Amid all the pain and disruption, a year of coronavirus has given Americans a new respect for those working to keep daily life as normal as possible, from the frontline nurse to the Amazon delivery man. Near the top of this honor roll is an especially unsung hero: the Catholic-school teacher. The National Catholic Education Association reports that its schools boast a total enrollment of 1,626,291. In ordinary times their teachers do an extraordinary job, especially for their poor and minority students. As Justice Sonia Sotomayor once said, “Catholic schools have been a pipeline to opportunity” for people like her—poor, Latina, raised by a single mom. Since the Covid-19 outbreak, Catholic-school administrators have moved heaven and earth to keep their classrooms open to new generations of Sotomayors. Read the article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/catholic-schools-are-beating-covid-11612221948?st=wo6xlbndaz8sqju&reflink=article_email_share

We are extremely proud to announce that two of our eighth graders have been named 2020 Neumann Scholars, Colin Graveley and Raphael Reyes. As part of this prestigious honor, awarded for academic excellence, these students will receive a full tuition, four-year scholarship to the Archdiocesan high school of their choice. They plan to attend Bishop Shanahan in the fall. Please join us in congratulating Colin and Raphael in this wonderful accomplishment!

SSPJ Parish school is hosting their annual Fun Run virtually on Thursday, June 4. As a school family, the Fun Run will be kicked off via Zoom to pray and then the students and their family will spend time outside walking/running together. Funds raised will be used for school improvements. If you can help out and donate, our parish school children would greatly appreciate it. Here is the link: https://app.99pledges.com/fund/SSPJFunRun

Our SSPJ thrift shop is accepting at the present time only wearable clothing items. They can be dropped off any Saturday from 10 AM until 2 PM. The shop is not as yet reopened for business. Please do not drop off any non-clothing items until further notice. Thank you and God bless you for your support of this vital help to our parish finances. Last year our great little shop brought in a whopping $48,000 dollars to our budget. God bless our faithful workers and all who contribute or purchase items!

Gov. Wolf and the PA Department of Education are looking to take most of the funding that Congress wants distributed equitably in COVID-19 relief to ALL schools in PA and across the country. Pennsylvania received $471 million in funding from Washington. But PCC Education Director Sean McAleer says “the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) created its own set of rules to distribute that money that blatantly ignores federal guidance. The end result significantly lowers the amounts to be given to Catholic and nonpublic school students.”

This new initiative begins Monday, March 30th and will take us to Palm Sunday. Each night a video will be released at 7:00 p.m. (EDT). I invite you to spend time in prayerful solidarity as over six nights, dynamic presenters from across our Archdiocese bring Catholic Families closer to Christ through scripture, reflection and prayer, in these final days leading up to Palm Sunday and the holiest week in the Church.

This Friday, March 27th, in Saint Peter’s Square, Our Holy Father will offer a special, Urbi et OrbiBlessing. Translated as “to the City [of Rome] and to the World, this blessing is typically reserved for Easter and Christmas.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected us all in different ways and many are wondering what this mean for our Parish Community? Click the title of the article to learn more about SSPJ Parish life during COVID-19.

As part of the ongoing pastoral and temporal response of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has dramatically impacted our lives and our communities, Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez has released a series of pastoral messages. Please take a moment and view this message by clicking the title of this article.

The Foundation for Catholic Education is a not-for-profit organization supporting the Executive Board of Elementary Education and the County Advisory Councils throughout the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Each year, the Foundation honors those that go above and beyond in support of Catholic Education. This year at the Chester County Catholic Schools Hall of Fame Gala, our own Matthew Burns was one of the 2019 Hall of Fame Honorees. We are grateful to all the honorees for your dedication and commitment to Catholic education, and especially to Matthew Burns, who has been a steadfast supporter of our Parish and School.

Saints Philip and James School has THREE students that have been named as NEUMANN SCHOLARS! Congratulations to 8th graders Dean, Joshua, and Samantha! This honor entitles them to a FOUR-YEAR SCHOLARSHIP to an Archdiocesan high school of their choice. Neumann Scholars are academically talented 8th grade students in Archdiocesan parochial schools who achieve this honor through a process that involves essay writing and a rigorous standardized test. This year there were 606 qualified students who sat for the test and just 41, throughout the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, were named Neumann Scholars. Our three students were recognized at an assembly this morning, when we welcomed Mrs. Snyder and Mrs. Martin of The Connelly Foundation, who announced our winners and presented them with their awards. Being named a Neumann Scholar is an outstanding accomplishment for these three wonderful students. Additionally, these three students were also recently recognized for receiving individual scholarships to Bishop Shanahan High School.

On September 13, 2019, Sister Teresa and School Board Chairman, Pat Folan, had the honor of accepting the School of Distinguished Instruction Award from Bishop Fitzgerald in Philadelphia. SSPJ was one of only four Catholic Elementary schools in Chester County to receive the award for continuous and consistent excellence in Terra Nova test scores. This is the first year the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has awarded this prize. Congratulations to all school staff and students!