Feast of the Chair of St. Peter

Friday, February 22nd was the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter. Our Bishop, Gerald Kicanas, asked the parishes when celebrating this feast to do so for retiring Pope Benedict XVI for his years of service to the Catholic Church.
The feast happened to be our weekly school Mass. Grades 3 and 4 were in charge of the Mass.  At the introduction to the Mass, the 4th grade girl read, "Today we are celebrating the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter", at that point two boys, ( one who was a pro at walking backwards) proudly carried out a regal looking chair with the sign- The Chair of St. Peter.

The introduction continued, "No, we are not celebrating the chair that St. Peter sat in." The introduction further explained that the chair symbolizes the teaching authority of the Bishop and the Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter, the first Pope.
The pope's mitre and crosier were then added.

Fr. Ariel in his homily had one of the servers pretend he was Pope-Pope Jaime. He further explained to us the meaning of the feast.

Pope Jamie-enjoying his new role. 

This week was also a busy one for us. On Wednesday, we had an "Arizona blizzard" as the weather lady told us. Here is a picture at about 3:00pm during the blizzard at our school.

Parents were calling to see if we were calling off school-no, we weren't. The snow was very wet and great for making snowballs which we did- a rare event for the children. I loved making the snowballs too. It has been a long time since I had a chance to throw snowballs.

By Friday, all the snow was gone and students were out cleaning up our grounds for the accreditation visit which starts Monday, February 25th. Please say a prayer that we pass with flying colors.

Students also cleaned their classrooms and washed their desks. 

Tis fun to do something besides school work. If you notice one boy is relaxing already. His desk is already cleaned.

The 5th and 6th graders also conducted an experiment. What is the best way to keep a can of pop cold without the use of a refrigerator. What would you use?
Here is the winner:

House insulation - the temperature only dropped 7 degrees all day. Her father is a construction worker.

Other students thought their idea would be the winning one. Here are other ways to cool your soda.

A battery in a box lined with Styrofoam

First inside a thermal coffee cup, then 2 pairs of wool socks stuffed inside a coffee can. ( Very creative! but not the winner)

What would you have done to cool your soda for the day?