Our 4 Pillars
Our school seeks to form our students with 4 pillars. These 4 pillars were discerned through our rich history, the comments and conversations gathered from our Strategic Visioning, and Church teaching. They also are identified as areas that are increasingly compromised in today’s culture. They are: Wonder, Identity, Community, and Service.
I. Wonder
Human beings, especially small children, never tire of asking why. Apart from our screens, where we are face to face with the natural world and one another, we experience a natural sense of wonder. Our world is literally filled with mysteries – from the study of tiny cells and molecules, to the hundreds of bones and muscles in the human anatomy, to the billions of stars in the night sky, to the satisfaction of a meal over a fire and the joy of a newborn baby. Everything around us is shouting encounter.
With so much in our consumer culture suppressing this natural desire, it is important that our Catholic environment teach others how to see the mystery in every event. This involves intentional time spent outdoors, incorporating more silence into our day, and allowing our curriculum to foster reverence for life and its Creator. For our part, we can begin to foster this already by slowing down to notice the gift of each person and each moment.
II. Identity
Confusion reigns in our world. Young people today are asking “Who am I?” Because of relativism and identity movements, people are losing touch with the beautiful reality of the human person created in God’s image and likeness. But our identity is not something we have to assign to ourselves. It is already stamped in our bodies and souls. We are destined to share in the life of the Most Holy Trinity. And for the baptized, we already belong to God’s family as His adopted sons and daughters.
Included in this pillar are topics like: true vs. false freedom, maximizing your full potential in becoming a saint, connecting to your Father in prayer, among others. St. Paul writes in Romans that “We did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but rather a spirit of adoption in which we cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’” (8:15). Knowing that we belong to a royal family, with all its rights and privileges, is one thing. Knowing that we belong to the family of the God of heaven with all its rights and privileges is a much greater matter.
III. Community
It is not good for man to be alone. If our identity is found in God, then our identity is related to the original communion of persons in God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Even the pre-Christian philosopher Aristotle noticed that human beings were “social animals.” The fact that we live in families, towns, schools, and societies is not something imposed from the outside; rather, it is natural to us.
Community feeds a vital part of us and allows us to flourish properly as human beings. We know that relationships come before work, but too often we get our priorities backward. Modern society constantly encourages this by reducing persons to isolated individuals. Despite millions of people bumping into each other all the time, interaction with each other is breaking down all the time. As an extension of the family, schools are perfect environments to rebuild authentic human community. We can therefore do our part to rebuild by providing space for intentional conversation, small groups, and real recreation.
IV. Service
Part of the fallout from a culture of isolation is self-seeking. Yet this leaves people empty and unfulfilled. St. John Paul II writes that “Man only finds himself by making a sincere gift of himself.” Putting oneself at the service of others and the community leads to real joy, and it creates an environment that attracts others. It’s incredible to watch communities come together in times of disaster or need. In seeing people at their best, we are moved with a sense that this must somehow be a taste of the heavenly kingdom.
As a school, we can be more intentional about the call to serve. Opportunities abound everywhere – from taking care to keep the grounds and common areas clean, to befriending our Transitions students, to assisting at the Sacred Liturgy, to helping the local poor. As Mother Teresa reminds us, the fruit of service is peace. Like the other three pillars, service provides a unique opportunity to encounter Christ hidden in the other. We also find fulfillment by imitating Him, who came “not to be served, but to serve” (Matthew 20:28).
In closing, I again want to draw our attention to the school’s great mascot. We call ourselves “the Saints,” not only because it’s a great Louisiana team name, but because it is our deepest identity and our great “high calling.” Jesus spoke about this call in the Gospel of Matthew: “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (5:48). This word “perfect” does not mean that we never make mistakes; rather it refers to completion – fulfillment. One rendering of the Latin word perfectum might be “fully cooked.” (There’s another great Louisiana image!) Saints are fully cooked – they have fulfilled their purpose for which God created them.
These four “ingredients” are by no means exhaustive. But I do believe they provide a solid way forward to that goal. Please join me in praying over these pillars and how we as a community can bring them to life at St. Louis Catholic.
Very Reverend Ruben J. Buller – Class of 2000, Rector
Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
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VB vs SHHS
September 3, 2024
JV Football @ Sulphur
September 3, 2024
Schedule-BCDEFG
September 3, 2024
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Schedule-A Mass DFH
September 4, 2024
Study Hall
September 4, 2024
VEX Team meeting
September 4, 2024
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NHS Member Meeting
September 5, 2024
Schedule-ABCEGH
September 5, 2024
VB vs Notre Dame
September 5, 2024
VEX Team meeting
September 5, 2024
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Football vs Sulphur @ Sulphur
September 6, 2024
All House Retreat Day
September 6, 2024
VB Falcon Frenzy @ Northwood
September 6, 2024
Regional Choir Day @ MSU
September 6, 2024
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VB Falcon Frenzy @ Northwood
September 7, 2024
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JV Football @ Iowa
September 9, 2024
Schedule- AB House CEGH
September 9, 2024
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Schedule- ABCDEFH
September 10, 2024
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Study Hall
September 11, 2024
CCAL ICCS vs SMCS/EDS
September 11, 2024
ACT Prep Student Lunch and Learn
September 11, 2024
Schedule-BC Mass DEFG
September 11, 2024
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VB @ Sulphur
September 12, 2024
Schedule-ABCDFGH
September 12, 2024
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Schedule-AD House EFHG
September 13, 2024
VB Barbe Tournament
September 13, 2024
Progress Reports
September 13, 2024
Mu alpha Theta meeting
September 13, 2024
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VB Barbe Tournament
September 14, 2024
Football vs Bunkie @ Sulphur
September 14, 2024
Suicide Prevention Walk
September 14, 2024 | 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
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Schedule- AB House CEGH
September 16, 2024
Lifeshare Blood Drive
September 16, 2024
JV Football @ Barbe
September 16, 2024
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Schedule- ABCDEFH
September 17, 2024
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CCAL SMCS/EDS vs OLS
September 18, 2024
Schedule-BC Mass DEFG
September 18, 2024
CCAL ICCS vs HCA
September 18, 2024
Study Hall
September 18, 2024
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Schedule-ABCDFGH
September 19, 2024
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House Bloomer Bowl
September 20, 2024
VB @ Catholic League-ASH NOLA
September 20, 2024
Schedule-ADE House FHG
September 20, 2024
Football @ Orangefield
September 20, 2024
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CCAL HCA vs OLQH
September 21, 2024
VB @ Catholic League-ASH NOLA
September 21, 2024
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Schedule-ABCDEF
September 23, 2024
JV Football @ Barbe
September 23, 2024
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CCAL ICCS vs OLS
September 24, 2024
CCAL OLQH vs SMCS/EDS
September 24, 2024
VB @ Rayne
September 24, 2024
Schedule-ABCDGH
September 24, 2024
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Schedule-AB Mass EFGH
September 25, 2024
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LA Tech Admissions Counselor Visit
September 26, 2024
Schedule-CDEFGH
September 26, 2024
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Virtual Day
September 27, 2024
Homecoming Dance
September 27, 2024
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Choir LMEA All-State Audition
September 28, 2024
SLC Homecoming Golf Tournament
September 28, 2024 | 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
SLC Homecoming Alumni Event at Crying Eagle
September 28, 2024 | 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
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Alumni Mass
September 29, 2024 | 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM
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Schedule- AB House CEGH
September 30, 2024
VB vs Barbe
September 30, 2024
JV Football vs Iowa
September 30, 2024
Mu Alpha Theta meeting
September 30, 2024
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