2nd Annual Christ the Servant Parish Benefit Golf Outing

Now is the Time... if you have not already signed up for the Parish Golf Outing. 

May 19, 2012, Sanctuary Golf Course

Click here for more information!

A HUGE THANK YOU TO OUR EVENT SPONSORS ($500-$1,000)! 

Krugliak, Wilkins, Griffiths & Dougherty Co., L.P.A.
Baker, Dublikar, Beck, Wiley and Mathews
Davey Tree         
Mike and Joanne Lally Eberhart
Dr. and Mrs. Andrew C. Pederzolli, MD

The 2012 Bishops Appeal for Catholic Charities
   The Bishop's Appeal for Catholic Charities is now underway for the 2012-2013 year.  Letters have gone out to the pacesetters from last year, and I have also sent letter to each of our homes.  I thank all of you who are responding so generously.  Being able to reach our diocesan goal as community is an achievement that I hope we will all share in again this year as a parish community and as parishioners of Christ the Servant.  As I mentioned over and over these last years – the Bishops Appeal  is about those in need - the hungry and the homeless.  If we forget this, then we lose our focus as a Catholic Community.   The author Nathan Mitchell writes that “Liturgy is a humble, earthly means to an end, and the end is people – hungry people, homeless people, victims of violence and war, and oppression of children sold as slave labor; lives destroyed by disease and famine. And yes the affluent American suburbanites as well.  All these are the “end” for which liturgy is a means.  What turns our Alleluias into dirges – is our numbness, our inability to see, and hear, and touch, and embrace the end for which liturgy was created-people.  Imperfect people.” 

Where does the money go?  Click here to read the 2011 Diocese of Youngstown Catholic Charities Annual Report.

It's Time to Register for Vacation Bible School 2012 - June 25-29th

When: June 25th, 2012 through June 29th, 2012
Time: 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Who Can Attend: Those students who are in Pre-K at the Early Learning Center at Christ the Servant Parish through those how are entering into the 6th grade.  If your child has a friend that would like to attend for the week, they are more than welcome to register even if they are not a parishioner at the parish!  All those who meet the age requirement are welcome to attend!
What: Children will learn about a variety of saints through the week!  There will be a Finale Program on the Friday, June 29th starting at 12 (noon) for family members, friends, and Christ the Servant Parishioners to see what the children learned throughout the week.  Lunch will be provided for all after the program

Homemade breakfast and lunch will be provided all week!!! 

HOW TO REGISTER: Registration forms are available in the back of the church or you can download the forms by clicking here.  This year's chairs are PJ Chavez and Maria Crookston.  Registration begins May 20th.  Please email CTSVBS@gmail.com for mroe information.  Find them on Facebook by clicking here. 

CTS VBS has it's own web page!  Please click here for all of the details on Vacation Bible School 2012.

Men's Club Baseball Outing
   The Men's Club is chartering a bus to attend the Cleveland Indians game on Friday, June 15, versus the Pittsburgh Pirates.  All men are invited to join us on this trip.  Cost is $30 per person and includes a ticket, sack lunch and drink for the ride up.  Tickets can be purchased by calling Steve LaLiberte at (330) 323-9480.  

OLOP Kindergarten Teacher Honored
   Mrs. Jennifer Zenobi was recently nominated for Stark County Teacher of the Year! Nominations included one teacher from each district and two parochial teachers. Congratulations, Mrs. Zenobi!  Those of us who have had children in your classroom know you are one of a kind. 

Dear Parents and Parishioners, Board of Directors, and devoted Faculty and Staff,

I am writing to officially inform you that Dr. Lois Cavucci has accepted the position of President of the Mahoning County Catholic Regional School System; one that I know she will fulfill with the same professionalism, passion and commitment that she has given here at Our Lady of Peace School.  Her decision to seek this position is one that I support and recommended as we move into the President / Principal Model of Governance for our diocese.  

Dr. Cavucci has in her tenure furthered a process for creating a sustainable learning community, enabling each child to achieve the fullest realization of their potential.  As our current principal transitions to her new position, I want to assure you that I am unreservedly committed to an educational process that promises the integration and ongoing spiritual formation of each of our children, and strengthens the growth of a 21st century environment that connects with the learning style of every child. The care and achievement of each child is a non-negotiable.  Likewise, my continued insistence for an environment that is safe and secure, emotionally and psychologically healthy, disciplined and consistent, will uncompromisingly remain the expectation here at Our Lady of Peace School. 

