St. Pat’s students learn about faith of school namesake
By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on March 18, 2023.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com Students and staff at St. Patrick Fine Arts Elementary School celebrated St. Patrick’s day Friday, not only by wearing green but also by learning more about the saint himself.Principal Kathy Jones-Husch said St. Patrick is the most famous saint in the world and the school celebrates him every year.
“He is a really strong role model as far as just leaning into trusting God, he didn’t grow up in the faith, didn’t have a lot of support but made that commitment and recognized ‘I have the power to make great change, I have the power to just let God make my decision so my life is not so burdened and not so heavy’ so he’s a really strong role model among the Saints for the kids here at school,” said Jones-Husch.
She said that to celebrate St. Patrick’s day, students took part in retreat activities to reflect on how they are showing their commitment through action, through forgiveness and through prayer.
For one of the activities, students built one-decade rosaries to represent the complete rosary with green beads, gold beads, wood beads and a cross.
“That way they have a quick and easy tool to lean on the prayers of the rosary whenever they might need them, so lots of kids will attach them to their backpacks or they might keep them at home just with their bedside tables,” said Jones-Husch.
She said another activity the students took part in was a simulation of carrying extra burdens in their lives, in which they had backpacks filled with rocks representing their burdens.
“The kids could all name things that they find hard to do, and as they carry the weight of that burden, their reflection would give them a chance to imagine what they could do to make their load lighter,” said Jones-Husch.
She said the exercise represented how St. Patrick decided to lean on God for his burdens and the relief he felt when He took those burdens off him.
“They had a chance to imagine ‘what if I did some things in my life so I didn’t have to bear all those burdens, I could lean on others, I could lean on my loved ones, I could lean on my God and let him take some of those pieces’ and the backpack would get emptied of those rocks and ideally the students would feel the difference,” said Jones-Husch.
She said one lesson they were hoping to instill in the students was of building resilience and having an understanding that they could do hard things because God is with them and He was taking their burdens.
Jones-Husch said the school staff has been sharing with their students the fact that St. Patrick’s church would be celebrating Mass for St. Patrick’s day and they were encouraging them to attend.
“The ability to go and enjoy Saint Patrick church again is an exciting addition to the plans for Saint Patrick’s Day today,” said Jones-Husch. Follow @APulidoHerald on Twitter 4
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