On All Saints Day, November 1st, we honor those holy men and women who have gone before us in faith and have done so in a glorious way. As we honor these great champions of faith, let’s reflect upon who they are and what role they continue to play in the life of the Church. The following excerpt is from Chapter 8 of My Catholic Faith!

The Church Triumphant: Those who have gone before us and now share in the glories of Heaven, in the Beatific Vision, are not gone. Sure, we do not see them, and we cannot necessarily hear them speak to us in the physical way they did while on Earth. But they are not gone at all. St. Thérèse of Lisieux said it best when she said, “I want to spend my Heaven doing good on Earth.”

The saints in Heaven are in full union with God and make up the Communion of Saints in Heaven, the Church Triumphant! What’s important to note, however, is that even though they are enjoying their eternal reward, they are still very much concerned about us.

The saints in Heaven are entrusted with the important task of intercession. Sure, God already knows all our needs and He could ask us to go directly to Him in our prayers. But the truth is that God wants to use the intercession, and therefore, the mediation of the saints in our lives. He uses them to bring our prayers to Him and, in return, to bring His grace to us. They become powerful intercessors for us and participators in God’s divine action in the world.

Why is this the case? Again, why doesn’t God just choose to deal with us directly rather than go through intermediaries? Because God wants all of us to share in His good work and to participate in His divine plan. It would be like a dad who buys a nice necklace for his wife. He shows it to his young children, and they are excited about this gift. The mom comes in and the dad asks the children to bring the gift to her. Now the gift is from her husband, but she will most likely thank her children first for their participation in giving this gift to her. The father wanted the children to be part of this giving and the mother wanted to make the children a part of her receiving and gratitude. So, it is with God! God wants the saints to share in the distribution of His manifold gifts. And this act fills His heart with joy!

The saints also give us a model of holiness. The charity they lived on Earth lives on. The witness of their love and sacrifice was not just a one-time act in history. Rather, charity is living and continues to have an effect for the good. Therefore, the charity and witness of the saints lives on and affects our lives. This charity in their lives creates a bond with us, a communion. It enables us to love them, admire them and want to follow their example. It is this, coupled with their continuing intercession, that establishes a powerful bond of love and union with us.

We had a wonderful Confirmation celebration last Saturday where 44 students from the parish and school received their conformation. Bishop Justice presided over the confirmation. Bishop Justice has many ties to our parish as he had been Pastor here in his early days as a priest. Congratulations students.

School Family Mass

Our next school family Mass will be on Sunday, November 6th at 10:30am. Our third graders will be responsible for the preparation of the Mass. We look forward to seeing everyone at the Mass on this day.

Upcoming Events

Next week will be a busy with Halloween, All Saints and All Souls Day masses. For Tuesday, All Saints Day and Wednesday, All Souls Day we will be celebrating those days with the 8am Mass. All Students must be in Full School Uniform. Please remember to drop your child/children by 7:55am at the church.

Halloween Parade

We will continue with our Halloween Parade at 1:15pm on Monday, October 31st. We will be able to have snacks after the parade in the various classrooms. Please be advised that the School Board members have agreed that we need to cut back on the amount of food for the children. Please remember that the students have had their lunch. We are looking at prepackaged snacks and drinks. No soda or peanut type of snacks. Room Parents (ONLY) are allowed back in the classrooms.

Only our Volunteer Room Parents who are fingerprinted are permitted to be in the classroom for the school party.

If you are a Volunteer Room Parent and have not been fingerprinted, have not completed or are not current with the Virtus training, you need to contact Mrs. Cierra a info@ssfallsoulsschool.org You may also login to your SchoolSpeak account under Virtus (Link attached below) and complete the Virtus training and fingerprint before Monday.

Virtus and Fingerprinting Link

To complete your Virtus training and obtain fingerprint forms Click Here

Basketball Sign Ups

A reminder that basketball signups are due. If you have not signed your child up, please do so by Friday. Click Here to sign your child up for Basketball.

STAR Testing

The second round of STAR testing starts next Wednesday. Please ensure your child has had a good breakfast and restful night sleep. The STAR test will help the teachers to adjust their learning experiences for the children.

Veterans Day

There will be no school on Friday, November 11th. We honor our veterans on this day. Thank you for all the services that our veterans have contributed to our country.

God Bless and Stay Safe,

Vincent Riener

Principal

This year See's Candies Fundraiser will be ONLINE ONLY. No monies will need to be sent to school.

All funds of this event will be allocated to update the camera security system in our school. All orders may be placed online through the link below, starting Friday, October 28.

https://www.yumraising.com/secure/allscs_all_souls_catholic_school87/ClaEsc5440/

All orders must be submitted no later than Monday, November 28 2022 and will be delivered directly to your address of choice.

Please note this is an optional fundraiser.

Thank you for your support as this will benefit our school community!

1. New mailing address

As of 8/31, the Minneapolis office will be closed. With this, we have a new process for the checks, documents, and invoices that were being sent through the mail.

• TADS will no longer be mailing invoices. All billing accounts will be switched to “Statements sent by email”.
• If they would still like a hard copy, they or the school can log in and go to the family’s billing account > click on an invoice number > click the button to “Download as a PDF”.
• We have notified families of this by inserting a brightly colored letter in any invoices mailed out this month. We will also email families when we switch their account to emailed statements.
• If they request to have their $18 Postal mailing fee removed, we can replace it with an “Amended Mailing Fee” that is $3 per invoice we previously sent. The over payments can be applied to their future invoices but CANNOT be refunded.

• Mailed checks and money orders should be sent to our lockbox at the address below.
• Please give this new address to every family who mentions they might send a payment.
• Mailed payments sent to the 110 N 5th St. address will be forwarded, however this will cause delays and it is possible for mail to be missed in this process.
• We are in the process of updating the website, emails, and downloadable documents with the new address.
• TBD on how this will be communicated with families and schools.

Address for TADS TM and Classic FA payments

Auncor, Inc.

PO Box 850136

Minneapolis, MN 55485

31 Halloween Parade 1:15pm & Classroom Parties

1All Saints Day Mass - 8am (Full School Uniform)

1-10 Star Testing

2 All Souls Day Mass - 8am (Full School Uniform)

6 School Family Mass - 10:30am

7 Early Dismissal - 2:30pm - Faculty Meeting

11 Veterans Day - Holiday

14 Staff Development Meeting - 12:20 Dismissal

15 School Assembly - 2:30pm

15 School Board Meeting - 6:30pm

21-25 Thanksgiving Holiday - Thanksgiving Day 11/24

Dear All Souls Families,

You can now pay and add credit to your child/children's cafeteria account through SchoolSpeak. Your payment will be processed through PayPal with a 3% convenience fee for all transactions.

Sign-in to your SchoolSpeak account and select "Lunch Order" in the quick links menu on the left. The "Pay" tab will direct you to your payment options. You may pay the cafeteria balance through your existing PayPal account or as a guest using your credit or debit card. You may also add credit to your child/children's cafeteria account. If you wish, you may still make cash or check payments to the school office.

Please note, for the families that have a credit card on file I will no longer be charging your credit card for lunch payments. You are responsible for paying and adding credit to your cafeteria account.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Regards,

Ms. Escobar