Miss Valentine comes Back to School!

Loveland’s Miss Valentine, Ellie Colpitts, visited Saint John the Evangelist Catholic School today.  Ellie is an Alumni of Saint Johns and currently attends Thompson Valley high School. Ellie visited with students in K-4^th grade, reading stories and answering their many questions.  She then spoke to the older students in 5^th through 8^th grade. Ellie spoke eloquently about the value of giving back to the community you grow up in. Ellie herself was born and raised in Loveland Colorado. She began Preschool at Saint Johns and continued through the 8^th grade. She will be graduating from Thompson Valley High School this spring and heading to The University of Colorado in Colorado Springs.

At the end of the last session she kept the eighth grade class a little longer to talk about the transition to high school, and the best way to get adjusted to all of the new classes and teachers. There were many questions by students, and Ellie patiently answered each one. Saint John the Evangelist Catholic School joins other Catholic Schools around the nation celebrating Catholic Schools Week. Having alumni visit our school is perhaps the very best celebration of Catholic Schools Week.

Catholic Schools Week

From our Pastor Father Stephen Adams

Catholic Schools Week

This Sunday we begin a week-long celebration of Catholic Schools.  We celebrate them    because for over 200 years, Catholic Schools have been the bedrock of our way of handing on our Catholic faith.  You who are parents know that your deepest desire is to teach your children what they need to know in order to live as happy, healthy adults.  So you provide good example, teach manners and respect, provide an education for your children and, most importantly, give them your faith.

Catholic Schools are a bit different than other schools.  All schools are about education.      Our

children need to learn to read and write, add and subtract, they need to know math and language and social studies, all so they can live in this world we have to give them.  All schools do this task for us, helping educate our children.  What is different about Catholic Schools is that education is not the end goal; rather, it is the means.  The real goal of Catholic Schools is to teach who Jesus is.  Reading and writing, addition and subtraction, math and language and social studies are not the end they are the means we use to teach about Jesus.  At a Catholic School, we want to teach your child who Jesus is through learning to read and write. We want to teach your child who Jesus is by adding and subtracting.  At a Catholic School, math and language and social studies become ways to open your child to know Jesus more deeply.

Now don’t think that just because handing on our faith and deepening your child’s relationship to Jesus are the primary goals of Catholic Schools that we don’t teach “readin’, ritin’ and   rithmatic”.  In fact, year after year, in study after study, Catholic School students score higher on tests of basic proficiency.  In 2012, 63.9% of 8^th graders at Archdiocese of Denver    Catholic Schools scored proficient or advanced in math, as opposed to 61.5% in Colorado Public Schools.  81.6% of Archdiocese of Denver Catholic School 8^th graders scored proficient or advanced in reading, compared to 67.1% of Colorado Public School 8^th graders. And 79.2% of Archdiocese of Denver Catholic School 8^th graders scored proficient or advanced in       language compared to 54.3% of Colorado Public School 8^th graders.  We do a really good job of teaching your children what they need to know to work and be successful in the world     because we want them to know and love Jesus.  And the more they know and love Jesus, they more they will want to know about this world and the people who live in it.

You who send your children to Catholic Schools do make a real sacrifice for you children.        It does require your involvement in time, energy, presence and, yes, money.  But you are also making a tremendous investment in the future of our Church and world.  It is your children who will lead our Church and our communities. They will do so as disciples of Christ, formed in the Catholic faith and educated in an environment of care and community because you gave them a great gift of a Catholic Schools education.

Now that is something worth celebrating!

Our NEW Logo!

It's here, it's here, the new Saint John the Evangelist Logo is here!

As you may have heard at Mass, observed on our websites, seen in last week's Chronicle or even noticed on the rear windows of a few cars in the loop, our Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Parish has adopted a new logo.  It is fresh, attractive and exciting.  The goal of its introduction is to strengthen our identity and stimulate the sense of community within our parish and school.  It is also intended to create curiosity and interest in

the broader Loveland community, ultimately attracting prospective parishioners and students.  We encourage you to embrace and share the excitement by sporting a decal on your vehicle.

Much thought, work and energy has gone into the development of the logo and, to maintain consistency and effectiveness, there are specific rules for its use.  Please contact the school or parish office before using the logo so we can ensure its proper application.  You'll begin to see the new logo phased-in to all parish and school materials over the next several months.