Principal’s Posts

As St. Joseph Catholic School moves into the end of the 2018—2019 school year, our sights turn to the incoming students for 2019-2020.  We have always attracted top quality students who believe in our mission and who grow here at St. Joseph Catholic School and become leaders throughout our Faith Community and beyond. Please take … Continue reading

The Frontline – Principal Bruce Richards “I see clearly that the thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity.  I see the church as a field hospital after a battle.  It is useless to ask a seriously injured person … Continue reading

Make it your BEST LENT EVER – TOP 10! Sign up for Dynamic Catholic’s Best Lent Ever Attend Daily Mass! Tuesday-Thursday 8:15 AM, Fridays 7 AM Join us for Stations of the Cross on Fridays Journey as a family with the Lenten Passport! Coming home soon! Save the Date for Wednesday, April 3, 6 PM. … Continue reading

If you were not able to attend the Parish Prayer Fair this past weekend, we hope your family will participate in the next 7 week Gifts of the Holy Spirit Challenge!  Please click on the attachment for the packet.  We have extra puzzles so if you want one they will be in back of church … Continue reading

St. Joe’s Tuition and Fair Share for 2019-2020   January 10, 2019 Hello St. Joe’s School parents, As we begin the new year, we are putting our budget in place for the upcoming school year.  Here are the rates and fees: Tuition will remain the same for the 2019-2020 school year; $4950 *Registration fee: $150/student, … Continue reading

St. Joseph School Families,   Welcome to the 2019-2020 School Year.  It may seem early, but we are already beginning to plan for next school year.  We are modifying our enrollment process to make things easier for families and staff.  The new procedure is called, “Continuous Enrollment”.  This new process has already been put into … Continue reading

Choose Wisely As Fr. Stan completes his trip to the Holy Land, I’m humbled to fill in as a guest writer this week.  Have no fear, Fr. Stan will be back for next week’s bulletin. The church year is coming to a close next weekend.  Over these last two weeks of the church year, we … Continue reading

On Friday, November 2nd, All Souls Day, St. Joseph School students, alumni, parents and staff will be participating in the Annual Minnesota Marathon for Nonpublic Education, a program sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, which we call our Service Rake-a-thon. We start the morning by encouraging all families to attend the 7:00 am Mass, which … Continue reading

Thanks for voting us #1 for the 5th year in a row, Readers Choice Awards 2018! #1 PRIVATE SCHOOL 5 years in a row!   #1 PRINCIPAL Congratulations to Mr. Richards!   #1 TEACHER! Congratulations to Mrs. Kristi Klawitter – Middle School Math Teacher!

The Wardrobe    One day last week I was reading a book in the comforts of my lounge chair at home.  My wife Pam was opening the mail when suddenly I heard a loud, “Yes!”.  I wondered what she may have found in the mail that caused such a reaction, and so I turned to … Continue reading

All Pro Dad    One of my favorite movies is the movie “Dad”.  It premiered in 1989 and starred  Ted Danson playing an adult son of Jack Lemmon.  The plot develops around the relationship that never took place during Danson’s character’s childhood.  Now health problems have called him home to be with his ailing and … Continue reading

  Perfection, a blessing or a curse?  Mr. Richards 09/21/2018   Over the past few weeks I have come across many different thought producing messages that promote a pursuit of perfection.  Whether it be in playing a musical instrument, doing a math problem or acting like a Christian we all receive challenges to improve who … Continue reading

Hello everyone, welcome to This Week At St. Joe’s (TWAS).  Contrary to popular belief, summer is a crazy busy time around school.  A lot of things happen that keep us energized and focused on the future during the summer.  Here are a few things that happened This Week at St. Joe’s (TWAS):   Two new … Continue reading

An important update from Mr. Richards – SCIENCE TESTING RESULTS As we complete different segments of our spring testing, I will aggregate results and share them with you. We start science testing in 4th grade, so to show growth of our students, we will look at grades 5-8 to show the spring to spring growth. … Continue reading

Next Saturday evening, May 5th,  is our most anticipated event of the school year, Boogie Blast! I wanted to write this note to personally invite each of you to come and support us and see some familiar faces from the past. RSVP HERE. For those of you that follow us on Facebook,  I hope you have … Continue reading

Open the Gates! I imagine that all of us have had experiences where we are eager to open our doors for a much-anticipated guest.  Prior to the guests’ arrival we work hard to prepare the rooms of our homes, to make some food to share and we plan some entertaining activities for our guests.  There … Continue reading

Our world needs light; God’s light of love. Can you commit to 1% more in prayer, fasting and almsgiving all year long? 2%? 5%? Let’s be a Beacon of Light to our community that brings more souls to Christ, and evangelize our community like never before!

