Schools, parishes use All Saints Day as a teaching tool
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
By Mary Stadnyk | Associate Editor
Every Halloween, sixth-graders in All Saints Regional Catholic School, Manahawkin, put aside traditional costume ideas and instead dress as their favorite saint in order to host an All Saints Wax Museum for the entire school.
Photo Gallery: All Saints Day Around the Diocese
“We celebrate all the saints who guide us from good and bad,” said sixth-grader Nicole, who enjoyed telling why she chose to emulate St. Gerard, the patron saint of expectant mothers and newborn children.
“When I get older, I would like to be a mother and have a saint watch over me,” she said.
Photo Gallery: All Saints Day
The students, sixth-grade teacher Barbara Panagis explained, must research a saint of their choosing, create a costume and write a speech about their saint in the first person.
By doing so, “The children receive a small glimpse through preparedness and by listening to speeches on how saints lived and what we can learn from their unselfish actions,” she said. “As disciples of Jesus, it’s important for students to truly understand what it means to live our faith.”
All Saints Regional was one of many schools and parishes around the Diocese to highlight holy men and women, using their lives as teaching tools for All Saints Day. In Pope John Paul II Regional School, Willingboro, fourth-grade students dressed as saints for the Oct. 31 Halloween parade and then Nov. 1 for the All Saints Day Mass celebrated in Corpus Christi Church, which shares a campus with the school.
In St. Anthony Claret Parish, Lakewood, youth and members of the parish’s pro-life ministry took part in planning the All Saints Mass, during which youngsters had a chance to tell about their saint. This year, Jeana Tejada talked about St. Teresa of Kolkata, Edwin Chacon focused on newly canonized St. Oscar Romero and Ashley Rosales taught about St. Kateri Tekakwitha.
Father Guilherme Andrino, parochial vicar, explained how not only do many parents take part in the celebration by dressing as a saint, he, too, gets into the spirit by wearing a costume. This year, he dressed as a doctor to represent St. Luke.
He said the parish “de-emphasizes monsters and gore and re-emphasizes All Hallows’ Eve as a day to prepare for All Saints Day and come together to ask for God’s blessing and protection from the evil in the world,” he said.
[[In-content Ad]]Related Stories
Wednesday, November 06, 2024
E-Editions
Events
By Mary Stadnyk | Associate Editor
Every Halloween, sixth-graders in All Saints Regional Catholic School, Manahawkin, put aside traditional costume ideas and instead dress as their favorite saint in order to host an All Saints Wax Museum for the entire school.
Photo Gallery: All Saints Day Around the Diocese
“We celebrate all the saints who guide us from good and bad,” said sixth-grader Nicole, who enjoyed telling why she chose to emulate St. Gerard, the patron saint of expectant mothers and newborn children.
“When I get older, I would like to be a mother and have a saint watch over me,” she said.
Photo Gallery: All Saints Day
The students, sixth-grade teacher Barbara Panagis explained, must research a saint of their choosing, create a costume and write a speech about their saint in the first person.
By doing so, “The children receive a small glimpse through preparedness and by listening to speeches on how saints lived and what we can learn from their unselfish actions,” she said. “As disciples of Jesus, it’s important for students to truly understand what it means to live our faith.”
All Saints Regional was one of many schools and parishes around the Diocese to highlight holy men and women, using their lives as teaching tools for All Saints Day. In Pope John Paul II Regional School, Willingboro, fourth-grade students dressed as saints for the Oct. 31 Halloween parade and then Nov. 1 for the All Saints Day Mass celebrated in Corpus Christi Church, which shares a campus with the school.
In St. Anthony Claret Parish, Lakewood, youth and members of the parish’s pro-life ministry took part in planning the All Saints Mass, during which youngsters had a chance to tell about their saint. This year, Jeana Tejada talked about St. Teresa of Kolkata, Edwin Chacon focused on newly canonized St. Oscar Romero and Ashley Rosales taught about St. Kateri Tekakwitha.
Father Guilherme Andrino, parochial vicar, explained how not only do many parents take part in the celebration by dressing as a saint, he, too, gets into the spirit by wearing a costume. This year, he dressed as a doctor to represent St. Luke.
He said the parish “de-emphasizes monsters and gore and re-emphasizes All Hallows’ Eve as a day to prepare for All Saints Day and come together to ask for God’s blessing and protection from the evil in the world,” he said.
[[In-content Ad]]