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OCTOBER 23, 2010
The Canadian Martyrs’ pilgrimage,
on Saturday September 25, was the high point of the month
of September. All the boarders and most of the school students
attended this pilgrimage to the Midland shrine, starting
at St. Ignace II, place of martyrdom of St. John de Brebeuf
and St. Gabriel Lalemant. Although the pilgrimage started
in heavy rain, the pilgrims’ faith did not fail them,
and most of the pilgrimage was spent walking in prayer under
a cloudy sky. It was exhilarating to climb up the steep
hill to the shrine church, rather like climbing up to heaven,
to venerate the relics on display there. Afterwards many
of the pilgrims convened at a local community centre for
a barbecue. Although the pilgrims stayed in the chapter
of their own chapel during the pilgrimage, it was encouraging
to be able to meet pilgrims from the other chapels in Ontario
– Toronto, St. Catharines and Orillia - afterwards.
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Students of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy
start off on their pilgrimage in the pouring rain.
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A relaxing interlude at the lunch break in the
pilgrimage at Victor Harbor.
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Monday
October 11 being Thanksgiving day, there was no school.
The boarders took a long hike, together with the priests,
to the Hilton Hills park, a very picturesque natural forest
reserve on the escarpment, returning home with a great appetite
for their thanksgiving dinner.
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Father May takes a photo of Father Scott and
the boarders during a hike around the HIlton Falls
Reservoir on Thanksgiving Day, Monday October
11.
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Walking along the trials in the picturesque
Hilton Falls Park on a beautiful Fall afternoon,
the boys were by this time quite exhausted.
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Fundraisers
are essential for the support of any traditional school,
and Our Lady of Mount Carmel is no different. The first
fundraiser of the year, on Saturday September 11, was a
bottle drive. All the boarders participated in a successful
effort. The second was the chocolate drive, that was launched
on October 5, and is still ongoing. The school purchased
210 boxes of chocolate and is looking to sell them by knocking
on doors and outside malls, either late in the afternoon
after school or on the weekends. Most of the families are
participating with great enthusiasm. The third fundraiser
will be a raffle for a bar and Christmas hamper, to be drawn
on December 19. Tickets are available from the school for
$5, up to a maximum of 1,000.
The
month of September enabled the organization of special programs
for different students. Around sixteen are learning to play
the piano, another five the violin and eight the guitar,
the classes being offered here at the school to both boarders
and day students. A special tutorial program is also in
place for those with learning difficulties, especially in
reading, grammar and English – some during school
hours, but most after school. Mr. Paul Zepf has kindly donated
his time after school on Friday to give instruction and
classes on how to prepare science experiments, in preparation
for January’s science fair.
The
weekly Saturday morning chess club has been quite a hit
with the boys, who are fascinated by the concentration and
intellectual challenge that this game requires. Mr. Nwadibia
also directs the Drama club that meets on Friday afternoons.
It is preparing Shakespeare’s Two men from Verona,
amongst other things. Sunday afternoons is soccer time,
directed by Mr. Halley. Our Lady of Mount Carmel was even
able to send a team to Syracuse, NY, on Saturday October
9 to compete with the traditional teams from the Society’s
chapels in Buffalo, Syracuse and Nicholville.
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