can be sure each child gets one by the end of the year.

Homeroom Teachers:  Please keep a check list of students who have been given awards as we go through the year.  We do not want any child to be left out be the end of the year. 

 VALUES TREE CALENDAR

August/September – Honesty

October – Respect

November – Generosity

December – Cooperation

January – Reliability

February – Caring

March – Self-control

April – Prayerful

May/June – Courtesy

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Parish Giving Tree

The Giving Tree is a wonderful Christmas tradition at St. Bridget Church.  Found in the church throughout the Advent season, the tree is decorated with paper ornaments.  On each ornament a gift is listed for some needy child within our community.  In the true spirit of Christmas, an ornament is taken from the tree, and we replace it with a gift, placed at the bottom of the tree.  The St. Vincent DePaul Society works tirelessly to make sure all the gifts are delivered on time.  Through their efforts and our giving, children all around us awake to the wonders of Christmas morn.

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Eighth Grade Food Drive

Each year, eighth grade students sponsor a food drive during the month of October to coincide with the United Nations' World Food Day. This is a program set up by the United Nations more than twenty years ago. World Food Day is celebrated each year on October sixteenth. This date is set aside to bring attention to the numbers of people who are hungry around the world as well as providing a source of food for them. Canned goods are collected in each classroom and retrieved by the eighth graders daily.  At the end of the drive, eighth graders bring all the food over to the Saint Vincent DePaul food pantry located in the former convent basement.  After all the boxes have been delivered, the students receive a tour of the pantry and are afforded the opportunity to ask questions.  The highlight of the tour is always the showing of the original pantry – a small wooden cabinet!  Please consider regular donations throughout the year to help the food pantry. There is always a need for items. Thank you for your support.

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Christmas Stocking Drive

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Our Students Care

In addition to the programs mentioned above, the school community is very responsive to specific needs, whether brought to our attention by staff or students.  Examples would include a sixth grade student who collected used books for redistribution as well as raising money or supplies for soldiers serving in Iraq, school children in Appalachia, a family who lost their home to a fire, and the victims of the tsunami disaster.  Our students have made heart-shaped prayer chains for those who are ill.  At the time of the Station Fire in Warwick, Rhode Island, our fifth grade students made “angel books” for those who had been burned.    Our students love to feel as though they have helped others in the giving of their time and talents to those in need.

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The Life of Saint Bridget

Saint Bridget, more properly, Brigid, one of the patron saints of Ireland, was born as Faughert in County Louth; her birth date was around 460.  Her mother was a slave-girl, but the child was acknowledged by her father, a Prince of Ulster, and given to a foster mother to rear. 

Having been instructed in letters and the accomplishments of embroidery and household duties, she was sought in marriage by an eager suitor whom she rejected on the grounds that she had vowed “her virginity to the Lord.”  Refusing to marry, she chose a life of seclusion, making her cell, the first in Ireland, under a large oak tree, whence the place was called Kil-dara, “the Church of the Oak.”  The city of Kildare is supposed to have derived its name from St. Brigid’s cell.

The Life of St. Brigid, written in the seventh century, represents her as a new type of Irish Woman – the Christian Saint.  Her likeness to modern missionary sisters is remarkable; she often left Kildare in her chariot, doing the work of the Lord’s charity in distant parts.  To her countrymen she was “the Mary of the Gael”, and when they went as missionaries and pilgrims to the continent of Europe, they spread devotion to her whenever they settled.  St. Brigid, St. Patrick, and St. Colmcille are the three patrons saints of Ireland. 

St. Ignatius of Loyolahamrock is associated with St. Patrick, so is the tiny cross made of rushes linked to Brigid.  While explaining the Passion to a dying pagan, she wove a cross from the rushes strewn about the floor.  They are still made in Ireland today and placed in the rafters of cottages on St. Brigid’s Day, February first, to ward off harm.

The year of her death is generally placed around 528.  She was buried at Kildare, but her remains were afterwards translated to Downpatrick, where they were laid beside the bodies of St. Patrick and St. Columba.  Her feast is celebrated on the first of February.  A large collection of miraculous stories clustered around her name, and her reputation was not confined to Ireland, for under the name of St. Bride, she became a favorite saint in England and Scotland.

A beautiful stained glass window depicting St. Bridget brightens the left panel of our church altar.  A balance of patron saints is achieved with the presentation of St. Patrick in the right panel.  The Abington parish of St. Bridget eloquently expresses its devotion to Saint Bridget with this window.

We gratefully thank the parish webmaster for allowing us to use this information! 

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Catholic Schools Week

Catholic Schools Week is celebrated throughout the Archdiocese of Boston and always begins on the last Sunday of January. 

We usually have different activities planned for each day of the week. These are the traditional activities:

Monday - School Mass, grade eight assisting

Tuesday - Teachers' Luncheon

Thursday - Variety Show preview; Pastor's pizza day

Friday - Blue & Gold Day; Pep Rally; room mothers usually send in snacks on this day; half-day; afternoon activity usually planned by PTO

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The Stations of the Cross

The First Station – Jesus is condemned to die.

The Second Station – Jesus takes up his cross.

The Third Station – Jesus falls for the first time.

The Fourth Station – Jesus meets his mother.

The Fifth Station – Simon helps Jesus carry His cross.

The Sixth Station – Veronica wipes the face of Jesus.

The Seventh Station – Jesus falls for the second time.

The Eighth Station – Jesus meets the crying women.

The Ninth Station – Jesus falls for the third time.

The Tenth Station – The soldiers take Jesus’ clothes.

The Eleventh Station – Jesus is nailed to the cross.

The Twelfth Station – Jesus dies on the cross.

