Students reflect on Lent through prayer, service

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
March 6, 2008

Lent is a time for fasting, prayer and almsgiving. Catholic schools in the Diocese of Sioux City are doing all of those things in various ways.

Gehlen Catholic

Le Mars Gehlen Catholic has student- and staff-led prayer each morning. The focus this year is Believe in the Journey, signifying Christ's journey through his faith journey as well as personal faith journeys.

"During Lent each day the readings are based on that and a step we can take along the journey," said Lorie Nussbaum, pre-kindergarten through sixth grade principal at Gehlen.

Calendars have been provided for all of the students to take home. There are suggestions of things to do during Lent printed on the calendar for each day. A couple examples include going to reconciliation or smiling at someone they don't normally associate with. The different suggestions are mentioned during the morning prayer.

"In our trophy case, we have different kinds of shoes - baby shoes, adult shoes. Each day a new shoe is added," said Nussbaum. "It has the same message of what we are going to do for the day."

They are collecting items for the Mission Honduras trip that is leaving in March. The students are also raising money to be sent to four other missions in Tanzania, India, Mexico and Philippines.

Other activities being held during Lent include reconciliation, musical Stations of the Cross and ending each day with the Act of Contrition.

Sacred Heart School

At Sacred Heart School in Boone students are participating in Project Mississippi. Items are being collected to send including toys, dental supplies, books, crayons, etc.

Last year students collected items for people in Mississippi. Representatives from the school went to Mississippi to deliver the items. Sister Rose Hacker, who teaches at Sacred Heart, knows sisters in Mississippi who have a health clinic where the items went.

The students are also raising money for the Rice Bowl and going to reconciliation during Lent.

The living Stations of the Cross will be presented by the youth group the week before Easter. Stations of the Cross are also available during Lent for classes to participate in.

Kindergarten teacher, Sandy Sawyer, said that Lent is about doing things for others, reaching out to others and trying to be more loving.

St. Rose of Lima School

Students at St. Rose of Lima School in Denison raised money to put a crucifix in the parish center. They had bake sales to raise the money.

The crucifix will be placed in the parish center during a special ceremony on Holy Thursday.

On Wednesdays the students bring in money from whatever they gave up for Lent. The money goes into a jar and will be given to a charity.

`The students participate in Stations of the Cross on Friday afternoons.

Robert Meyer, principal at St. Rose of Lima, said that having events during Lent "gives them a personal view of what Lent is really about. Hopefully they keep it up all year."

St. Mary School

Before school starts each morning at St. Mary's in Storm Lake a Lenten prayer is read by a student and teacher.

A jean day was held to raise money to send to the Lantern Center, an organization that helps mothers and young children, in Dubuque. The students each paid $1 to wear jeans for the day. They are also holding a can drive.

According to Bev Mach, principal at St. Mary's, the high school students are in the process of organizing a day of fasting. The students will give up their lunch money for that day and fast during lunch.

"They are also trying to get community members to support them with pledges. The money would be given to a charity," she said. "They are also going to ask the community members to give up their lunch for a day."

Mach believes that children have to "experience the things we read about. We can't just talk about what other people have done and say we should do that. The school has to provide opportunities for them to step out of their comfort zone and come forward and say, 'I did this and I learned something from it.' The school has to provide opportunities for experiences."

Seton Grade School

At Seton Grade School in Algona, the general activities during Lent are based on fasting, prayer and almsgiving. Suggestions for fasting include eating dessert one less day each week or finding ways to stop wasteful habits. Prayer suggestions include reading Scripture for five minutes each day or taking silent time to listen to God. Suggestions for almsgiving include volunteering to serve at parish events or being cooperative and cheerful as students.

The students and teachers were given lists of things they can do at each level during Lent.

Monday morning of each week prayer is held at 8:22.

A crucifix was hung in the middle school hallway. Footprints from each homebase will be placed around the crucifix. Weekly each homebase receives a footprint to write something the students are doing to go along with the theme for the week. The theme for weeks one and four is fasting and is represented by a purple footprint. Weeks two and five are represented by a pink footprint signifying prayer. Almsgiving is the theme for weeks three and six and represented by a tan footprint.

There will be living Stations of the Cross the morning of Holy Thursday.

Heelan High School

At Heelan High School in Sioux City a student vs. faculty intramural game is planned for 7 p.m. March 11 in the main gym to raise money for Project Rehema. The suggested donation is $2. Project Rehema was started by a Heelan alum, who works to build orphanages for children with AIDS in Tanzania.

They also continue to collect alms for other missions including the water project with the Franciscan sisters and CRS until Easter. Each religion class prays the stations in the chapel weekly.

A Lenten theme has been chosen for each week that is implemented in classroom prayer and weekly Mass. The first two weeks the theme was The Way...to discipleship. The second two weeks was The Way...of the Cross. The last two weeks will be The Way... the Truth and the Life.

"We have specific Bible passages for each week that the classes can read together," said Kathryn Fairchild, the campus minister at Heelan. "We have various symbolic items - sandals, cross, tombstone - that we process into Mass with each week."

Other schools throughout the diocese also continue to plan services and activities during Lent.