Psalm 71

R. My mouth shall be filled with your praise, and I will sing your glory! 

Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to give me safety,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
O my God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked. 

R. My mouth shall be filled with your praise, and I will sing your glory! 

For you are my hope, O LORD;
my trust, O God, from my youth.
On you I depend from birth;
from my mother's womb you are my strength. 

R. My mouth shall be filled with your praise, and I will sing your glory! 

I will treat of the mighty works of the LORD;
O God, I will tell of your singular justice.
O God, you have taught me from my youth,
and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeds. 

R. My mouth shall be filled with your praise, and I will sing your glory!

From the Principal

Dear Parents,

The horrific tragedy in Connecticut has left us all concerned about the safety of the children. It is very natural that after such an incident that there be concern. Parents should know that statistically the safest place for a child to be is at school. They are monitored constantly. Everything possible is done to assure their safety. In the thirty-five years I have been a principal, the school I have administered has never sent a child home with anything other that a chipped tooth, a bump on the head, or a mildly fractured arm. Statistically, more numerous and more severe injuries occur at home or in automobiles or just playing outside in the neighborhood.

I believe we need to pray for those affected. Many societal concerns have been expressed as a means of halting these incidents. All of us should pay attention to these considerations if we are to live in a civil society. It should be pointed out that incidents occurred in movie theatres, at political rallies, in universities, on highways, and other venues. There is really no place that we are totally safe, including our homes. That is the human condition, and every time we care about someone we increase the vulnerability for hurt. We also increase our capacity for love and joy.

Please have a safe and very Blessed Christmas. Love your children and hold them close. We thank you for entrusting your children to us. Know that we take their physical, emotional, and spiritual safety extremely serious. 

-- Dr. Gerard Toups
    Principal

Calendar for the Week

Thursday, December 20 
"Toy Soldier" March by Second Grade @ 7:35 - Parents are invited to attend.
Mass @ 8:30 - All are invited to attend.
Christmas Program @ 9:30
Christmas Parties @ 10:30
Dismissal @ 11:30
No After School Care
Library Closed
Second Quarter Ends

Friday, December 21
Christmas Holidays Begin

Friday, January 4
Classes Resume
No Buses Run this Day

Busy Day - Thursday, December 20

Schedule for Thursday, December 20:

This is the last day of the second quarter/end of the first semester. 

7:35 - Morning assembly and "Toy Soldier" march by Second Graders. Parents are invited to attend.

8:30 - Mass. All are invited to attend. Crusaders for December will be announced.

Following Mass, still in the church, a live Nativity will be portrayed with participation from the entire student body.

Following the Nativity, students will return to homerooms for small Christmas parties and prepare to dismiss.

Dismissal is at 11:30.

Buses will run both before school and at 11:30.

There is no after school care on this day.

If you wish to check out your child prior to 11:30, the homeroom teacher will have a sign-out sheet.

Classes Resume - Friday, January 4

Classes will resume after the Christmas holidays on Friday, January 4.

WE WILL NOT HAVE BUS SERVICE ON JANUARY 4. Everyone is carpool on that day. We will run carpool on both sides of the building both morning and afternoon. Please follow the directions of the duty teachers so that everything runs quickly, smoothly, and safely.

Mass @ 8:30. All are invited to attend.

We will have the Adopt-a-Child collection at this Mass.

We start the new year with Spirit Dress!

Cafeteria Online Payment Changes

December 2012 

Dear Parent/Guardian, 

Effective January 1, 2013, the Child Nutrition Program will engage MCS School Payment Solutions for online payment services. During the transition period to MCS School Payment Solutions, December 22 – 31, 2012, you will not be able to make any online payments. The new system is scheduled to go live on January 2, 2013. 

All parents making online payments will have to setup new accounts in the new online payment system, and the process is similar to the system formerly used. All the information you need is included in this letter. 

The MCS School Payment Solutions site accepts the following types of payments:
 Credit/Debit Cards
 Personal Checks
 Automatic Monthly Bank Drafts
NOTE: You can still send payments directly to your child’s cafeteria manager. 

This website can be used for the following:
 Free to view student account balances and transaction history
 Free to view your student’s meal activity for the entire school year (current year only)
 Funds are deposited directly into your child’s account
 Receive account statements and low balance notifications upon setting it up 

Once an online payment is made, money is added to your child’s account within 24 hours. The payment amount and a small transaction fee ($2.25 per family transaction) are charged to your credit/debit card or checking account. Payments can be divided between students in your online account as needed. 

Getting started is easy….
Step 1: Access the link directly from our website: www.cnpbr.org (under the ‘Meal Info’ tab in the ‘Payment Options’ section) or go to www.SchoolPaymentSolutions.com.
Step 2: Click on ‘Sign up for an account’ enter all required information and then ‘Activate your account’ through the email you will receive from the system.
Step 3: Login to your account and add your students.
Step 4: Ready to Use: make payments, view meal activity, review transactions. 

