We desire to create an atmosphere of inquiry, discovery, and trust wherein each child has an opportunity to explore his or her talents and grow intellectually.
We strive to provide a safe, positive and challenging environment for effective physical, social, and emotional development and strong cultural awareness.
We seek to provide students with opportunities for practicing and articulating their faith and values with the aim of deepening their spirituality and character.
As a Catholic community St. Camillus School believes that all people are called to holiness. One way that holiness can be defined is for a person to achieve the fullness of being human that our Creator intended for us. As Catholics we believe that Jesus Christ is the model of a complete human being. So, we believe that people will be most like they are meant to be, and therefore most happy, if they become like Jesus.
Being holy and being all that our Creator desires for us to be is no easy task. Holiness, or righteousness, has been a quest of human beings since time immemorial. The Scriptures, both the Old and the New Testaments, describe for us many of human beings' struggles to be more like God intended them to be.
As Catholics we believe that the many people whose stories fill the Bible are one set of examples for us to see how we might realistically become holy. We also believe that throughout history there are many other men and women, who although imperfect, have become like Christ and who stand out as model for us of how to live our lives and become more like Jesus.
At St. Camillus School we look to three particular saints (the term saint is merely a title that means a person has been held up as an example of holy living) as particular examples for our community for how to be like God intends for us to be.
Our parish and school are named in honor of St. Camillus de Lellis and so he is our patron saint. St. Camillus was a very ordinary young man. Camillus' father died at an early age and Camillus took up a life as a soldier for hire. He fought in several wars between the Italian city-states and the Turks. During his time as a mercenary Camillus also became a man of bad habits, including a tendency towards gambling and fighting.
In an odd way, Camillus was blest to have received a severe injury in war. Because of the serious wound to his leg, Camillus had to go to Rome and spend time in a hospital there. After he was released from the hospital Camillus could not go back to being a soldier because his injury left him disabled.
Camillus was lost and did not know what to do with his life. Somehow Camillus ended up at a Franciscan monastery where his uncle, a friar, was the superior. Camillus spent time with the friars and went to work as a laborer on their property. Eventually, thanks to the way that the friars treated him and the lessons that they taught him, Camillus began to desire to be like them and he tried to join the Franciscans. He was, however, rejected because he was still involved with gambling and fighting and his health was still poor due to his injury.
Camillus left the Franciscans and went to work at the hospital in Rome where he had been a patient. After spending time working in the hospital Camillus decided to try to be a soldier again, but this did not satisfy his growing desire to help people.
Camillus eventually joined a different group of Franciscans and became a novice friar, but this did not prove to be the work he was being called to do. Camillus left the friars before taking his final vows and went back to the hospital in Rome.
At the hospital, Camillus, who still had pain in his leg from his earlier injury, realized that he was called to serve the sick and the dying. So, with the assistance of St. Philip Neri, Camillus de Lellis became a priest and founded an order of priests and brothers called the Ministers of the Sick. The primary work of Camillus and his fellow Ministers of the Sick was to found and staff hospitals throughout Italy.
Camillus placed upon his black priest's cassock a large red cross. This red cross became the symbol of the Ministers of the Sick and the hospitals that they operated. This is also the origin of the connection between a red cross and medical facilities.
Camillus is held up today as a saint, a holy person, because he learned to turn away from his negative desires and turn towards others and their needs. Camillus, by learning the joy of serving others also learned to be more like Jesus and is therefore a model for us on how to be like Jesus too.
Our school also looks to St. Francis of Assisi, who founded the Order of Friars Minor (commonly called the Franciscans) as a model of holiness because it is the Franciscan friars who lead our parish.
We also honor St. Julie Billiart who founded the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur who staffed our school for three decades.
Openness to Families of All Faiths
St. Camillus School is committed to the principle that all are welcome in our community. We adhere to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council which call for Catholics to respect the the richness of other Christian churches as well as the religious traditions of all those who seek God.
Currently the St. Camillus School community includes families from various Orthodox and Protestant Christian churches, families from the Islamic faith tradition, and families that practice Buddhism and Sikhism in additional to the many Catholics who make up the majority of our community.
While all students who attend St. Camillus School are expected to participate in religious instruction and attend prayer and worship families can rest assured that our purpose in this this is to promote respect and understanding of all religions. Students are free to believe and practice the religion of their choosing.
