Dominican High School gave me just the nudge I needed this past fall. Actually, it was a little more like [...]

My 13-year-old suddenly refuses to pray at meal time, is balking at going to Mass and spends a lot of time in his room with the door shut. I used to feel so close to him and now he seems to be deliberately shutting out the family, especially me, his mother.

THIS IS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN. What? How could the sullen distancing of adolescence possibly be part of God’s plan for your family? Think back to a few Sundays ago on the Feast of the Holy Family when we heard the story of the finding of Jesus in the temple. Between the infancy narratives of Christmas and the beginning of Jesus’ adult ministry (The Baptism of the Lord) this is the one glimpse we get of the “hidden years” of Jesus’ growing up. I used to wonder, if we were to get only one scene out of Jesus’ youth, why couldn’t it have been of an idyllic little Jesus playing with the wood chips in Joseph’s carpentry shop, or of an energetic boy Jesus running with the other boys of Nazareth?

Benny the Bear is no armchair traveler. He’s been spotted in Handrup, Germany, four U.S. states and once he leaves St. Martin of Tours School, Franklin, he will head to Ballaghadereen, Ireland. He has hobnobbed with children from a variety of cultures and backgrounds. His photo album and journal of adventures is impressive.

Barely a foot tall, Benny is a dapper, stuffed member of the Ursidae species and works as a liaison among the six schools run by the Priests of the Sacred Heart. Initiated by staff at St. Joseph School in Chamberlain, S.D., to bring a cultural awareness to students, Benny has captured the hearts of grade school students and brought them together unlike any textbook could.

At Prince of Peace School/Escuela Principe de Paz on Milwaukee’s South Side, the halls are alive with the sound of music, thanks to the acquisition of 25 new Yamaha portable keyboards, purchased with a $5,000 grant last fall.

Previously, Prince of Peace owned only 10 working keyboards and transported them back and forth throughout the week between the school’s two buildings, seven blocks apart. The new keyboards are kept at the school’s 22nd Street building, designated for kindergarteners and middle-schoolers. Prince of Peace’s 25th Street building houses grades 1-5.

Kailey Barthel (Submitted photo courtesy of Barthel family) Last fall, my husband Mark and I drove our daughter Kailey to [...]

MENOMONEE FALLS — Students at St. Anthony Parish School have discovered a newfound love of learning, thanks to donors’ funds.

St. Anthony, a school for students in 4-year-old kindergarten to eighth grade, entered a new era of technology more than a year ago when a SMART Board was installed. Created by Canadian company SMART Technologies, SMART Boards are a modern version of the chalkboard. The devices give students an opportunity to learn and demonstrate knowledge interactively.

Rarely is a Catholic school without financial concerns. In good economic times and bad, the need to provide more financial assistance, cut spending, minimize increases, and maintain and increase enrollment – enrollment in archdiocesan schools dropped this school year by 2.3 percent or a loss of 298 students from the previous year – is ever present. Nowhere is this need more evident than in Catholic schools serving rural communities.