The following information will be needed to create your account:
_ US State: Louisiana
_ School District: Diocese of Baton Rouge
_ Student's School: St. Joseph
_ Street Address
_ Student's Birth Date
_ A valid email address for your account
NOTE: If any of the above information is incorrect o missing, please contact Annette Dinecola at 225-387-6421.

We look forward to continued good service and a successful remainder of the school year. If you have any questions or need any additional information, please contact Annette Dinecola or Terri Deville at 225-387-6421. 

Sincerely,
Lynda Carville, CNP Supervisor

Fifth Grade Loves Weather!

Hank Allen, the meteorologist af WGNO ABC 26, was a special visitor to the fifth grade science classes on Tuesday, December 18. 

The students in Mrs. Gabrielle Lloyd's classes had just completed a science weather unit. Mr. Allen came in to enchance the students' knowledge of weather and to give a little insight as to how weather is forecast and reported on television.

The students were featured on the morning weather report the next morning. The feature can be seen at VIDEO.

In the picture above, Mr. Allen shows a weather map to (left to right) Cheyanne Hartman, Ashley Morse, Devin Schaibold, Melissa Ford, and Heather Habisreitinger. More pictures can be seen in the PHOTO ALBUMS.

Follow-up experiment pictures can be seen at EXPERIMENTS.

First Grade Retreat

First graders held their annual Christmas retreat this morning, Wednesday, December 19. As part of the activities, they portayed living Nativities. Some of our angels are Amanda Babin, Alondrra Quiroz, Gracie Schwaibold,Anna Foster, and Molly Mayer. More pictures are the school website in the Photo Albums at RETREAT.

Tithing Reminder

In order to qualify for the lowest tuition rate for the 2013-2014 school, families must be registered parishioners at St. Joseph Parish and have contributed at least $416.00 to the parish this calendar year.

Please contact the parish office 985-386-3749 if you have a question about your contribution.

Track Season

From the track coach:

I've received several texts and emails asking about track this year. I can committ to coaching the Junior High and Middle School groups only. It is not that I don't love all of the younger runners, but there are so many events and so many kids running that I just can't manage all of it. This will also be my last year at St. Joseph, so if the program is going to keep going, one of you guys will need to take over.

In order for this season to be successful we need to have the following volunteers:

Head Coach for Sub Elementary and Elementary (I will help, we can practice together, but this person needs to be committed to practice and meets for this age group)

Assistant Coach for Sub Elementary and Elementary (To help with supervision, work on rosters, etc)

Middle School and Junior High Assistant Coaches: At least one person to supervise and/or coach throwers (discuss, javelin, shot put), at least one person to supervise/coach jumpers (long jump, high jump, and triple jump)

If anyone is interested in taking on a head coach position for all age groups, sub elementary/elementary, or even the Jr High/Middle School Division, I would be more than pleased to be a specator or to work with the runners. Anyone that helps in any way with the track team must have met all of the Child Protection Guidlines for the school and Mrs. Thomas must be notifed that they are on the coaching staff.

Please consider taking on a lead role so that we can keep this sport going. If I am the only person working with the track team it will be limited to runners in 5th - 8th grade only and field events will be limited to the few that I can work with while coacing the runners. Please understand that this statement is not intended to offend anyone or exlude any one group of children, it simply boils down to being too much to handle and becomes a safety issue regarding proper supervision of the kids.

If you are interested please let me know or Mrs. Thomas as soon as possible. I plan on getting the kids rolling this week that we get back to school from Christmas break.

Thanks!

Jerri Pevey

Parish News

Personnel
Fr. Cayet Mangiaracina, O.P. - Parochial Vicar and Administrator
Fr. David K. Seid, O.P, - In Residence
Larry J. Melancon - Deacon
Mike Agnello - Deacon
Dr. M.J. "Dutch" Schanzbach - Deacon

Weekend Mass Schedule
Saturday Vigil Mass - 5:00 p.m.
Sunday Mass - 8:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 5:00 p.m.

Contact Information
Address - 255 North 8th Street (P.O. Box 368), Ponchatoula, LA 70454
Phone - 985.386.3749
Website - www.stjosephsonline.com

The Christmas Mass Schedule

Christmas Eve
4:00 p.m. Children's Christmas Vigil Mass on Monday, December 24
7:00 p.m. Christmas Vigil Mass on Monday December 24
11:30 p.m. Christmas Music Program, December 24

Christmas
12:00 a.m. Christmas Midnight Mass, December 25
8:00 a.m. Christmas Mass, December 25
11:00 a.m. Christmas Mass, December 25


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