November 27, 2011

Beginning November 29th: Jubilee Advent Conferences and Novena “The Mysteries of the Life of Mary, Our Lady”
at the abbey each evening at 7:00 p.m. See Abbey website for more details.

Financial Aid Applications Due
Please begin submitting your financial aid renewals for the 2012-2013 school year. Applications must be received by PSAS prior to February 1, 2012. The application may be found on our school webpage in the Admissions section or by opening the following link: http://stmichaelsprep.org/images/stories/Admissions/psas_financial_aid_application.pdf


60%/40% Tuition Payments Due December 2nd!

Thanks to those parents and friends who have helped
To the many families who helped with last week’s athletics awards ceremony.


Parent/Student Handbook: Chapter 3, Section 13; ACADEMIC RECORDS
“The Grade Point Average (GPA) at the semester is based on the semester grades, not the quarter grades. The GPA is the added value of the grades received, divided by the number of subjects taken. The values of grades received in full-year courses are as follows: A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=0. For those University of California approved courses at the Honor and Advanced Placement level, a 5-point scale is used. A=5, B=4, C=3, D=1, F=0. The values of half-year courses are half of the above, and the course is counted as only half a subject.

St. Michael’s uses a 4-point scale to record student achievement on the permanent record. There is no plus or minus (+ or -) on the permanent record. This GPA officially represents the student to other institutions. This GPA is distinct from the quarter report card which uses a 100 point scale.

Transferable credits earned in another school are entered on the student’s permanent record (transcript) and will be accepted toward graduation. Likewise, work completed in summer school is accepted as long as the student can demonstrate appropriate competencies.

The transcript of the grades will be sent to schools and other agencies upon request by the student or his parents.
The School does not accept or transcript remedial work after the withdrawal date. If the student does make-up course, the transcript of that course goes directly to the new school to evaluate.”

This Week’s Photos: STM students attending the LA Opera

Sports This Week:
Monday, Nov. 28th: Basketball @ Saddleback Christian; 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 29th: Basketball @ Crean Lutheran; 3:30 pm.
Wednesday, Nov. 30th: Soccer @ Emerson Honors; 3:15 p.m.Thursday, Dec. 1st: Soccer @ Cream Lutheran; 3:15 p.m.

Birthdays This Week:
Dec. 1: Adam Aeschliman

Weekly Homily by Fr. Abbot Eugene Hayes, O. Praem.
“Give glory and eternal praise to Him” This is the verse which the Church has placed on our lips for the responsorial psalm during the weekdays of this last week of the liturgical year. “Give glory and eternal praise to him.” Beginning with the solemnity of Christ the King she has directed our minds and hearts to the future, how near or far we do not know, but to that future when everyone of us will have to give an accounting for our lives, our deeds, our omissions. And in it all we are exhorted to give glory and eternal praise to God. And perhaps this liturgical setting can give us a context in which we might consider profitably the liturgy of the Eucharist today on this national day of Thanksgiving.

This observance is one which is conditioned on the president’s official proclamation of a day of thanksgiving each year so, in a sense it is not an automatic celebration each year. And so if you go onto the White House website you will find there that it was just a week ago that the President did in deed do just that. In his proclamation he evoked the figure and person of our first president, saying: “When President George Washington proclaimed our country's first Thanksgiving, he praised a generous and knowing God for shepherding our young Republic through its uncertain beginnings.”

History tells us that that very first national observance originated with a request of the Congress at that time to which President Washington responded affirmatively by recommending Thursday 26 November 1789 to the people of the United States “as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of God.” This proclamation exhorted the people “to beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions.” And with this we get back to the liturgy this week which joins praise and glory to God to the reality of our sins and offenses for which we will give answer as individuals but also as citizens of a nation for transgressions both national and otherwise.

Several days ago during the semi-annual meeting of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops more than one bishop spoke of the perception of a gradual wearing away of religious liberty in our land. The media roundly criticized this latest interference of church in state as an attempt to wrap political views on policy issues with the mantel of violation of religious freedom. The bishops’ concern was specifically in regard to now national, that is presidential, policy requiring Catholic and other religious institutions who employ workers not of the faith to provide health insurance that will cover among other things contraceptives and abortions. Weighing in on the controversy in light of the president’s expressed willingness expressed during a meeting with Archbishop Dolan, president of the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference, to revisit and expand an exemption to this policy for Catholic institutions in the form of a wider “conscience” clause, our former Madame Speaker of the House of Representatives addressed the effects such legislation would have on Catholic health care providers, saying: "I'm a devout Catholic and I honor my faith and love it . . . but they have this conscience thing.” Yes, and so we pray today with thanks but also with contrition seeking pardon for past national transgressions as well as those which may be coming down the pike.

