I am a teacher at St Rose School in Girard, and am blessed to be able to teach religion to 6th and 7th graders this year. New to us this school year, we began to use a Virtues in Practice Program which was created by the Dominican Sisters of St Cecelia Congregation of Nashville, Tennessee. Each month, we focus on a particular virtue and teach that virtue as we also learn about saints and how they lived their holy lives. The virtue for this month of November is Stewardship. I immediately thought about this column in our bulletin each week and how Deacon John highlights the stewardship of our community here at St Pat’s and beyond. I used this column as an example to my students and after just one lesson on stewardship I asked them to tell me what it meant in their own words. They replied with… Stewardship is “Giving back to God what He gave to us” “Thanking God for all that He has done for us” “We need to be stewards of the earth” “Helping the world and all God’s people” “Giving donations to the homeless shelter” “Being selfless” “Taking time out of your day to make others happy” “Showing everyone that you are a child of God and you can help anyone in need”.
These answers made me very proud and also allowed me to grow in my faith and gain confidence in these young stewards.
One of the main goals of the program is to help children grow closer to Jesus by imitating the virtues of the saints. I think we are on our way to achieving that goal.
God Bless,
Annmarie Pesa