Archdiocese of St. Louis

Saint Simon School 'Adopted' Through Symphony Program

Second graders at Saint Simon the Apostle School perform with members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in a December 16 concert at the school.

Saint Simon the Apostle School in South County is the first Catholic school to participate in the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra's Adopt-A-School program, a 16-week intensive music curriculum geared toward second-grade students.

The program, which Saint Simon took part in earlier this school year, introduces students to classical music and introduces basic music skills and concepts. Resources and performance and concert opportunities are provided by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Three public schools also took part in the symphony's Adopt-A-School program.

The program is taught collaboratively by a symphony representative and the school's music teacher, with elements of the school's curriculum incorporated into the lessons.

Throughout the 16 weeks, Saint Simon second-grade students took part in instrument demonstrations by symphony musicians that focused on different instrument families—brass, string, woodwind, percussion—and on the conductor.

Bishops To Fight Against FOCA—Catholics in St. Louis Asked To Participate in Campaign

By Jennifer Brinker, St. Louis Review Staff Writer

The Archdiocese of St. Louis is joining a nationwide effort to fight passage of the Freedom of Choice Act.

Parishes here will participate in the "Fight FOCA Postcard Campaign" after Masses the weekend of Jan. 24-25. In signing their postcards, Catholics will be asking legislators to oppose the pro-abortion act.

The national campaign is co-sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment. Locally, the effort is being coordinated by the archdiocesan Respect Life Apostolate.

"FOCA is the most radical pro-abortion legislation that has ever been promoted, and therefore, it is very important that every Catholic inform their public representatives that we cannot tolerate legislation that will intensify the destruction of our children," archdiocesan administrator Bishop Robert J. Hermann told the Review.

FOCA "is more radical than Roe vs. Wade because it will not allow anyone—the government, doctors, parents—to interfere with the so-called 'right' to an abortion," said Christina Heddell, director of the Respect Life Apostolate. "It is imperative that the Church send a clear message to the elected officials in Washington that we do not want women and their unborn children to suffer under FOCA or any related measure that promotes procured abortion."

So what would FOCA do? In short, the act could wipe out a broad range of pro-life laws currently set into place and allowed under the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision. That means many existing state laws on abortion could be eliminated and could lessen states' future ability to regulate abortion.

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The Epiphany Proclamation: Announcing the Year of Grace

It is an ancient custom of the Church to proclaim on the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord the dates of the Easter Triduum and other significant days and feasts of the Lenten and Paschal seasons. The practice originally served, in part, as a practical means of informing the Christian faithful of these important dates in the days before the availability of calendars. Of the practice, the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, observes the following: "Many traditions and genuine manifestations of popular piety have been developed in relation to the Solemnity of the Lord's Epiphany, which is of ancient origin and rich in spiritual content. Among such forms of popular piety, mention may be made of the solemn proclamation of Easter and the principal dominical feasts; its revival in many places would be opportune since it served to make the connection between the Epiphany and Easter, and orientate all feasts towards the greatest Christian solemnity." The text of the proclamation follows:

Dear brothers and sisters, the glory of the Lord has shone upon us, and shall ever be manifest among us, until the day of His return.

Through the rhythms of times and seasons let us celebrate the mysteries of salvation.

Let us recall the year's culmination, the Easter Triduum of the Lord: His Last Supper, His Crucifixion and Death, His Burial, and His Rising, celebrated between the evening of the 9th of April and the evening of the 12th of April.

Each Easter—as on each Sunday—the Holy Church makes present the great and saving deed by which Christ has forever conquered sin and death. From Easter are reckoned all the days we keep holy.

Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, will occur on the 25th of February.

The Ascension of the Lord will be commemorated on the 24th of May.

Pentecost, the joyful conclusion of the season of Easter, will be celebrated on the 31st of May.

And this year the First Sunday of Advent will be on the 29th of November.

Likewise the pilgrim Church proclaims the Passover of Christ in the feasts of the holy Mother of God, in the feasts of the Apostles and Saints, and in the commemoration of the faithful departed.

The Feast of the Epiphany: 'Come, Let Us Adore'

'A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.