Latest Cathedral Kids Message
August 25, 2008
- Cathedral Parents - Where did we get the Bible?
Our Mission: "We will be disciples of Christ and fishers of men."
Welcome
Dear parents,
Well, one week down, and I think it was a great success, with the snags of a new year almost unnoticeable. One area of our school that received special notice from the students was in the cafeteria, where Mrs. Gladbach and her two new assistants, Mrs. Schulte and Mrs. Cleaver, have been working hard to provide tasty and healthy lunches. Mrs. Gladbach spent much of her summer researching homecooked recipes to provide the type of meals that you would hope to fix your children at home. Even many of the kids who requested alternatives have had changes of heart when they have seen and smelled what their classmates are eating. Especially popular were the yeast rolls that the staff made from scratch, thanks to a recipe from Mrs. Nivens. If you get a chance, e-mail Mrs. Gladbach at wendy.gladbach@cathedralschooljc.com to let her know how much you appreciate her hard work for your kids.
As many of you know, one of the ways that I try to help you to have a voice in our school is through the polling feature at our school blog. If you visit, you will see a poll at the top, right-hand portion of the page, asking about Welcome Back Sunday. My own thoughts on the way this event traditionally takes place is that, with the very large parent meeting in the Undercroft, some of you end up hearing the same information year after year, while our new parents are overwhelmed by the whole experience. At the same time, as your kids are very anxious to see their homeroom lists, it makes it difficult for us to get all we can from our parent meeting.
We are toying with the idea of changing the format some for next year. Instead of the large parent meeting, we would have a more focused meeting for new families, going over all the procedures and insider information they will need for a successful year. Then, we would have an open house for all families, where you would still be able to visit with all of your child's teachers, but as families would not be coming from the parent meeting, we would mostly eliminate the large rush into the front doors as you could come on your own schedule within a given parameter.
I could be wrong, though. I could be that most of you really enjoy the large parent meeting, but I thought the most direct way of finding out would be to post a poll online and let you cast your vote. Click here to let me know your thoughts.
Cathedral Kids Blog
On the subject of our blog, for those of you who are new to St. Joseph Cathedral School, I set up the school blog as a chance for students, staff, and parents to share personal experiences and insights. My goal is to help us grow as the body of Christ and to tighten our school community. If you or your child would like to send me something electronically for the blog, you may do so by responding to this e-newsletter. Nearly anything that is appropriate and relevant will make it on, though I sometimes space out submissions so as to give everyone a few days of top billing before new posts are added. You are also welcome to click on the comments button at the bottom of any post to leave your thoughts for the author. I screen all comments before they appear to make sure they are appropriate.
To start off our year, our pastor, Msgr. Kurwicki, has shared his reflections on his experience in the priesthood. Feel free to read and leave him a response.
While you are there, you will notice a second poll underneath the one regarding Welcome Back Sunday. Fr. Shetler and I are planning this season's Cathedral Catechesis topics. We have listed several in this second poll. Some of the titles are a bit tongue-in-cheek, but you should be able to get a clear indication of the subject matter. Please indicate which topics you think would be most interesting. You can vote more than once, so feel free to select several favorites.
Cathedral Parents: Where we got the Bible
Last week, the Cathedral Parents essay explored the idea of whether one should go by Scripture Alone, as many Christian churches do, or Scripture + Tradition, as the Catholic Church does. As we saw, the idea of going by Scripture Alone is, itself, not a Biblical concept.
To understand this better, it is helpful to understand something of where the Bible came from in the first place. By the time Jesus began his ministry, there were a few versions of the Old Testament floating around, including the Palestinian text and the Alexandrian text, also called the Septuagint. The text that Jesus and his followers used, the Septuagint, is the same Old Testament that Catholic Bibles use today, including the seven books that are not found in many non-Catholic translations.
While Jesus did not write much down, to our knowledge, he did start a teaching Church. His apostles went from area to area preaching the Good News. Eventually, many of these teachings were written down. Not all of them, of course. As John points out at the end of his gospel (John 21:25) and in two of his epistles (2 John 12; 2 John 13), much of the teachings were not codified in writing. Note, though, that many of the writings, especially the Gospels and Acts, were based on the oral teachings, which were protected from error by the Holy Spirit.
Especially in the letters of Paul, whose ministry we are celebrating this year, the teachings begin to get circulated among communities, though this happens a bit irregularly. This is important to note because it demonstrates that well into the second century it was impossible to be a Bible only Christian as much of the New Testament had not been collected together, even after it was all written (which wasn't until several years after Christ's death in many cases).
In fact, many false writings were floating around, as well, and there was some confusion among the early communities as to which writings were inspired and which weren't. As late as the fourth century, there was disagreement as to which writings to include, with some groups rejecting books such as Hebrews and some of the epistles, while arguing for the inclusion of non-inspired works, such as The Shepherd and the letters of Clement.
Finally, the Catholic Church settled the matter at the councils of Hippo and Carthage in the fourth century, declaring the inspired books of the New Testament. The New Testament was set, and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament decided at those councils of the Catholic Church are the same used today by all Christian groups.
For sure, it was the Holy Spirit who guided us to the correct list of books, but it is important to recognize that he chose to work through the Catholic Church to do so. For an essay that explores this more fully and in an easy-to-read Q & A format, click here.
Ask Al - Atomic Learning Subscription
Our school is committed to providing you and your children with the highest quality in technology instruction. This is why we are proud to announce our subscription to Atomic Learning, an online resource for software training. You can read more about this great online resource by clicking here, but in short, if you or your child have questions or a desire to learn about some of the programs on your computer, accessing atomic learning will provide short 2-3 minute instructional videos to guide you through. Not only will students be able to use this technology in the school, then, but they can access the great resource at home as well. In addition, you can use it to learn about some of the software that you have been interested in mastering. I used this program over the weekend and was amazed at the convenience and helpfulness. On the flier, you will learn the user name and password you can use to gain access.
In the Classroom
3B and 3F will be learning about the needs of plants and the different parts of plants in Science class. We will be doing two different experiments this week in class. We will have three plants in the classroom. One we will give sunlight, but no water. One we will give water, but no sunlight. One we will give water and sunlight. We will watch it for the next two weeks to see which one does the best. Also we will place a piece of celery in colored water and watch the celery change colors as the colored water moves up the stem.
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