Principal's Pen: Virtues in Practice

The Christian moral life is one that seeks to cultivate and practice virtue. “A virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself ” (CCC, no. 1803).

At St. Francis of the Lakes Catholic School we introduced a new program this year called Virtues in Practice that focuses on the Theological Virtues, faith, hope, and charity. Virtues in Practice is a 3-year program for children in preschool through 8th grade to not only study and grow in virtues but experience virtues as a part of their everyday lives. This program encourages the practice of the virtues in every grade by introducing a specific saint that represents the virtue of that month. Each month, children learn about the same virtue but primary, intermediate, and middle school students learn about different saints. It is setup in such a way that the whole school studies the same virtue every month to provide a whole-school focus.

St. Francis has taken the Virtues in Practice program and integrated it into our monthly Star Student recognition awards. Each month the teachers secretly select a Star Student from their classroom that best represents the monthly virtue. The student is then announced by the principal at the last school Mass of the month. Growth in virtue is an important goal for every Christian, for the virtues play a valuable role in living a Christian moral life. At St. Francis we not only learn about what it means to be a Catholic, but practice and encourage growth within the virtues as an important goal for living a moral life.