Celebrating Our Catholic Identity

Every Friday at 10am our whole school gathers in the Church for our weekly celebration of the Mass. We invite all parents and members of the community to join us for our celebration of the Mass.
Each week third through eighth grade take turns serving as lectors at Mass, reading the first reading, the psalm, and the petitions to our school community. Students also have the opportunity to be trained as altar servers and to serve at Mass.
The choir for Mass is led by our music teacher, and students in 2nd grade and up have the opportunity to participate in choir as an afterschool activity and to sing and play instruments in the choir at Mass on Fridays.

In order to remind students that the most important Mass is the Sunday Mass, not our Mass on Fridays, each month a different class takes turns leading the Sunday Mass for the Santa Clara Parish community.

Santa Clara is one of the few Catholic schools in the Diocese of Dallas that has an atrium. An atrium is a specially prepared room designed to help students have a personal experience with God and learn about their faith in a hands-on and interactive way.
The atrium comes from a program called the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. This is a nationally recognized religious education model which began in Italy and has spread across the world. The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is based on the Montessori model and is rooted in the belief that God desires to speak to each child, and all of us have the capacity to hear God speaking to us in our hearts. Learn more here.
In the 2022-2023 school year, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is being offered as a pilot for 4th grade only. We have four teachers who will be trained in this model in the summer of 2023. Starting in the 2023-2024 school year, weekly time in the atrium for the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd will be offered for all students from PreK to 4th grade.

On the first Wednesday of the month, after our morning prayer in the cafeteria, students stay for our monthly rosary. Grades 4th through 8th grade take turns leading a decade of the rosary. It is important to us to pass on these Catholic traditions to our students, and to place our school in the hands of Our Blessed Mother.

During Lent, classes take turns leading the Stations of the Cross for the school community.

During Catholic Schools week, students participate in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Once students have received their first Reconciliation, our celebration of the sacrament of Reconciliation has just begun. Teachers arrange times throughout the year with our parish priest for students to receive the sacrament of Reconciliation.

In their religion classes, students are educated in Catholic morality and values. Our celebrations of the Sacrament of Reconciliation connect our students to the graces they need to live those values in their lives.

• In 2nd grade students are prepared to receive the sacraments of Reconciliation and First Holy Communion. Our celebration of these sacraments happens in the Spring. In order to receive these sacraments, students must first have received the sacrament of Baptism.
• If students in 3rd through 8th grade have not yet received the sacraments of First Holy Communion and Reconciliation, we can also prepare them to receive these sacraments.
• If a new student enrolls in 2nd-8th grade, they are eligible to receive the sacraments of Reconciliation and First Communion that Spring.
• In 8th grade students are prepared to receive the sacrament of Confirmation. They receive this sacrament several weeks before their graduation.
• These sacramental preparation classes are built into their schedule during the course of our regular school day and do not take away the required instructional time from their other classes. Students do not have to attend any additional after-school classes for Sacramental preparation.