This observance of Thanksgiving also takes place within the jubilee year of the founding of St. Michael’s fifty years ago. The Gospel which we usually hear today is the one we, in fact, heard, the narration of the cure of the 10 lepers. I am always struck by the words of Our Lord toward the end of that passage: “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God.” As a community founded by men who were foreigners to this country and who came to this nation specifically because of religious persecution, we recognize that the founding fathers of this abbey more than any of us, most of whom who have been born and raised in this country, appreciated and valued and indeed loved this nation, their adopted home. So, for what they found here when they arrived, for what we enjoy still today, for what we pray future generations of our abbey will enjoy, may we indeed thank and petition God this day, giving glory and eternal praise to Him.
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.
● Mrs. Beverly Schaefgen who is battling cancer.
● Those who are in the armed forces.
● St. Michael’s older priests and those who care for them.

● For the repose of the soul of Mrs. Eugenia Brokaw

November 20, 2011

Talk for Dads!
Sunday, Nov. 27th at 7:30 p.m.

Thanks to those parents and friends who have helped
● Our deep appreciation to all the parents who have supported and helped with our Fall Sports Awards Ceremony.
● For sponsoring a lunch for students and faculty: Mrs. Lenahan and Mrs. Schardt
● For helping with carpools: The Aragon, Brokaw, Lenahan, Nguyen, and Tran families
● For hosting students over the weekend: The Gomez, Hierro, Schardt and Wang families.
● For helping out with the first outing of the school’s Surf Club: The Cara Family

Financial Aid Applications Due
Please begin submitting your financial aid renewals for the 2012-2013 school year. Applications must be received by PSAS prior to February 1, 2012. The application may be found on our school webpage in the Admissions section or by opening the following link: http://stmichaelsprep.org/images/stories/Admissions/psas_financial_aid_application.pdf

60%/40% Tuition Payments Due December 2nd!

Thanksgiving Weekend
School will be dismissed for the Thanksgiving weekend at 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday, November 23rd.

Parent/Student Handbook: Chapter 3, Section 12; GRADE POINT AVERAGE (GPA)
“St. Michael’s records student progress at two levels. The official GPA is the 4-point scale of the academic record. The more common Honor Roll GPA is the 100-point scale which parents and students read on the school’s electronic grading program. With this second scale, instructors provide a more nuanced report of student progress. This second GPA includes nonacademic subjects such as P.E., and conduct.”

This Week’s Photos: trip to the Nixon Library; visit to St. Michael’s by actor Sean Astin

Sports This Week
Congratulations to Coach Aaron Meschuk on being voted the CIF Express League “Coach of the Year”!
Congratulations to the other football players for the following CIF Express League awards:
-Player of the Year: Brett Lenahan
-Defensive Player of the Year: Giorgio Navarini
-Honorable Mention: Joseph Porretta
-1st Team All League Margo Saglietto (Defense)
-1st Team All League Michael Porretta (Offense)-1st Team All League Moises Gomez (Offense)


Tuesday, Nov. 22nd: Soccer vs. Whitney @ STM; 3:00 p.m.

Birthdays This Week:
Nov. 23: Dominic Salazar

Weekly Homily by Fr. Gabriel Stack, O. Praem.
Among other things, Fr. Gabriel is the Headmaster and teaches English, History and Latin.

This Sunday’s gospel reading from St. Matthew is very appropriate for the feast of Christ the King; it portrays Christ as a king who presides over the scene of final judgment. The sheep, being more valuable than goats, represent those who have been found worthy of final victory and reward. The focus of the story concerns the criterion that will be used. We are told that the decisive factor will be an account of how well we have cared for the less fortunate among us. They are listed twice so that there can be no doubt about their identity: they are the hungry, the thirsty, strangers, the naked, the sick and prisoners. In brief, those who live in need. The primary emphasis is really the unselfish love that animates us to reach out in the first place. This attitude will help us realize that many rich and notable people are desperately in need of God’s love and peace and hope.



How wonderful and mysterious God is to us! In today’s gospel reading, He has also given us the easy way to stay close to our Savior. He has done this by mysteriously hiding himself inside every person we meet, something akin to how He hides himself in the Eucharist. By becoming a man himself, Jesus has identified himself with every human being. And so, whenever we find someone in need, whether family member, friend, colleague, or stranger, we are face-to-face not only with that person, but also with our Lord and King, Jesus Christ.
This is what Jesus meant when He says, Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me. And so, to build our friendship with Christ and, simultaneously, to travel the path to eternal blessing, all we have to do is reach out and serve those around us.



