● The many families who worked the Bingo Night on Saturday
● The DiNapoli and Unterman families for hosting weekenders
● The many families who donated to the student barbecue
Thanksgiving Weekend
If your student will be flying home for
Thanksgiving weekend, please make your airline reservations now. St. Michael’s does not furnish transportation from the school to the airport so please contact a shuttle service and make arrangements for your son to be picked up at school and taken to the airport. Email a copy of the airline and shuttle reservations to Mrs. Christian before Nov. 15th.School will be dismissed for the Thanksgiving weekend at 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday, November 23rd.
First Quarter Honor Roll, 2011-2012
First Honors
94% and Above
Adam Aeschliman
Christian Aguilar
Faris Alquaddoomi
Samuel Arnold
Andrew Bonello
Stephen Deaton
Nicholas DiNapoli
Thomas Esser
Derek Giap
Moises Gomez
John Hebert
James Howard
Michael Howard
Michael Johnson
Yongsoo Kim
Alan Le
Jack Mikolaycik
Joseph Porretta
Andrew Rozak
Brian Schardt
Johann Shoenfeld
Ian Shaffer
Luan Tran
William Warnisher
Second Honors
88% - 93%
Teofil Dabrowski
Daniel Dang
Jerry Gao
Anthony Hierro
Yongkyoo Kim
Brett Lenahan
Nicholas Munsell
Giorgio Navarini
Jacob Nguyen
Marco Saglietto
Scott Schardt
Matthew Shelton
Jonathan Tran
Mathew Vu
Tuyen Vu
November High School Information Events
St. Michael’s will be represented at the following high school information events. If you have a son or know someone who has a son entering 9th grade next year, we encourage you to attend one of these informative events.
November 15th: St. Cornelius, 3330 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach; 7:00 p.m.
Parent/Student Handbook: Chapter 3, Section 11
Section 11: STUDENTS WHO RECEIVE A SEMESTER GRADE OF “D” OR “F”
A student who receives a semester grade of “D” or “F” must make up the work. A passing grade of “C” is a necessary prerequisite for readmission to St. Michael’s Preparatory for the following academic year. In order to achieve this, the student must repeat the course during the summer.
This schooling can be taken online, at a local school, or with a competent tutor. To properly evaluate the summer work, the student must submit a summer school transcript and a portfolio of work completed during the summer course. Based upon this information the administration, leaning heavily on the advice of the department chair, records a grade on the transcript which represents the level of work as it compares to St. Michael’s expectations. There are occasions when the school administration will require the student to take a written and/or oral competency exam in order to better evaluate his newly-strengthened academic proficiency.
While both the original failing grade and the competency grade are on the transcript, the latter is used to compute the grade point average. The student who earns two or more grades below “C” in the same semester or in combination with the next semester, seriously jeopardizes his ability to return to St. Michael’s.
Athletics
Fall Sports Awards Ceremony: Sunday, November 20th at 7:00 p.m.
All parents of football and cross country participants are encouraged to support the fantastic success of of our Pioneers at the awards ceremony.
Congratulations to Coach Mescuk, Coach Smith and the entire St. Michael’s football team on an excellent season!
This Week’s Photos: students feeding the poor in Santa Ana; student barbecue
Birthdays This Week
Nov. 8: Michael Cara
Weekly Homily by Fr. Brendan Hankins
Among other things, Fr. Brendan is the Assistant Dean and teaches American Literature
“Do you believe that because they suffered they were greater sinners?”
Man naturally desires to know the cause of any effect. Especially when we experience or witness some evil. If we get sick we go to a doctor not only to get well, but also to discover the cause. Did I get sick because I need to eat better, exercise, sleep more, take vitamins. We want to know that we can make adjustments to our behavior in order to prevent getting sick in the future. It’s comforting to believe that we can prevent it. We’re in control. Or if some else gets sick we want to know what was it that they did to get it. We tell ourselves they don’t take very good care of themselves, or I never eat like they do, I get plenty of exercise.
But what if it’s more complicated, more serious. Take cancer for example. There are about 200 different types of cancer. They can start in any type of body tissue. There are many contributing factors. Some are avoidable and some are not. Like the common cold we can take some steps to reduce the risk like eating better, getting exercise but there are many things that are out of our control; our age, genetic makeup, environmental factors. Often doctors cannot explain why one person develops cancer and another does not. Still we tell ourselves when someone else gets sick. They’re older than I am, I’m in better shape, I’m much more careful about what I eat. Essentially, we’re telling ourselves “It’s probably something they did or weren’t doing. We comfort ourselves by assuming we know the cause. We’re no doctors, but in our own minds we are pretty good about make a diagnosis.
In the Gospel those who are speaking with Jesus assume they know the cause, they know the answer. Those Galileans suffered greatly because they were great sinners. Essentially, saying “They must have done things that we would never do. Therefore, we won’t suffer like them.” But there is one who was not susceptible to any sickness, never did or said anything wrong, was in the prime of his life, performed great works and deeds, was perfectly healthy, taught and healed the poor and oppressed yet he bore the most intense suffering, the greatest humiliations, was tortured by the cruelest people. And his Blessed Mother; the purest of heart, preserved from all sin, the most compassionate of all creatures suffered through it with Him.
We know that sickness and suffering are the result of sin, but why one person suffers and another does not we do not know. Why at this moment we have been preserved or why at this moment we are afflicted is beyond our understanding. So where do we find comfort and consolation when we naturally seek the cause of our own suffering and that of others. The comfort, the consolation, ultimately, is not in a diagnosis, it’s in a person. It is found in the first cause, the cause of all that is and that was and that will be. It’s in the life and person of Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother who had the greatest share in his suffering and now has the has the greatest share in dispensing his grace and consolation. When we look to them the effect is the love of him who suffered and died for no other reason than for the love of us, and the consolation that His Blessed Mother will stand by us as she stood at the foot of the cross of Her Son.
In publishing this homily, we hope to share a portion of the spiritual treasure by which the students are enriched every day. However, this homily may not be reproduced without written permission of the author.
Prayer Requests
● Mrs. Marge DeClue, past parent-league president, who has declining health.
● Mrs. Maria Ferrucci who suffers with a health problem.
● Those who are in the armed forces.
● St. Michael’s older priests and those who care for them.
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