Experience Christ Every Day
Prayer and the sacraments are at the heart of everything we do at West Catholic High School. Responding to God’s invitation for intimate communion with Him, we foster the student’s relationship with God by encouraging and offering many opportunities for prayer and participation in the sacraments.
Daily Prayer
Prayer is a part of daily life at West Catholic. Each school day and each individual class begins in prayer. School assemblies, gatherings and sporting events also regularly begin with prayer.
Holy Mass
An all-school Mass with mandatory attendance is offered weekly, including Holy Days of Obligation and important feast days. For the all-school liturgies, students take an active role in the liturgical ministries. To help our students enter more deeply into the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, lessons about the Mass are found throughout our religion curriculum.
Sacrament of Reconciliation
At least once a month, priests are available during lunch and/or after school to celebrate the sacrament. Twice a year, during Advent and Lent, we plan the school day around a communal examination of conscience and opportunities for individual confession with priests from our local parishes.
Lenten Tableau
In the closing days of Lent, students present the Lenten Tableau. This is a depiction of the events of the last days of the life of Christ from the Last Supper through His burial. The scenes are accompanied by songs and music presented by the WC Liturgical Choir. The meditations prepare students to better celebrate the Easter Triduum.
May Crowning
Mary, our Queen and Mother, is honored by our whole school in May during our annual May Crowning ceremony with participation by the students and choir. May Crowning takes place in our prayer garden (weather permitting).
Living the Liturgy
It is a universal human experience to recall the past and memorialize special events, like an anniversary or birthday. These celebrations help us remember our history, yet they can also bring us vitality in our present. The liturgical calendar transcends these experiences of time to direct us to our eternal end. “The genius of the liturgical year is the way it reminds us that time was transformed when the Divine Word became flesh.” West Catholic intentionally celebrates certain feast days throughout the year to remember the saving work of God in history and to proclaim the good work God wants to do in our lives today.
Reverence for Gods Name Week
Similar to other awareness months/weeks/days, West Catholic observes “Reverence for God’s Name Awareness Week.” During this week, we create awareness of the second commandment and promote ways to better follow this commandment and engage in non-threatening ways.
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
Every day students have the opportunities to take a break from the busyness and stresses of daily life to spend time alone with Jesus before the Blessed Sacrament. There are also weekly opportunities during religion class when teachers bring their students to spend class time in the chapel.
For more than 30 years, when school is in session, parents, grandparents and other members of the West Catholic community intercede for our students and staff before the Blessed Sacrament. It is very comforting knowing that almost every hour the students are in school they have someone praying for them.
Living the Liturgy
St. John Paul II is the patron saint of West Catholic High School. Every year we celebrate John Paul II’s Feast Day with Mass, a special Polish lunch, the JPII Games, trivia contests, Polish music and lessons focused on his life.
Date: October 22
Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego and brought about many conversions in Mexico. West Catholic celebrates Our Lady of Guadalupe’s Feast Day with Mass in Spanish, a special Mexican lunch, Aztec dancers, Mexican music and lessons focused on the Marian apparition.
Date: December 12
Commemorates the life of the stepfather of Jesus and the husband of Mary. West Catholic celebrates this feast day with Mass, Italian music, a special Italian meal and lessons centered around the life of St. Joseph.
Date: March 19
Each academic department has a patron saint whom students learn about and ask of their intercession by praying a novena before their feast day.
To celebrate the saints who represent our four Household communities (Bakhita, Pio, Pro and Siena), students participate in service, activities and competitions. These events typically take place during the week of each saint’s feast day.
Advent
Advent is a time of preparation for the joyous comings of Jesus Christ. West Catholic celebrates Advent with special morning prayers, Advent calendar activities, Advent wreaths and reconciliation.
Dates: Advent begins the Sunday nearest November 30, the feast day of St. Andrew the Apostle, and covers four Sundays.
Christmas
Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. West Catholic celebrates a Christmas Mass during the school week during the Christmas season.
Date: December 25
Lent
Lent is the 40-day liturgical season of fasting, special prayer and almsgiving in preparation for Easter. West Catholic offers opportunities for reflection, school Masses, a student presentation of the Lenten Tableau and Reconciliation during Lent.
Dates: Lent begins Ash Wednesday and ends approximately six weeks later on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday.
Easter
Easter is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter is always celebrated on a Sunday; however, West Catholic will also celebrate an Easter Mass during the school week in the Easter season.