Saint Joseph Academy would like to congratulate Anya Murray (Class of 2011) for the publication of her autobiographical, pro-life article that was originally shared on this blog. To read the article at Life Site News, please Click Here.

Here is the first-ever edition of St. Joseph Academy’s school newspaper!

The students have worked extremely hard, putting in long hours for editing and revisions. As their adviser, I am proud of their hard work and am pleased to pass it along to you.

Please click on the link below:

Thursday, May 24, Vol. 1, Iss. 1

By Julie De La Torre

 

Who do students go to when they scrape their knees? Whenever the phone is ringing off the hook, someone needs to pick it up. Parents and teachers need to know when and where to attend their meetings.

There is a cause behind all these happenings. That cause is the school’s lovely, hard-working secretary, Miss Aust, along with helpers like Mrs. Franco and Mrs. Schafer.

Secretary’s Day is celebrated on April 27 around the United States. Unfortunately, that falls during Saint Joseph Academy’s Easter Break this year. As a result, the school will celebrate its secretaries’ hard work on May 4.

There are a number of things that happen behind the secretary’s desk that students may be unaware of.

Miss Aust arrives in the morning at Saint Joseph Academy at 8:15 to prepare for a hard day’s work. She begins by greeting the students and parents as they walk through the office. She answers phone calls, administers tardy and re-admit slips, and helps with morning announcements, along with many other morning duties.

Once the classes have started, the work does not end for Miss Aust. She continues to constantly answer phone calls, but also juggles the tasks of filing paperwork, making copies, treating injuries, e-mailing parents, and organizing lunch orders.

In addition, Miss Aust gives tours around campus to new families, sells scrip, coordinates field trips and schedules confession days.

As though that’s not enough running around, she also coaches elementary and middle school basketball after school, which she enjoys very much.

By the grace of God, Miss Aust has received many helping hands to get her through each day. These helping hands include school parents like Mrs. Schafer and Mrs. Franco, and students like Sophomore Sofia Delgado. Miss Aust’s “office compadre” is Coach Allen.

Students and parents should all recognize the amount of work that Miss Aust, Mrs. Schafer, and Mrs. Franco do for the school. Secretary Day is a day to realize that without them, the school would not function properly.

To give them this recognition, students may bring a small gift or card. Even a simple “Thank you” would be acceptable. Every one should stop by the office and show a sign, no matter how small, of their appreciation for everything these industrious ladies do for the school.

By Stephen Telles

In his recent book, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week, Pope Benedict XVI delves deeply into the mysteries of Jesus’ life. When he comes to the mystery of the Agony in the Garden, the Pope points out “the particular horror felt by him who is Life itself before the abyss of the full power of destruction… to the point that he is ‘made to be sin’ (cf. 2 Cor 5:21)” (155).

 

What does it mean that Jesus was made to be sin? It means more than any journalist can express, but after meditating on the Pope’s words, one can can come to a few conclusions.

One may say that both sin and Jesus were dying there on the Cross, and that both suffered until death. Sin, however, did not get any burial cloth, tomb, or Blessed Mother to mourn its death. More importantly, sin would experience no Resurrection.

Jesus rose. Sin? It turned over in its grave at the thought of Jesus’ Resurrection, but it could do nothing about it. It had no more power, no more bite. It was dead forever.

As sin shriveled up and died, Jesus, on the other hand, earned Eternal Life, the Pearl of Great Price about which he had preached (Matthew 13:45, 46). He earned it not just for Himself, but for all people who would choose freely to imitate Him.

He remained joyful in coming here, face to bloody face with us, so that all people could see His love for the Father and his love for them even more clearly; Yet he experienced as much or more pain than anyone else who has ever lived.

While he must have had mixed feelings about the bloody form of his sacrifice, Jesus absolutely delighted in the unbloody form of his sacrifice: the Eucharist. Benedict XVI began his Holy Thursday homily by focusing on the Lord’s joy in giving his disciples his body and

blood for the first time.

“‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer’ (Luke 22:15).” Pope Benedict began with these words of Jesus in his homily of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper last Thursday. “In this eager desire of Jesus we can recognize the desire of God himself – his expectant love for mankind, for his creation.”

Now that Jesus has risen, this world’s passing suffering and death mean eventual happiness and birth into eternal life. So although people continue to sin and suffer, Jesus has made it so, at the end of time, both sin and suffering will end.

Now that Christ has carried death to its death, it has no power. Every time people suffer now, they can draw a reference back to that high hill, Calvary. There, Jesus’ suffering may in fact be to the point of death, but not only His death, which was temporary, but also the death of sin, which will be permanent.

by Kaitlyn Heiskell

"The imagery is extremely brutal, yet moving."

As the Lenten season comes to a close and the actual Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Our Lord approach, we must begin to really contemplate the sacrifice Christ made for us out of perfect love.

A great way to prepare our hearts for these events is to watch one of the most touching portrayals of Christ’s sacrifice, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ (R). Many Catholic experts find this movie to be one of the most accurate portrayals of Christ’s life and sacrifice.

The imagery of the movie is extremely brutal, yet moving. Larry Schauf, an expert on the Shroud of Turin, says that, based on the amount of blood found on the Shroud of Turin, Christ suffered and bled much more than we see even in The Passion.

Although this may be true, The Passion of the Christ is a wonderful expression of Our Lord’s life, love, and sacrifice and it will definitely move our hearts to prepare for his coming on Easter Sunday and help us to realize how much he truly loves us. We owe him as much as we can possibly give for saving us from our sins by giving his life on the cross.

By Jordan Stabile and Nick Pallisco

The SJA Track and Field team  traveled to Julian this past Thursday to compete in the first Citrus league meet this year. The Crusaders competed hard in this meet, earning points in several events. Some Crusader players also rose above the competition and placed first in their heats.

