Catholic Identity
St. Francis of Assisi is a faith community, with a long tradition of Gospel-oriented religious education. The original church and school were established simultaneously, and students today take an active part in parish life, participating in church liturgies and programs, and in community outreach service projects. Students are expected to participate fully in the religious program of the school.
St. Francis of Assisi has written its discipline policy statement as a statement setting the expectation that the behavior goals of the students and staff reflect growth in nine relational values: trust, respect, self-control, justice and fairness, equality, fidelity, promise-keeping, and honesty. All dialogue regarding the behavior of students is designed to be promotive of this goal. The values, by design, are integral to the life of the school. The philosophy of the program is imbedded in the concept of caring: caring for ideas, ourselves, others (intimate and distant), the natural world and the human-made world.
The implementation of this philosophy begins with the formally adopted Mission Statement and Statement of Philosophy and Objectives. Because the primary mission of the school is to develop a Christian person, the school provides for many opportunities for students to take moral action and develop good character. Specific examples include the Big Buddy/Little Buddy Program, environmental protection, and community outreach.
The communications with parents, our primary partners, continually focuses upon what it looks like when students choose value-based behaviors. Our sacramental programs partner with parents to promote the integration of values into behaviors. Our outreach and service projects reflect the values we are developing and give an opportunity for students to extend their understandings and care to more distant others.
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Central to all instructions at St. Francis of Assisi is a very clear understanding of our responsibility as Catholic educators to produce students who are proficient in their understanding and application of Christian values. Pursuant in this need, SFA has adopted the PeaceBuilders Program. PeaceBuilders is a simple child-friendly curriculum, which helps students to understand and claim responsibility for creating conditions conducive to peace in their school and classroom environments. The program is firmly anchored in its adherence to Christ-centered values. As such, it provides a structure, expectations and a common language utilized by all students and staff to create and maintain a school atmosphere marked by a focus on non-violence, justice, peace and compassion.
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Familiae Pacis is Latin for Peace Families, the name of the Middle School Compassion Project at St. Francis of Assisi. In this Peace education program students are given opportunities to express and explore themselves as a people of action as they develop, manage, and engage in service projects. Students learn the power in simple acts of Compassion and their responsibility to do such acts. In Familiae Pacis the lives of strangers become the ideal place for students to initiate their understanding of human pain and the importance of being a person who must reach out to others.
SFA Peace is a Web site by the SFA middle school students on Familiae Pacis.
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The HeartPath Program will provide students at St. Francis of Assisi with opportunities to explore and develop their identities as individuals who place great value in being of Service to others. Students will be guided into an awareness that our Faith holds Service to others to be sacred, life-affirming, and a life-giving responsibility. As they explore their own potential for caring and compassion, HeartPath students will witness the power they each have to be agents of a positive change in both their local as well as their global communities. Student will ultimately gain an insight into Service, which will allow them to begin both a comprehension of the solidarity which they share with all who are vulnerable and an appreciation for the great potential which their own acts of caring and compassion have for the furthering of their own spiritual development.
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The Big Buddy and Little Buddy program pairs up kindergarten children with seventh graders, first grade children with eight graders and second grade children with fifth grade. This Program helps to foster the interconnectedness between the different grades and ages of the children. The older children share the responsibility of mentoring and spiritually guiding the children. The younger children see the older students as wise people and role models that they hope to become as they continue their life at St. Francis of Assisi.