Commitment to the Guiding Principles
of Catholic Education
The foundations of Catholic education go back to the earliest days of the Christian Church when the early apostles and leaders sought to live our Christ's Great Commission and teach Good News proclaimed by Jesus Christ. The early Church quickly came to understand that in order to transmit the Gospel message they had to utilize the greatest wisdom of their era to make the Jesus' Word understandable to all.
Throughout the centuries the Church has seen the value of teaching the fullness of human wisdom. Because the Catholic Church believes that all wisdom and knowledge comes from God, the Church sees the importance of ensuring that young people truly understand and love the truths that humanity has come to grasp over the centuries, whether they be scientific, historical, literary, philosophical, or religious .
Catholic education also has the core belief that knowledge and wisdom for their own sake are not enough; knowledge and wisdom should be shared with all people for the purpose of helping each person to be a better human and to help the world become a better place.
Formation of the Whole Person
At St. Camillus School & Early Childhood Learning Center we believe that each human being has many parts. Our goal is help each of our students develop all of the aspects of who they are as best as we can.
We work with parents and the larger community to help each develop not only their intellect, but their humanity (their physical, social, and emotional self), their spirit and spirituality, and their service to others. We believe these goals must be infused in all that we do at St. Camillus.
Celebration of the Sacraments and Prayer
Every school day at St. Camillus begins with prayer and prayer can be heard at various points throughout the school day. We believe that we are called to have a relationship with God. Since a cornerstone of building any relationship is communication, prayer is vital because it is a way we can communicate with God.
Each Wednesday we celebrate the Eucharist as a school community. The celebration of the Mass is an extended form of group prayer that allows us to communicate with God in a number of different ways include petitions, contrition, thanksgiving, hearing God's Word in Scripture, offering God our praise and sacrifice, and receiving Christ's presence and grace in Communion.
During the season of Advent and Lent we also practice the sacrament of Reconciliation which gives us the opportunity to clear our consciences, seek God's forgiveness and to know that he has forgiven us and desires for us to be better people because of that forgiveness.
Other prayer forms such as the Stations of the Cross, prayer services, and the rosary are used at various times during the school year.
Study of Theology and the Scriptures
At St. Camillus School & Early Childhood Learning Center the teaching of religion is a core subject in every grade. Religion class gives our students the chance to explore the beautiful teachings that have come down to us through the generations. In our religion classes we attempt to share with students the idea that human beings have sought God out throughout the millennia and we believe that God has responded.
Through the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Mary and Joseph, Peter and Paul and the many other men and women of the Bible our students come see human beings discovering God and God's desires for his children. The Scriptures, the wisdom of the Jewish faith tradition, and the experience and teaching of two-thousand years of Christians seeking to be holy through the life and teaching of the Church are the sources for the lessons that we teach in our religion classes.
Our religion curriculum includes a Scripture study every Friday during which students preview the upcoming Sunday's readings. Students use this time to read and discuss the readings so when they attend church with their families on Saturday or Sunday they will be prepared and will be able to understand God's Word better.
Preparation for the Sacraments of Initiation
A part of our mission is to help children who are Catholic prepare to receive the sacraments, particularly the Sacraments of Initiation. Students in second grade (and third) whose parents choose are prepared for First Reconciliation and First Eucharist. Eighth graders who choose are prepared for the Sacrament of Confirmation.
Through the parish religious education office, St. Camillus School also opportunity to help families receive the other sacraments (such as baptism for children or adults who have not previously received it).
Commitment to Charity and Social Justice
As a community we are committed to instilling in our young people a love of others that is expressed through an understanding of social justice and a commitment to charity. The need for social justice and charity are stressed in our classes.
Perhaps more importantly, we believe in the famous quote attributed to St. Francis of Assisi: "preach the Gospel at all times and if necessary use words." For us, this means that practicing social justice and charity is far more important than talking about it. So, throughout each school year we participate in many acts of charity such as our monthly food collection for the poor, our annual walk for the homeless, and various collections for worthy causes.
We also promote social justice by raising our students awareness of the world around them and showing them how they might act to make the world a better place.
Participation in Christian Customs and Traditions
Throughout the centuries Christians throughout the world have developed many customs and practices to help to people understand the message of the Gospel. During the course of time at St. Camillus we participate in many traditional customs such as our Thanksgiving Feast, Las Posadas, Christmas decorations, our annual visit by St. Nicholas, May Crowning, and many others.