West Bend hosts retreat during Catholic Schools Week

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
February 9, 2006

WEST BEND - Catholic Schools Week brought three schools from the Diocese of Sioux City together on Feb. 1 for a retreat at Sts. Peter and Paul School in West Bend.

The kindergarten through eighth grade students from Emmetsburg Catholic, Pocahontas Catholic and West Bend Sts. Peter and Paul School joined in the all-day retreat. Including the teachers, staff and students, there were nearly 200 people who participated in the day.

The day began with Mass celebrated by Father Edmund Tiedeman at Sts. Peter and Paul Church.

During the day there were different activities for the students to participate in. The first was called Sacrifice Beads and was led by Kristy Liechti, principal at Pocahontas Catholic.

At the top there is a Madonna medallion with 10 beads that come down from that and a crucifix is at the bottom. The 10 beads in the middle are movable.

"Those 10 beads represent 10 good deeds or 10 gifts that you give back to Jesus," said Liechti. "It is a good marker system for children or adults to be able to keep track of how many good deeds they do for God throughout the day and sacrifices they make in God's name."

The beads were given to Liechti from a couple in Illinois, who provide Sacrifice Beads, free, to Catholic schools all over the United States. She pointed out that the beads can also be used for a decade of the rosary.

"We did a little bit of reflection on what would validate a movement of the beads - what would be considered gifts to God," said Liechti. "We went off the Ten Commandments."

Another activity consisted of the students making a scratch art cross. They put different colors under black and then scratched out a design or word.

"We talked about the Gospel values before we did any scratching," said Jean Hyslop, principal at Sts. Peter and Paul School and Emmetsburg Catholic School. "We talked about how the Gospel values can bring the brightness and the different colors into our lives."

Hyslop added that the students designed whatever they wanted on their cross. Some of them wrote compassion, faith or their school name and others scratched until all the colors showed through.

The students were also able to play Catholic quiz bowl depending on when they finished their crosses.

Each of the schools brought their own sack lunches. The students were separated by grade and ate in the classrooms.

After lunch the whole group - students and teachers - went out to the Grotto of the Redemption and did the stations of the cross.

All of the students then went back into the church to participate in music ministry. Angela Naïve sang Bible Bops for the group.

"We did that for about an hour and had everyone standing, dancing, singing and doing actions," said Hyslop.

The day concluded with a prayer service with the Prayer of St. Francis. As each student left, they received a bracelet with the phrase, "I love my Catholic school," on it.

"There are so many good things that come out of this retreat," said Liechti. "It is awesome to see that many Catholic kids in one area really praising God and reflecting and doing things that are really focused in their religion and spirituality. The little kids are seeing what the older kids are doing and how they are reacting to God's word - how they act in church."

Retreats in the schools for Catholic Schools Week have been going on for a long time. Only in the last two years have all three schools come together for that, Hyslop pointed out.

"It has been a very positive experience each year," said Hyslop. "We work together to plan it - Kristy and I do. Sts. Peter and Paul teachers were part of my staff this year to help put it all together."

According to Hyslop, it is hard to get the students to intermix with the different schools but by the end of the day they are all mixed together.

"By taking time out for prayer and building community, we are helping the students understand what the basis and foundation of Catholic schools is - prayer, community, faith. Sts. Peter and Paul is a small school. It brings all those children together to show them that they are all Catholic and they are all sharing their faith together," said Hyslop. "We don't do anything else that day. It is a day to focus on faith."

She concluded that it is important to "take time out for prayer and the faith and realize that is why we are here. That is what makes a Catholic school distinctive."

The retreat will be hosted in Pocahontas next year, noted Liechti.