by SFXparish | Jul 19, 2016 | NEWS
During the months of August and September St. Francis Xavier will be holding a Bible Drive to ensure that our parishioners have a good version of Sacred Scripture in their homes. Not all Bibles are the same we recommend the Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition. During the coming year we will holding Bible Study Classes and Adult Education sessions which will feature heavily on the role of Sacred Scripture in the life of the Catholic. St. Jerome said that “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” We hope that we can encourage a renewal of Scripture reading within our community and it all starts with a good copy of the Holy Bible.
We will have the Ignatius Bible, the Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition (RSV-CE) in various different formats for your perusal during August and early September. There will be paperback, hardback, leather-bound, large-print and compact formats to view. You will be able to order your choice of Bible and we will have them for collection at the end of September at which time you can pay for it. Deacon David’s first Adult Education session on September 25, will be about the importance of Sacred Scripture in the life of the Catholic.
by SFXparish | Jul 19, 2016 | NEWS
In July 2016 St. Francis School was notified by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges of its continued accreditation. SFX was first accredited in 2006. Every ten years an accreditation teams visits the school and evaluates a series of criteria to determine accreditation. Accredited schools have proven their compliance with a certain set of expectations. During the period working up to the accreditation visit the school administration, faculty and staff go through a period of self- evaluation which is then presented to the visiting committee and used as a template for examination during the visit. Congratulations to Mrs. Russo and the faculty and staff of St. Francis Xavier School – the Accreditation Report highlights the quality of the teaching and administration of our parish school.
Some remarks made by the Director of the Commission in the Accreditation Notification:
“The Visiting Committee Report identified many areas for commendation. The Commission particularly commends the pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish for his commitment to St. Francis Xavier School and its community of families. His daily presence touches every aspect of the school’s Catholic identity and his influence within the parish is a dynamic component of the school’s ongoing vitality.”
“In addition the Commission commends the principal and assistant principal for their dynamic, visionary leadership; the faculty and staff for their dedication to the school’s mission and its clearly evident Catholic identity; and the property manager for his conscientious care of the campus and his dedication to his responsibilities.”
by SFXparish | Jul 19, 2016 | NEWS
This year’s Altar Boy Boot Camp (ABBC) took place 27-29 June. ABBC is a three day event for the altar servers of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Acushnet MA. It involves the training of new servers and the honing of skills for accomplished servers. There is also training for MCs who are our older young men who help organize the various liturgies of the parish. This year five new boys completed their training and have begun their year of probation. The first year if service is one of getting used to the various role which the servers can take and indeed just getting comfortable being at the altar. During the Camp the boys get to participate in many exercises aimed at increasing their serving skills. There are also many sporting activities which the boys participate in Combat Soccer being a highlight. As part of ABBC there is usually a field day on which we get to visit a church and do some fun activity. This year we visited Good Shepherd Parish (St. Patrick’s Church) and were given a tour by Fr. Andrew Johnson the Pastor. Afterwards the boys went to Lazer Gate in Fall River and played Laser Tag. Our server program at SFX is extremely strong we have a total of 35 Altar Servers. This year we will loose 5 MCs who will be going to college but we will keep our numbers by adding the five new boys. Our program allows us to promote vocations to these young men in a very unique way. This year Fr. Chris Peschel the Assistant Vocations Director for the Diocese of Fall River gave the boys a presentation about the Vocation of Service at the Altar. Thank you to Jonathan Hamel our Arch-server and Dominic Correia for their help in running this year’s ABBC.
by SFXparish | Jul 18, 2016 | NEWS
Thanks to all who donated blood this past Sunday, July 17th. We had 33 donors show up that day with 8 deferrals and 25 units donated. Monsignor O’Connor and the Events Committee extend their gratitude for your participation in this great Pro-life effort.
by SFXparish | Apr 12, 2016 | NEWS
St. Francis Xavier School teaches Latin in the 7th and 8th Grades. Each year students along with some other 154,000 students throughout the United States and various other countries take the National Latin Exam. The Philosophy of the NLE is as follows:
The philosophy of the National Latin Exam is predicated on providing every Latin student the opportunity to experience a sense of personal accomplishment and success in his study of the Latin language and culture. This opportunity exists for each individual student since, on the National Latin Exam, he is not competing with his fellow student on a comparative basis, but is evaluated solely on his own performance on the exam. The basic purposes of the NLE are to promote the study of Latin and to encourage the individual student.
We at St. Francis Xavier are proud that each year we have been taking the exam some of our students have been awarded prizes.
This year the following students received these awards:
8th Grade (Latin I):
Brendan Sullivan – Gold Medal
Thomas Marcotte – Silver Medal
7th Grade (Intro):
Allison Baptiste – Outstanding Achievement Award
Sophia Arruda, Connor Araujo, Baylen Brunelle & John-Paul Martin – Certificates of Merit
Photo – From left to right:
Msgr. Gerard O’Connor (Teacher), Thomas Marcotte, Sophia Arruda, Brendan Sullivan, Connor Araujo, John-Paul Martin, Allison Baptiste, Baylen Brunelle.
by SFXparish | Feb 27, 2016 | NEWS
In Rwanda there is a shortage of footwear among many communities. This leads to all sorts of illnesses and sometimes can exclude the children from attending school.
In the build up to Christmas 2015 we asked our parishioners to donate $10 to buy a pair of shoes for our friends in Rwanda. These donations could be given in the name of a loved one or friend as their Christmas gift. We collected some $6,000.
Father Leonard Kayondo, a friend of our parish from Rwanda presently serving as Chaplain to St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, just recently returned from Rwanda after distributing over 500 pairs of shoes to various villages and school communities in his diocese. These shoes were truly a Christmas blessing for the youth of his communities.
Fr. Leonard brought back some moving photos of the recipients of your generosity, which will be placed in the entrance of our church.
Fr. Leonard was excited to relate the joy and the gratitude that the shoes produced in these impoverished communities.
Thank you for your continued generosity to our friends in Rwanda and thank you to our Women of Grace Apostolate which facilitated this beautiful act of charity.
