The St. Columba Shepherd - 1/19/24

READ THE SHEPHERD

FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2024

The

ST. COLUMBA SHEPHERD GUIDANCE FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

EACH WEEK THE ST. COLUMBA SHEPHERD provides all the information you need to know and links to things that you might need to cross off your list. Stay organized by reading it every week and making sure that you add events and deadlines to your calendar!

LET'S DO IT!

DATES TO REMEMBER 1/24 - School Mass - 4th Grade Leading Liturgy - 8:15 1/24 - DHS Counselors Visit 8th Grade - 9:30 1/27-2/3 - Catholic Schools Week 1/29 - School Mass - 2nd Grade Leading Liturgy - 8:15 (Mass on Monday this week) 1/29 - Class Service Projects 1/30 - Talent Show - 1:30

1/31 - St. Columba School Day of Giving 1/31 - Dodgeball Tournament - 1:00 1/31 - K-2 - Afternoon of Fun - 1:00 1/31 - Whole School Ice Cream Party - 2:30 2/1 - Prayer & Praise Assembly / 2nd Quarter Honor Roll - 8:15 2/1 - 6-8 Adoration 2/2 - Volleyball Game - 2:15 2/3 - Catholic Schools Week Mass & Carnival - 5:00 2/7 - School Mass - 8th Grade Leading Liturgy - 8:15 2/13 - Burning of the Palms - 10:00 2/13 - Valentine’s Parties - 2:30 2/14 - School Mass - 5th Grade Leading Liturgy - 8:15 Ash Wednesday 2/19 - No School - Presidents Day

WWW.STCOLUMBASCHOOLDURANGO.ORG/

970-247-5527

Save the Date: St. Columba Day of Giving Wednesday, January 31, 2024 Our Annual Day of Giving is a historic day of collective generosity for our community. This special 24-hour online event will be an opportunity for parents and guardians, grandparents, alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends of St. Columba to come together to make a powerful impact on the 287 students growing and learning at our school each day.

Gifts given during this 24-hour appeal will be put to immediate use to support a myriad of needs, including compensation and professional development for our faculty, bolstering classroom equipment, educational technology and infrastructure, and maintaining our aging facilities.

Funds impact students directly by providing supplies and books, tuition assistance, extracurricular programs and activities, and ensuring our school maintains academic excellence by enhancing programs such as visual and performing arts, STEM, Spanish, and self-awareness and social-emotional intelligence curriculum.

We have set a goal of raising $250,000.

We need your help and hope you will join our mission in raising funds for this year's Day of Giving.

We continue to be humbled by your generosity and the success of St. Columba's Day of Giving 2023, during which over 500 supportive donors came together to raise over $245,000. This is a true testament to you, our wonderful community members, and your commitment to our mission.

Let's join together and support everything we love about St. Columba on January 31st!

Thank you for your faithful support!

In 1965, Sister Mary Kenneth Keller became the first person in the United States to earn a Ph.D. in computer science.

You can read more about Sister Keller here .

Your gift directly supports our mission of: "Teaching Gospel truth and moral value in an environment of academic excellence according to Catholic tradition" 1882 GIVING SOCIETY Named in honor of our founding year, the 1882 Giving Society recognizes individuals, families, and businesses who make annual gifts (including matching gifts) for $1,882 or more in support of St. Columba's Annual Campaign.

Membership is renewable annually. Society members receive special recognition in St. Columba's Annual Report and are invited to special events including a celebration of Cocktails, Chocolate & Wine at Animas Chocolate following the Day of Giving. The society celebrates donors who represent every constituency, including parents, grandparents, alumni, parishioners, and our many friends of St. Columba School. We thank each donor for their generosity and commitment to the students, teachers, and families that St. Columba serves. To become an 1882 Giving Society Member today, please visit https://stcolumbaschoolgiving.org or contact giving@stcolumbaschooldurango.org.

Catholic Schools Week (CSW) January 28 - February 3 Since 1974, National Catholic Schools Week has been the annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States. We celebrate CSW with Mass and activities throughout the week including themed dress-up days and a talent show! Students, families, parishioners, and community members attend these events. The focus throughout these events is always on the value Catholic education provides our students and its contributions to our church, our communities and our nation. More details to come CSW MASS AND PEACE,

LOVE, AND SNOWDOWN CARNIVAL, Please click HERE THEME for the full Catholic Schools Week schedule including Mass 3 SATURDAY, FEBRUARY

with Bishop Berg, our Day of Giving, lots of fun activities and dress up days, and student favorite lunches.

CSW Mass and Peace, Love, and Snowdown Carnival, Saturday, February 3 It might be cold outside in February, but warm-hearted fun goes on at the annual Catholic Schools Week Family Mass and Carnival. Plan to come to the 5:00pm Mass on Saturday to celebrate with your St. Columba family. We’ll then head to the school gym to enjoy our CSW carnival full of games, food, drinks, and laughter. This is a very popular event for our students. This carnival and dinner is completely FREE as we thank you for being part of our St. Columba community. You don’t want to miss it.