The Thirteenth Station – Jesus is taken down from the cross.

The Fourteenth Station – Jesus is buried in the tomb.

Resurrection!    Alleluia, Alleluia!

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Prayers Children Should Know

Sign of the Cross

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Glory to the Father

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.  Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.  Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death.  Amen.

Our Father

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation.  But deliver us from evil.  Amen.

Apostle’s Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.  He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.  He descended to the dead.  On the third day he rose again.  He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.  I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.  Amen.

The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.  We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father.  Through him all things were made.  For us men and our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.  For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died, and was buried. On the third day, he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his Kingdom will have no end.  We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.  With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.  He has spoken through the Prophets.  We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.  We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.  We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.  Amen.

Blessing Before Meals

Bless us, O Lord, and these, thy gifts, which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Grace After Meals

We give thee thanks, Almighty God, for all thy gifts which have received from thy bounty, through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

The Five Finger Prayer

1. Your thumb is nearest you. So begin your prayers by praying for those closest to you. They are the easiest to remember. To pray for our loved ones is, as C. S. Lewis once said, a "sweet duty."

2. The next finger is the pointing finger. Pray for those who teach, instruct and heal. This includes teachers, doctors, and ministers. They need support and wisdom in pointing others in the right direction. Keep them in your prayers.

3 The next finger is the tallest finger. It reminds us of our leaders. Pray for the president, leaders in business and industry, and administrators. These people shape our nation and guide public opinion. They need God's guidance.

4. The fourth finger is our ring finger. Surprising to many is the fact that this is our weakest finger, as any piano teacher will testify. It should remind us to pray for those who are weak, in trouble or in pain. They need your prayers day and night. You cannot pray too much for them.

5. And lastly comes our little finger - the smallest finger of all which is where we should place ourselves in relation to God and others. As the Bible says, "The least shall be the greatest among you." Your pinkie should remind you to pray for yourself. By the time you have prayed for the other four groups, your own needs will be put into proper perspective and you will be able to pray for yourself more effectively.

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Prayers for the Rosary

Sign of the Cross

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Apostle’s Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.  He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.  He descended to the dead.  On the third day he rose again.  He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.  I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.  Amen.

Our Father

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation.  But deliver us from evil.  Amen.

Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.  Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus.  Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death.  Amen.

Glory to the Father

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

The Fatima Decade Prayer

Oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins and save us from the fires of hell.  Lead all souls to heaven, especially those who are most in need of your mercy.

Hail, Holy Queen

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope.  To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.  To you do we send up our sighs, mourning, and weeping in this valley of tears.  Turn then, most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show us unto the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.  O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!  Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.  That we made be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Prayer After the Rosary

O God, whose only-begotten Son, by his life, death and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life: grant, we beseech you, that we who meditate upon these mysteries of the most holy rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, may imitate what the contain and obtain what they promise.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen

How to Pray the Rosary

1.         Make the Sign of the Cross and say the “Apostle’s Creed.”

2.         Say the “Our Father.”

3.         Say three “Hail Marys.”

4.         Say the “Glory be to the Father.”

5.         Announce the first mystery; then say the “Our Father.”

6.         Say ten “Hail Marys,” while meditating on the mystery.

7.         Say the “Glory be to the Father” and the “Fatima Prayer.”

8.         Announce the second mystery; then say the “Our Father.” 

        Repeat 6 and 7, and continue with third, fourth, and fifth mysteries in the same manner.

9.         Say the “Hail Holy Queen.”

10.      Say the “Prayer After the Rosary.”

Mysteries of the Rosary

Joyful   (Monday and Saturday)

Annunciation of the birth of Jesus to Mary by the angel Gabriel

Visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth

Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple

Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple by Mary and Joseph

Sorrowful  (Tuesday and Friday)

Agony of Christ in the garden

Scourging of Jesus at the pillar

Placing of the crown of thorns on the head of Jesus

Carrying the Cross by Jesus

Crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ

Glorious  (Wednesday and Sunday)

Resurrection of our Lord from the dead

Ascension of our Lord into heaven

Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles on Pentecost

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven

Coronation of the Virgin Mary

Luminous  (Thursday)

John baptizes Jesus in the Jordan

Jesus reveals his glory at the wedding of Cana

Jesus proclaims the Kingdom of God and calls us to conversion

The Transfiguration of Jesus

Jesus gives us the Eucharist

Rosary Dates

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How Do I Address Our Church Leaders?

    As a point of courtesy, all Catholics should be familiar with the proper forms of address for our church leaders.  Observing the formalities help us to show respect for these authorities.

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Getting More Out of the Bible

     If you have ever read a Bible passage and couldn’t figure out what God was trying to say to you in that passage, these helpful hints are for you!  Although we know that God reveals himself to us in Scripture, sometimes what God is trying to reveal is just too hard.  The following suggestions might help you.

Pick a passage to read.  Perhaps the readings from the daily Mass would be a good place to start. 

            http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/index.html

Take a moment before starting to read to say a prayer.  Remember that prayer can take on many forms, even singing!

When you have really focused yourself and are ready, read the Scripture passage you have chosen. 

Read it through a second time, slowly.  Look for words or phrases that strike you. 

Imagine yourself in the situation you have been reading about in the passage. 

Imagine that God is speaking these words to you. 

Don’t rush to move or respond; stay quiet.  You may notice thoughts, in the form of words or pictures, come into your mind.  This may be God speaking to you.  You may feel closer to God or more hopeful, loving or ready to forgive. 

You might try writing in a journal what it is that you think God is saying to you or what you might say back to God in this situation.

Close your session with a prayer/song of praise or thanksgiving.

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