What a wonderful mystery! What a great truth of the spiritual life. St. Augustine once said: "Do not grieve or complain that you were born in a time when you can no longer see God in the flesh. He did not in fact take this privilege from you. As he says: 'Whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.'" And in the words of St. Leo the Great: "No act of devotion on the part of the faithful gives God more pleasure than that which is lavished on his poor. Where he finds charity with its living concern, there he recognizes the reflection of his own fatherly care."



That's how simple Christ has made it; he has given our smallest, everyday encounters an "eternal weight of glory," as St Paul put it in his second letter to the Corinthians. All of a sudden, with Christ, these actions are no longer random acts of kindness; instead, they take on eternal proportions. They increase the everlasting glory of heaven. They reverberate -- forever. May God bless us in our task and guide us along the path of humility and of service as we do His work on earth.

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.
● Mrs. Beverly Schaefgen who is battling cancer.
● Mrs Jean Welke, great aunt of Jack Mikolaycik, who is nearing death
● Those who are in the armed forces.
● St. Michael’s older priests and those who care for them.
● For the repose of the soul of Mrs. Eugenia Brokaw
● For the repose of the soul of Mrs. Maryanne Pantano

November 13, 2011

Thanks to those parents and friends who have helped
For providing photos of school events, Mr. Rudy Aguilar
For hosting students over the weekend, the Aragon, Saglietto and Tin Vu Families
For driving carpools, the Aragon and Cacho families
For donating a Papuan Tree Boa to the school, Global Captive Breeders: http://www.globalcaptivebreeders.com/contact_us.html

Thanksgiving Weekend
School will be dismissed for the Thanksgiving weekend at 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday, November 23rd.

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 12: GRADE POINT AVERAGE (GPA)
St. Michael’s records student progress at two levels. The official GPA is the 4-point scale of the academic record. The more common Honor Roll GPA is the 100-point scale which parents and students read on the school’s electronic grading program. With this second scale, instructors provide a more nuanced report of student progress. This second GPA includes nonacademic subjects such as P.E., and conduct.

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.

This Week’s Photos: Eric Childs, STM alumnus 2008, who is now a bio-medical engineering major in his junior year at USC and plays on the USC football team; Freshmen trip to the Getty Villa; Weekenders attending a reptile show; First Honors Outing to Pirate Adventure

Birthdays This Week

None

Weekly Homily by Fr. Victor Szczurek, O. Praem.
Among other things, Fr. Victor is the Assistant Headmaster and teaches Latin and Greek.

Man in his foolishness so often makes the easiest things so difficult. In the Gospel the Pharisees go searching for the Kingdom of God, but are looking with their eyes closed.

Our Lord tells them quite plainly, “What you’re looking for is right in front of you. It is I”; and because even those who already believe in Christ are susceptible to the same blindness, our Lord then turns and gives the same lesson to His disciples: There will be those who say to you, “Look, there He is.” Do not go and follow them. As if to say, “Someday you too will be as foolish as the Pharisees, looking for one whom you already possess.”

It’s rather difficult to go searching for something when it’s right under your nose, even more so when it’s in the depths of your soul. Not only is God present in all His creation, He even sets up His throne in our soul at the moment of our Baptism—that’s what sanctifying grace is, a sharing in His divine life, the beginning of the kingdom of God. As we heard Scripture say, the Kingdom of God is within you.

The man who possesses wisdom can see God everywhere, from in the workings of a hive of bees to the motions of the planets. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims His handiwork. And this wisdom, passing into holy souls...produces friends of God (Wisdom 7:22), as we heard in the reading. The fool, on the other hand, says there is no God, even when God is right in front of him. "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own and His own received Him not (Jn 1:10)."

The well-known atheist, Richard Dawkins, was asked not too long ago what he would do if, after all these years spent on trying to show others that God does not exist, he finally gets to the end of life and finds out that God in fact does exist. What would he say to God? Richard Dawkins replied, “I would say to God the same words Bertrand Russell (another atheist) spoke when asked a similar question: ‘Sir, why did you take such pains to hide Yourself?’”

This alleged game of hide-and-seek has been going on all throughout human history. The only problem is that man is the only one playing. God has never hid Himself from us. Quite the contrary. He has manifested Himself over and over again in both natural and supernatural ways; and, as if that were not enough, He even took on our own flesh and blood and worked and continues to work countless miracles—each one like another blinking neon sign saying, “God is here,” “God is here.”

Once again, even we who believe in Him, even we who possess Him in our souls through sanctifying grace, can suffer moments of blindness: “Where were you God when I needed You most? Why did you abandon me? Where have you been these last days or weeks or months?” All the while Christ is beside us, before us, and even within us. Therefore, let us stop searching for what we already possess, and, in the words of St. Paul, "...let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe (Heb 12:28)."

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.

November 6, 2011

Thanks to those parents and friends who have helped
● 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.