Faith in Action

At St. Francis de Sales, we encourage both faith and good works and believe it is important that our students engage in service aligned with our Catholic teachings. Throughout the year, our students participate in various service projects including the Student Council Toy Drive, Our Lady of Tepeyac Book Drive, Gift of Love, St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry Drive, and special opportunities to support Catholic Charities USA or Catholic Relief Services, especially after a natural disaster.

Altar Servers

Boys and girls in 5th-8th grade are eligible to be Altar Servers. Altar Servers are scheduled for school Masses, weekend Liturgies, funerals, and weddings. The Pastor trains the Altar Servers.

Choir

Students in 4th-8th grade are invited to join the choir. At multiple all-school Masses each year, the student choir has the opportunity to lead the congregation in song. A variety of Liturgical music, from traditional to contemporary hymns, are prepared and sung. In addition, some students occasionally share their musical gifts by playing hand chimes or other musical instruments during Mass.

Mass Buddies

We believe faith is to be shared. A beautiful way to do this is to pair older students with younger ones. Each 1st grader has a 7th-grade “mass buddy” with whom they can sit at church during all-school Mass, visit throughout the school year, and continue the relationship into the following year as the 8th graders prepare for graduation and the second graders prepare to receive their sacraments.

Celebration of the Saints

To celebrate saints in making during the month of November, the students go to Mass on November 1 and are encouraged to dress up as their favorite saint. In addition, each class is assigned a saint to research and display information about their saint on their classroom door.

Stations of the Cross

During Lent, different grade levels celebrate the Stations of the Cross on Fridays. Our 5th graders present the "Living Stations of the Cross" to the parish school and to the St. Francis de Sales community.

May Crowning

May Crowning is a special prayer service honoring the Blessed Virgin held the Monday after Mother's Day and features our entire community praying the rosary together. This is a special day for everyone, especially our second-grade First Communicants and graduating eighth graders. The second graders wear their First Communion dresses and suits and the eighth graders wear their graduation gowns as they process in and crown our Blessed Mother.

Catholic Schools Week

We celebrate Catholic Schools Week the last week of January, as designated by the Archdiocese of Chicago. During this week, St. Francis de Sales hosts an Open House event for prospective families to visit and experience all that our school has to offer.

End-of-Year Prayer Service and Mass

We reflect on our year at St. Francis de Sales at a prayer service held on the last full day of school.