The gospel story of Jesus destroying the temple is at the forefront this week.  For some reason, the imagery of Jesus being angry and overturning the temple is one that I can see very easily. 

What if? I’ve always been a wonderer. I find myself wondering and dreaming about things, some are realistic possibilities, others are just far off thoughts. At adoration this week I found myself wondering about what my life would have been like if I had lived at the time and place when Jesus walked the earth? … Continue reading

In today’s American culture, one of the fastest growing responses to faith affiliation is a reply called, “NONE”.

I have the best job in the world! Here are a few stories that justify my point.

At adoration this week I found myself wondering about what my life would have been like if I had lived at the time and place when Jesus walked the earth? What role might I have played? Would I have been one of the first disciples? Would I have been a Roman soldier or a ranking member of the Sanhedrin who was directly responsible for his death?

If these strangers are able to share so much love with someone that they don’t personally know, how much more love and comfort will the Father’s loving care bring us when we rely on Him? We can’t begin to imagine the joy of heaven.

“Comfort, Give Comfort to My People” Isaiah 40:1 I looked up to the heavens as I stepped from my vehicle and asked myself why Linda was here. I could hear the whir of the helicopter blades as I approached the hospital doors. My heart raced and a sense of dread filtered through my veins as … Continue reading

St. Joseph Catholic School has been in existence since 1860!  That was the year the Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States.  In that time, thousands of students have roamed the halls of the school and hundreds of teachers have dedicated their careers to the youth of our parish. Over the next several … Continue reading

Take a closer step to heaven today, and don’t go alone!

We are called to live our parish mission to Know, Love and Serve the Lord. Someone out their needs you today, how will you answer the call?

This week we celebrate All Saints Day. Each and every day we have an opportunity to make decisions that can lead us to heaven. Once we make it there we will join the host of saints. Here is a great story of a modern day saint. I hope it can give you inspiration to Serve the Lord each and every day.

This past week I was thinking about God’s response to our broken humanness and I was wondering if He ever gets tired of man’s rejection of the gift of faith. Here’s my line of thinking, starting with the history of our faith, with Abraham. Here’s a Bible history in less than two pages… God made … Continue reading

According to the Catechism (part 1, chapter 1, paragraph 33) the human person discerns signs of his spiritual soul. The soul, the “seed of eternity we bear in ourselves, irreducible to the merely material”, can have its origin only in God. In the glossary of the Catechism, a soul is defined as the spiritual principle … Continue reading

I have an invitation for each of you who are seeking a deeper relationship with Jesus. In the next few weeks, we will be hosting a ‘Christ Renews His Parish’ experience for both men and women (ages 18 and up) here at St. Joseph. The men’s weekend is next weekend, Sept. 30 – Oct. 1 and the women’s weekend is Oct. 14-15.

All are invited to attend the SJS first school Mass on Wednesday, September 6. Wear red!

The question is: If you could be the patron saint of something, what would you be the patron saint of?

Our mission statement drives us to become the best version of ourselves, day in and day out. That best version of self is the one who God made us to be. If each of us does our part, we can become saints!

What is it that you pray for so fervently and relentlessly? Health for a loved one or ourselves? Financial freedom? Peace and justice in our world? Healthier relationships? Prayers for vocations?

St. Joseph Catholic School Discovery Center Preschool located in Waconia has earned accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) – the nation’s leading organization of early childhood professionals. “We’re proud to have earned the mark of quality from NAEYC, and to be recognized for our commitment to reaching the highest … Continue reading