All Saints – A Community Celebrating The Virtues

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.
Mother Teresa

All Saints is a Catholic community rooted in the beliefs which are inspired by the life, mission and teachings of Jesus.  By following the path set out by Jesus, we are called to learn, grow and become more like Him in the way we see and treat others: fully alive.  As a Catholic educational community, we continuously proclaim and celebrate our common beliefs, thereby shaping our school community to be a safe, caring, inclusive and healthy environment for all.

Catholic education at All Saints provides us with the opportunity to integrate virtue formation into all areas of our school life within the context of our faith.  Our “Virtues Program” will help us to nurture virtue and character development in the lives of our students, enabling them to make sound choices, form good habits, and ultimately, lead a virtuous life.

Our “Virtues Program” for 2007/2008, aligned to the work of our Youth Faith Ambassadors, includes elements of: Faith Formation, Evangelization, Social Justice, Stewardship and Faith Leadership.

Activities that students are involved in are as follows:

• Preparation of a Liturgical Display Case in our foyer's sacred space, aligned to the virtue of the month
• Writing virtue statements to be read as announcements and displayed in the Liturgical Display Case
• School Assemblies reflecting the virtue of the month
• Various Outreach Programs such as Dr. Simone's Soap for Hope Campaign
• PALS

As well, classroom programs reflect a comprehensive approach to the teaching and living of a virtuous life, through daily emphasis being placed on coming to an ever deeper understanding of the central tenets of our Faith.

As Catholic Christians at All Saints, we are called always to live the message of the Gospels, becoming human in community with one another.  In caring, safe, inclusive and healthy communities, we learn to discover our own dignity and the dignity of those around us.  Jean Vanier writes:

We can give people the gift of their dignity.  We can help others just by the way we listen to them and speak with them.  We can show them by our own trust that what they have to say is important and good.  In community we are called to care for each member.  We can choose our friends, but we do not choose our brothers and sisters; they are given to us whether in family or community.

                                                                                      Vanier, From Brokenness to Community