We are beginning the search for a strong and capable leadership within our school and I will continue to communicate with our School Board, our parents, our faculty and staff, and our parishioners as we progress toward naming a new principal.   I am very proud of the current perception within our community of our Center for Early Learning, Our Lady of Peace School, and our after-school Enrichment Arts Program.  “Imagining the unimaginable” will carry Catholic education into the future, and create a culture in which every child knows that the reason we are here “is because we care.”

Sincerely yours in Christ the Servant,

Rev. Msgr. Lewis F. Gaetano, D.Min.

Pastor and Administrator

Monsignor's Homily

8th Grade Service Project

The OLOP 8th Grade is helping with a Habitat for Humanity project.  The twist is that the class has split into 5 groups, with Monsignor giving $100.00 of his own money to each group for seed money.  The children are to invest it in a method that will raise additional money to help fund their cause.  Several mentors from the parish are helping the 8th Graders raise money for the project. 

Over the next few weeks, you will probably see our 8th graders working their fundraisers - be it outside of mass or at coffee and donuts.  Please try to support them in this important endeavor.

Click here for more information.

The Game-changer within our Catholic Schools - By Monsignor Gaetano, President of the Stark County Regional Catholic School System

     Our Catholic schools have enabled countless number of men and women in living the Easter message in their daily lives. Our Catholic schools have been a light for generations of young people in creating a more caring and compassionate world.  Our Catholic schools continue to be a powerful instrument in the formation of the Catholic community.  However, the future of our Catholic schools remains a genuine concern for us, especially given the steady decline which began five decades ago.  
     T. J. Agostino in his article “The Technology Revolution and Catholic Education” provides a “light” in the darkness for our consideration, while preserving the meaning of Catholic education and our Catholic identity.  Agostino suggests that while we are facing major challenges in Catholic education; technology is the game-changer for us.  Technology will allow Catholic education not only to become more efficient, but can assist in increasing the effectiveness of our mission.  Creating a new model of Catholic education – being imaginative and courageous enough – can promote the capacity for learning within the Catholic educational community.  It will require us to become more effective and accountable in the classroom, using those means that will transform the way our children learn and the way we teach.  
     Technology will not force us into relinquishing the spiritual formation of our young people or in providing our young people with the competence for creating a more human and more loving world.  Technology does not require that we lose the focus and care of the whole child – or the “ cura personalis” as stated by our Bishop in his recent pastoral on education.  However, technology does require us to become more accountable, more effective in reinventing our schools in becoming the learning environments in which the mind and spirit of every child can respond to the qualitative challenges of the 21st Century; remaining true to our Catholic intellectual tradition - without reducing education to the accumulation of “so many factoids.”  Technology becomes a tool enabling us to re-imagine our schools; allowing them to become the cornerstone for creating those future communities which our graduates will serve and guide.    
     May Christ guide us into the future and always be the distinctive character of our way of life.   At the Easter Vigil we light the new paschal candle – a sign of the Risen Christ – a light shining in the darkness - a light that cannot be extinguished.  Easter is a powerful symbol for fashioning our lives as Catholic community.  It means allowing the light of Christ to enlighten the dark places of our world – and it means embracing our world, using the multiple means that God has provided for us in transforming the world – and our lives - using even those means available to us that were beyond the imagination of Jesus’ first disciples.

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Applications of Techology are an integral part of the Our Lady of Peace School Curriculum.  Students may explore technology through iPads, laptop computers, smartboards, Lego Robotics, digital art pads and video production.  Technology is applied in all subject areas.  To learn more about the advancements available to students at Our Lady of Peace School, as well as all other areas of study, please click here. 

In other news...

It Takes a Village parishioner tuition assistance program announced.  Click here for more information.

Youth Ministry - Grades 7-12 - Click Here  

Prayers for the Sick - Please call or email the parish office by Monday at Noon with the names of anyone who has a prolonged illness or is in the hospital.  Their names will appear in the bulletin weekly so that all parishioners will be able to pray for them.   

New Crucifix at Christ the Servant Parish

Cick here for more information

New Gym Uniforms

The new Our Lady of Peace gym uniforms have arrived.  You can order yours today by calling the school office at 330.492.0622.  Order forms will be sent home this Thursday in the Blue Folders. Click here to see what they look like!