The Shotput and Discus throwers worked hard at Julian. Senior Jordan Stabile threw 79 feet, earning fourth in the heat. Sophomore Drew Van Orden threw 85 feet, earning 3rd in the heat and a PR for himself. Junior Garrick Schafer threw 87 feet, earning 2nd in the heat. Senior Luke Tedrow claimed first place in the heat, throwing 94 feet.

For Shotput, the Crusaders placed in different ranks. Senior Jordan Stabile threw 30’5″. Junior Garrick Schafer threw 30’9″, achieving a PR for himself. Senior Luke Tedrow threw 35 feet. Sophomore Drew Van Orden placed first in his heat, throwing 34 feet.

When it came time for the fast running events the crusaders showed up. Seniors Vince Delgado and Nick Pallisco mopped up the competition, each taking first in their heat of the 100 meter race. In the afternoon sophmore Gabe Wester ran the 200 meter race, placing second overall and setting a personal record for himself of 27.73 seconds.

Overall the Crusaders did very well in both running and field events, so well in fact that they were able to place within the top three schools of the Citrus League Meet.

By SJAToday Staff

The last week of Lent has come. In the Christian world, this is the holiest week of the year. The Catholic Church requires that its members receive the Sacrament of Confession at least once a year.

The Diocese of New York decided to take an active approach to bringing Catholics to Confession. The diocese is holding Confession Day today, and to promote it the diocese is hosting a scholarship contest.

For the contest, participants made 30 to 60 second advertisements promoting Confession and Confession Day. Saint Joseph Academy senior Randy Adair made an ad for the competition. His video can be seen here. Part of the way that the scholarship winner is determined is the number of views his or her video gets.

Christ died to wash away our sins, but it is still necessary to go to Confession. The SJA Today staff encourages our readers to watch Randy’s video and to go to Confession on this holiest of weeks.

By Stephen Telles

Dr. Michael Barber, a Scripture scholar and professor at John Paul the Great Catholic University, will visit Mr. Clarke’s Sophomore Scripture Class today, April 18. “He is quite a rising star in theology,” Mr. Clarke said of Barber, “and he is becoming a coveted speaker.”

Dr. Barber will speak on the Apocalypse. The journalism class plans to make the audio recording of his talk available on this blog as soon as possible after it is given.

By Jordan Stabile

The Crusaders attended the annual Calvin Christian Invitational at Escondido High School last Saturday. The meet consisted of several small school competing in the various events. These schools included Francis Parker, Santa Fe Christian, Coronado, Mar Vista, Foothills Christian, and Mountain Empire. Though the schools in the meet were small, several of the schools packed some tough competition. One of the schools that posed a threat to other schools was SJA.

The Long Distance runners proved to be a threat to others in the meet’s event. This meet’s long distance squad comprised of Junior Christina Ramos and Michelle Berenschot, Sophomore Mark Saunders, and Freshman Andrew Delgado. Berenschot ran the 800m while the others ran the 1600m.  Berenschot achieved a time if 3:33 in the 800m. Junior Christina Ramos pushed herself hard to the very end of the 1600m race. Ramos achieved a time of 7:29.

For the men’s 1600 meter race, Saunders raced hard and competed well and was able to achieve a 6:43. Andrew Delgado ran a 5:23, placing 8th overall in the meet.

For the shotput and discus throwers, the Calvin Christian Invitational was a field day for them. Berenschot represented SJA in the shotput event. She threw 22 feet 9 inches. Berenschot not only threw a personal record (PR) at this invitational, but also broke the previous school record. Berenschot’s record throw ignited a throwing frenzy for SJA, as the men’s shotput and discus team also achieved a slew of PRs (personal records) and school records.

Seniors Jordan Stabile  and Luke Tedrow threw shotput. Stabile threw 31 feet 9 inches and Tedrow threw 36 feet 7 inches. Tedrow earned a PR in this event. He also reclaimed the school record which he held earlier this year. Junior Garrick Schafer also earned a PR in shotput, throwing for 28 feet 5 inches. Sophomore Drew Van Orden placed second in his heat, throwing 36 feet.

The slew of PRs came in the discus event. Schafer launched the discus 96 feet 1 inch. Schafer obliterated his previous PR of 70 feet. He placed second in his heat, claimed a PR, and now holds the school record in the discus event.

Stabile and Tedrow also threw the discus far. Stabile threw 89 feet 10 inches, a personal record for him. Tedrow threw 94 feet 3 inches. Stabile placed second in his heat while Tedrow placed first. Van Orden also earned a PR for himslef. He threw 79 feet, beating his previous PR by several feet.

The Crusaders’ earned PRs and records at this meet. They hope to take the momentum from this meet and carry it to the next meet. The Crusaders start their league meets on Thursday April 14, 2011.

We, as the Saint Joseph Academy blog staff, are excited to announce some exciting news. The administrator of the SJA blog team has announced we will be publishing an online newspaper for Saint Joseph Academy.

“I’m very excited for this to happen. It’s a big step for our journalism class and we have came a long way,” said Juliana Maola, a senior who is on the newspaper committee.

The newspaper is going to be published online on May 17 and will be available to be read that day. Articles will feature the high school prom, the gala, May Crowning, First Communion, and a big sports section. Although there will not be any printed copies, the online paper will look exactly like any other newspaper, only on a computer screen.

On the other hand, the SJA blog staff is now in need of more writers. Since the newspaper is being published, it will need more hands. If you are a student at SJA and interested in writing, editing or designing, photography or photo illustrations for the newspaper, please see Mr. Clarke in Room 204. If you have ever wanted to write an article, be a photographer, or help with the art and page layout that make a newspaper look good, here’s your time to shine!