Help us plan ahead by reserving your food by clicking HERE .

It's quick and easy. Craft beer, and wine will be offered for a suggested $5 donation.

As always your helping hands are needed to provide the fun by helping to serve the meal, at the bar, or working a shift at one of the fun carnival games. Click HERE to sign up.

Middle School Students will be offering face painting and are also welcome to help work any of the other carnival games! Click HERE to sign up.

We would love to see our young alumni high school students, older siblings, and former teachers and staff! We will have tables reserved for these guests to visit with one another, and catch up. Spread the word!

ST. COLUMBA’S DAY OF GIVING IN SCHOOL EVENTS Not only will there be action taking place online as we raise funds from far and wide, the real fun will take place on campus on January 31. In the afternoon the Middle School Students will take on the Teachers in a competitive Dodgeball Tournament at 1:00. Grades 3 and 4 will cheer for their favorite team in the gym while Grades K through 2 will enjoy arts & crafts, a special movie, and a dance party. Immediately following the game and dance party, a school-wide Ice Cream Celebration will close the day before dismissal.

Parents Coffee, Friday, February 9th, 8am at Taste (after morning drop off): Join the Parents Association for coffee and fellowship on the 2nd Friday of every month starting in February. All are welcome!

Come have coffee or tea with other parents on the 2nd Friday of every month. This will be an opportunity to connect with each other and discuss school happenings. This month's topics will include sharing ideas for upcoming spring events. We look forward to seeing you!

VOA DONATION DRIVE: ITEMS STILL NEEDED For our Catholic Schools Week service project, the fifth grade is hosting a gently used items donation drive. Items can be dropped off outside the front office anytime before Friday, January 26th. Your donations will help our local Durango VOA. Contact Mrs. Bowman with questions, kbowman@stcolumbaschooldurango.org.

Gently used: gloves, backpacks, tents, sleeping pads, yoga mats, sleeping bags, reusable water bottles, blankets, winter hats, coats, clothes: MENS ONLY No women’s or children’s clothes please

Save the Date - Prayer & Praise Assembly Feb. 1 All students will be attending our next Prayer & Praise assembly on February 1st at 8:15 and families are invited to join us. Each assembly includes lessons from Fr. Kevin and Mr. Chick, an introduction of our Friendzy theme of the month, and honoring our St. Columba award winners who go above and beyond expectations. At our February Prayer & Praise, we will also be recognizing out 4th-8th graders who made honor roll for the 2nd quarter.

Check next week’s St. Columba Shepherd for a list of those honor roll recipients!

THE PRESCHOOL CORNER Our preschoolers have been busy with lots of learning during their work time and enjoying fun times with their 4th grade buddies!

REFLECTION QUESTIONS FR. KEVIN PROVIDES WEEKLY SCRIPTURE REFLECTION QUESTIONS TO HELP INDIVIDUALS ENRICH THEIR FAITH BY CONTEMPLATING SUNDAY READINGS.

Based on the readings for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Readings: Jon 3:1-5, 10/1 Cor 7:29-31/Mk 1:14-20 (68) Pss III Our first reading on this Third Sunday of the Year tells the abridged story of Jonah. We remember that this unwilling prophet was swallowed by a whale when he “declined” to speak God’s words of warning to non-Jewish people. After he is finally spit out, Jonah decides to do God’s bidding Many of us have had times when the next best step wasn’t clear. Have you had a time of turmoil, of unknowing that preceded an important phase in your relationship with God? How did God get your attention? Do you remember the darkness most or what came later?

Paul’s First Letter to Corinth that we read this week focuses on the important but potentially distracting parts of daily life. Although it reads like either/or, if we are focused primarily God’s presence in our lives, do we really give up all concerns, or do they find a place in God’s presence?

Two weeks ago we heard from John’s gospel how John the Baptizer’s identification of Jesus as the Lamb of God provided the opportunity for Andrew to follow Jesus. Today, we read Marrk’s perspective of the call of two sets of brothers in Galilee. These folks are not yet real disciples of Jesus, but we catch a glimpse of their transition of leaving what is known and stepping into the unknown. What is your own keystone awareness of God in your life? Was it a kind of “Aha!” experience or a slow searching, following and finding yourself in a deeper place in relationship with Christ?

THE PARISH CONNECTION

A T S T . C O L U M B A C H U R C H , W E A R E D E D IC A T E D T O C RE A T IN G A V IB RA N T A N D W E L C O M I N G C O M M U N IT Y F O R F A M IL IE S A N D IN D IV ID U A L S S E E K I N G F A I T H F O R M A T I O N . H E R E A R E S O M E O F T H E E X C IT IN G A C T I V I T I E S T H A T W E O F F E R E A C H W E E K . W E IN V IT E Y O U T O J O IN U S F O R T H E S E E V E N T S A N D E X P E R IE N C E T H E W A R M T H A N D H O S P IT A L IT Y O F T H E S T . C O L U M B A C O M M U N IT Y .

Childcare will be provided

THE PARISH CONNECTION continued...

THANK YOU TO OUR GENEROUS SPONSORS

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