The following is a message from Fr. Joseph Illo, pastor of Star of the Sea Parish:
Dear Friends,
Star of the Sea School reopened today as Stella Maris Academy, a Catholic Classical Curriculum school of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. The joy was palpable in the faces of our sterling faculty, courageous parents, and bright-eyed students. Our inaugural enrollment is 50 students in grades pre-K through 8th. One second-grader, Paloma Padilla, gave me a shiny red apple at the end of the day, as her mother snapped the picture below. We didn’t have to wear masks outside as is required inside, and so we are planning a generous amount of outside instruction to give the kids a break from the masks as long as the weather permits.
Moving heaven and earth to reopen this school during a pandemic is God’s work, and in particular an answer to our novena to St. Joseph. He is the patron saint of our school, founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1909. Many thanks to all of you, each of whom had a part in this achievement. There is much work still to be done, and we rely entirely on God’s grace as we go forward. God bless you all.
From Star of the Sea’s Facebook page.
Fr. Illo is truly doing the work of God. I’ll be sending a donation, YFC, join me with some financial generosity to this new academy in your own backyard.
No LGBTQ stuff? Then you can count YFC out. YFC’s not cool with that.
If I had kids that age I would send them there. I would like to make a donation too. I would love to see the curriculum. There are some bad classical resources out there and it traditionally skimped on the STEM curriculum but it does not have too.
Grammer phase is a good place to start sciences. I hope they will include real world history from a Catholic perspective. We are a universal Church.
And now I see the science lab in the background of the picture.
Allright, who cropped the science lab out of the picture?
You can see it on Facebook.
STEM actually fits into a Catholic Classical curriculum. Remember that the monks were great innovators and that is what a STEM program aims to inspire.
I found the curriculum online.
I would like to make a recommendation that takes just a little time but can make a big difference.
There is a program called Operation World. It is not Catholic but the schedule can be used or a different schedule could be drawn up that better fits our Calendar of the Saints
Every day you pray for a country. You can quickly introduce children to world geography, Catholic history and current events, plus pray for people who really need our prayers.
By the time you get to world history in 6th grade, it will have much more meaning to the kids.
I love this picture. The children look so Beautiful. Father Illo looks good too. And those 2 adults in the background who appear to be getting their picture taken by a different photographer look good too.
Beautiful children and beautiful priest, and a lovely gift for the teacher. Very healthy. (Laughter.) Not that Fr. Illo needs it as he is very tall and not apt to gain too much weight. (Some more laughter.) I am sure the gentlemen and lady in the background are doing some wonderful work too. They look as if they are teachers.
Anne TE, I know it is “apple for the teacher” symbolism and not Adam and Eve-ish.
That later fruit came to mind as some scientists are always trying to tell use we descended from apes. (Laughter.) I have often wondered why the apes are still here if we descended from them, but that is another whole story that I won’t get into.
That is a good point.
This post makes no sense without my first post, which I accidentally put in the wrong place. You will find it below today, Aug. 28, at 12:49 pm.
You are exactly right. You read my mind.
By the way, the Bible does not tell what fruit Adam and Eve ate. It might have been a banana.
Well, a banana would certainly have appeal.
Oops! I thinketh that should have been “me thinketh”.
Modern Science is good and necessary as part of a student’s education. However, the foundation of a Traditional Classical Catholic curriculum is the Humanities and the Catholic Faith. A broad, traditional Humanities background is essential to deepen a student’s understanding of life, and grow and mature intellectually, and become a truly well-educated person. With a good, traditional classical education, and solid religious training, the student is ready to serve Christ in any field to which He may call them.
K. Kong, me thinks thou hath read too much Scott Hahn, the King of Puns. But thou doth cometh in a close second me thinketh.
Proverbs 22:6 – Train up a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not depart from it.
I see that they are using the virtues curriculum from the Dominican Sister of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.
If you are homeschooling or just want to augment your child’s education there is free content from the Dominican Sisters in Nashville here:
https://www.nashvilledominican.org/apostolate/evangelization-and-catechesis/virtues-in-practice/
Our company was commissioned to manufacture the new Altar Rail cushions that set on the step of the altar. We meet the deadline so that they would be in place for this very important celebratory mass for the opening of the school. We are honored to be part of the work and the vision that Fr. Joseph and his team are doing there at Star of the Sea. We also replaced all of the pads on the existing metal Prie Dieus that set through out the church. There will be more work coming as they continue to enhance Gods house. Please reach out to us if we can provide any liturgical furniture for your church. Blessings!
Thank you for your contribution to this wonderful church!