Lent activities planned to prepare students for Easter

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
March 22, 2007

Schools throughout the Diocese of Sioux City have planned various activities and prayer opportunities for students during the Lenten season.

At Pocahontas Catholic in Pocahontas, the students have made prayer pots out of clay in their religion classes.

"For each Sunday throughout Lent, students put an item in to reflect upon the love of Christ and how we need to become more loving people, forgiving people and kind people," said Kristy Liechti, principal at Pocahontas Catholic.

She explained that the clay pots are displayed in front of her office on a shelf with their initials on them.

"They put in a paper heart to remind them to love one another, be kind to one another, especially during this Lenten season," said Liechti. "The second Sunday of Lent, we put in a seed to represent that they are always growing in Christ and growing in the way of love."

She added that for the third Sunday of Lent, the students put a rubber band in their pots. This is to remind the students that God is flexible in his "love, giving and forgiveness." Another item the students will put in their pots is a piece of a puzzle.

"On April 5 we will have a Lenten retreat. It will be a center-based retreat for the students to prepare for Easter," said Liechti. "One of the centers that we have will be a prayer pot center and will go through all of the items again."

Danbury Catholic in Danbury begins the Lenten season with a retreat on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. The students participated in different centers. At one center the students viewed a pre-Easter video. There was also an art center and a reflective activity led by Liechti, principal at Danbury Catholic as well.

"So many times Lent has become that time when Catholics don't eat meat on Fridays," said Liechti. "I think that if we teach the kids and it becomes more of a habit that they prepare and reflect every year for Lent, more will be fulfilled as they become adults."

Danbury Catholic has a tradition of planning a prayer service and Stations of the Cross that revolves around their Lenten theme. Liechti pointed out that this year's theme is Praying, Giving, Loving and Alms.

"We have a weekly theme and the teachers and students plan the prayer service or the Stations of the Cross," said Liechti. "Every Monday throughout the Lenten season the staff gets together to divide the grades and who will be responsible for planning which week."

The stations are at 11 a.m. every other Monday morning in St. Mary's Church in Danbury. The prayer services are held on the opposite Mondays at 8:35 a.m. in the hallway for school prayer.

At Danbury Catholic, they are also doing a version of the rice bowl and plan to gather money to send to Le Mars to help buy supplies for their mission trips.

"When you start traditions, that is what kids look back on when they are older," said Liechti. "If you make that a spiritual or religious piece in their education, what more could you ask for."

According to Amanda Vande Vegte, fifth grade teacher at Holy Cross School in Sioux City, students at Holy Cross School-Blessed Sacrament Center recently participated in an all school Stations of the Cross in the school gym.

Another part of Lent at Holy Cross is changing the seating arrangement during lunch.

"Everyone has a seating chart at lunch by grade," said Vande Vegte. "It is different so they are now sitting by someone new and don't always sit by."

The students have participated in reconciliation. There are plans to say the rosary with the students as well.

Vande Vegte noted that the Lent committee decided to plan the theme around Rachel's Challenge that they did earlier this year.

"We gave teachers a list of things to do and asked them to pick one or two activities to do in their rooms, so not everyone does the same thing," said Vande Vegte.

One activity is the positive name chart. Another is an action chain. If a student sees or does a positive action, they write it down and make a chain link out of it. A suggestion was also made to have prayer services in classrooms or a Seder meal.

The middle school and elementary school students at St. Edmond School in Fort Dodge are participating in eucharistic adoration every Friday. The elementary students are also collecting money in Lenten banks. The money will be divided between several local charities, noted Mary Lynn Biggins, director of marketing and public information at St. Edmond.

Some of the sixth graders at St. Ed's are doing the Stations of the Cross and collecting for a boy in India. The boy is having corrective surgery on a malformed foot.

A high school math instructor is having the students pray for the RCIA and RCIC members that will join the church. The respect life group at St. Ed's is leading the Chaplet of Divine Mercy during lunch on Mondays as well.

Biggins pointed out that the entire school will participate in a reconciliation service on March 28.

She explained that having Lenten activities "teaches each one of the kids how important giving is."

At Kuemper in Carroll, money was collected at Mardi Gras. The funds will be used locally to support the food pantry and other things going on in Carroll during Lent.

In all their theology classes, the students went to the chapel and did a special Stations of the Cross, stated Kathryn Braddy, assistant director of campus ministry.

"Lent provides a time when all of us look inward to examine our life and decide on how we need to change to strengthen our relationship with God," said Braddy. "Lenten activities provide us with answers to where those changes need to take place, and they also ask us to look out and see how we can make change happen for others who are less fortunate than us."

There will be a reconciliation service held in which students will put a nail into a cross with nail holes in it.

"It is a very powerful visual," said Braddy. "That will be the focal point of the service."

The students also attend Mass with their buddies with the focus being on Lent. Each homeroom in the high school is paired with an elementary classroom.