A virtue is a habit or established capacity to perform good actions according to the moral standards reflected in the gospel. A Catholic school is the ideal place to practice and prepare to live a virtuous life, following the example of Jesus.

Many elements of Catholic character and virtue are purposefully developed in Dufferin-Peel schools. In the coming year, our school will focus on encouraging growth in the particular virtues, listed below:

• Faith ~ God made us to live together as a family community.

• Empathy ~ God wants us to care about everyoneÕs feelings

• Conscience ~ God helps us to choose to be good people

• Hope ~ God helps us to keep on working for a more peaceful world even when we feel discouraged.

• Self-Control ~ God wants us to do what is we know and feel is right.

• Respect ~ God wants us to treat all people with the respect they deserve.

• Kindness ~ God wants us to give generously to others around us.

• Love ~ God wants us to serve and to see the goodness in everyone we meet

• Acceptance ~ God wants us to make friends with everyone no matter how different they may look or act.

• Fairness ~ God wants us to treat each person as we would like to be treated.

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November

Conscience ~ God helps us to choose to be good people.

Conscience is the voice of God within us. A developed conscience helps us make decisions that encourage and support truly loving relationships.

A person of conscience:

• chooses to do the right thing, even when it is hard;
• takes time to think and pray before making decisions;
• knows that their actions and decisions affect all those around them; and
• thinks of others before themselves.

Conscience is the voice of God within us. As you develop your conscience, you will learn to make decisions that will make sure you will always have love in your life. Our conscience reminds us how to act towards other people and how to be a good friend. Sometimes it is hard for us to do the right thing, but we must always remember that the right thing is not always the easy thing to do.

Therefore I do my best to always have a clear conscience toward God and all people.

Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.

Can you think of a time when you struggled to make the right decision?

~

Hope

December

Hope ~ God helps up to keep on working for a more peaceful world even when we feel discouraged.

Hope is the virtue of relying on God. It keeps us searching for true happiness, sustains us during hard times, and keeps us from being discouraged.

A hopeful person is:

• inspired and inspires others;
• optimistic;
• one who seeks good things from life; and
• one sees the good in the world.

Sometimes in life bad things happen to us that we cannot explain. During these times we tend to get mad at God for putting us through so much pain. We forget God is always there for us and He does not want to hurt us. When you feel sad and alone, remember to never lose Hope, pray to Jesus and things will get better.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

~

Self-Control

January

Self-Control ~ God wants us to do what we know and feel is right.

Self-Control is regulating your thoughts and actions so that you stop any pressures from within or without and act the way you know and feel is right. Developing loving habits helps us to respond lovingly to others in our choices and actions.

A person with self control:

• is patient;
• knows how to wait his-her turn;
• can calm him-herself down and think before reacting to situations;
• know how to avoid physical aggression (hitting, kicking, pushing, etc.); and
• can think things through.

Self-Control helps us to resist the temptation to do something that we will regret. It also helps us to resist the temptation to do something that will harm ourselves or others. Each time you exercise self-control you grow stronger in the Lord and invite peace to settle over life as you avoid any guilt you may feel from having made a poor decision.

Show me your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths.

Why is it important to use self-control?

Respect

February

Respect ~ God wants us to treat all people with the respect they deserve.

Respect is seeing the goodness in others. It helps us to see others as God sees them, to accept them as they are, and to treat them with dignity.

A respectful person:

• uses a positive tone of voice and body language;
• avoids swearing, name-calling, put-downs, and inappropriate gestures;
• says Excuse me, Please, Pardon Me; and
• avoids gossip.

We all deserve to be treated respectfully by others. However, in order to be respected we also have to respect ourselves. Everyone has a right to go to a school free of gossip, name-calling, and put-downs. We should expect to be treated with respect by everyone we meet - our brothers and sisters in Jesus.

Respect is love in plain clothes.

We show respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation.

How can you show respect to those around you?

Kindness

March

Kindness ~ God wants us to give generously to others around us.

Kindness is the act of loving and giving generously to others as God does. Our empathy for others is transformed into action, an action that extends beyond concern for ourselves.

A kind person:

• gives their time to help others;
• stands by their friends in time of need;
• shares with their friends;
• is polite; and
• cares about other peoples feelings.

God wants us to be kind to everyone we meet. Being kind is about more than just pretending to be nice. It is about helping and playing with others because we want to and not because we feel we have to. God helps up to be kind to our family and friends because by being kind we are able to see God in every one we meet.

Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up.

Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.

Can you remember a time when you were kind to someone who was not kind to you?

~

Love

April

Love ~ God wants us to serve and to see the goodness in everyone we meet.

A loving person:

• wants the best for others;
• is willing to make sacrifices for the good of others;
• knows that we are all lovable; and
• prays for others.

God has given us many people in our lives to show us examples of Love. Our families, teachers, and friends show us their love everyday. Love can be seen in the simplest acts of kindness, such as sharing a pencil, playing a game, or even saying Thank-you. We should always show our love for others because love is about seeing the good in people even when they make us angry. Sometimes the greatest acts of love happen when we are angry, such as not hitting our sibling back or not screaming at our friends. Jesus is always with us and we should always try to remember His most important lesson, the lesson of love, because love is not about us - it is about looking out for the good of others.

St. Augustine's thoughts on Love:

He poses the question: "What does Love look like?"

His answer is simple: "Love has hands to help others. It has feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of others. That's what love looks like."

What does Love look like to you?

~

Acceptance

May

Acceptance ~ God wants us to make friends with everyone no matter how different they may look of act.

Acceptance is the ability to respect the dignity and rights of all persons, even those whose beliefs and behaviours differ from our own. Everyone should strive to love and respect their neighbour, as they love and respect themselves.

An accepting person is:

• willing to treat everybody as a member of a group;
• non-judgemental;
• welcoming to those different than himself-herself; and
• loving and happy with who he-she is.

The virtue of Acceptance means we accept ourselves and others, just the way we are. God created all of us in His image, and God does not make mistakes. Being part of Gods family means that we love and welcome everyone just the way Jesus did. Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where it is easier to follow the crowd than to stand up for what we know is right. However, Jesus wants us to accept everyone even when it is hard.

If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually member of it.

God does not love us because we are valuable.  We are valuable because God loves us.

Can you remember a time you felt unaccepted? How did that make you feel?

~

Fairness

June

Fairness ~ God wants us to treat each person as we would like to be treated.

Fairness is the ability to be open minded and live in a just and fair way. Fairness allows us to treat others with mercy and compassion - to feel and act with and for another person.

A fair person:

• listens to both sides of a story;
• is a good team player;
• knows that the same rules apply to everyone; and
• works to bring about peaceful solutions to a problem.

God makes us to live together as a family in creation, to share and to help each other. Being Christian is all about living together in community - ideally, one big happy family. Jesus spent a major part of his time on earth showing us how to care for people in need. He spent a lot of time showing us how to follow God's rules. Everyone needs a Fair chance to succeed - to overcome their disadvantages and disabilities. A fair team player makes sure the rules of the game give everyone an even chance to participate. Not everyone has to win. Everyone deserves a chance to be in the game.

I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance.

There is no wrong time to do the right thing.

What does it mean to be a Fair person? Can you Can you remember a time when you were unfair? How would you change that situation if you could?