Liturgy & Prayer

St. Finbar shares in the Sacramental Life of the Church. Our school participates in the Sacraments in many ways. We provide formation for students desiring Baptism or making a Profession of Faith. Preparation for First Reconciliation and First Communion is given to all Catholic Second Graders and any other student who desires to receive these Sacraments after Second Grade. We also make the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation available to all our students during Advent and Lent. Our students attend weekly grade-level Masses, and each grade level sponsors an all-school Mass once a month. At the monthly Masses, our students participate as lectors, altar servers,  greeters, and choir members. Several staff members serve as Eucharistic Ministers. The school also sponsors a Sunday Mass bi-monthly.

St. Finbar has a very rich prayer life. We start each day at an all-school Morning Assembly where we pray together, learn about the saint of the day, and participate in prayer services.   Each day, students pray the Morning Offering. Depending on the day of the week, students pray to the Holy Spirit, say a decade of the Rosary and pray for Vocations, pray the Magnificat, or say the Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We support our students by providing many prayer services throughout the year (ie.  lighting of the Advent wreath, Thanksgiving, Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Finbar, and other special circumstances and feast days). Our November Saints’ Pageant is a long-running tradition here at Saint Finbar, wherein our Eighth Graders (Guardian Angels) research a saint, and then dress their Second Grader as the saint. Their research and costumed Second Grader are presented in a Pageant to the whole school. The Pageant also includes Sixth Graders with their Prophet Jackets—designed upon their study of the Prophets. We also pray together as a school before lunch, saying the Angelus or Regina Caeli and Grace Before Meals; we end each day with the Act of Contrition. Every sporting event begins with a prayer led by the athletes. Students actively participate in and help prepare the Prayer Services, as well as the Stations of the Cross, and dramatizations on feast days such as Our Lady of Guadalupe, Feast of the Archangels, Thanksgiving and the Christmas story. Our 8th Graders also participate in a Retreat before Graduation.