Announcing:
Saint Mary's Press winner for the week of May 8, 2009!
Congratulations to Christine Olson!

Christine Olson will receive a copy of Answering God's Call to Covenant: Which Way to the Rest of Your Life?, a $10.95 value.

Answering God's Call to Covenant helps older adolescents consider where they want to go in life before they encounter the crossroads of young adulthood. Students address seven key questions and write their own covenant statements, which will help guide them through life's many challenges. Answering God's Call to Covenant also helps seniors reflect, pray, and discern on their own after graduation.

Look Inside: You can view an online sampler of the Answering God's Call to Covenant on the SMP Web catalog. Search for "Answering God's Call," or use this link to go to the product description, http://www.smp.org/ItemDetail.cfm?ItemNum=1331.

Answering God's Call to Covenant: Which Way to the Rest of Your Life?
by Jerry Windley-Daoust, ISBN 978-0-88489-883-2
paper, 96 pages, $10.95
http://www.smp.org/ItemDetail.cfm?ItemNum=1331

Also Available
The Covenant Retreat is a leader's guide for Answering God's Call to Covenant. This leader's guide includes a retreat that helps high school seniors identify their unique relationship with God, as an individual and as part of the larger Church. It also includes materials to bring into the classroom and into the parish before and after the retreat.

The Covenant Retreat: A Discernment Experience for High School Seniors, edited by Steven McGlaun,
ISBN 978-0-88489-882-5, paper, 112 pages, $24.95
http://www.smp.org/ItemDetail.cfm?ItemNum=1332

Graduation
by Christine Navarro

I have always found that graduations express a paradox. People celebrate years together engaged in study, friendship, and various activities. At the same time, however, they are also looking towards a new future and marking change in their lives. Some of the terminology used around graduation bears this contradiction out.

The word ?graduate? comes from the Latin gradus meaning step or grade. Graduation marks the completion of one step in life and the moving on to the next step (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=graduate). Commencement comes from the Latin cominitiare meaning ?to begin? and suggests a focus on a new beginning.

Despite its forward-looking terms, graduation is also a time to look back. The valedictory address comes from the Latin ?to say farewell.? It may be that understanding a valedictorian as the student with highest grade point average in the class is a more recent association with the word. While the salutatorian may now refer to the person who is second academically in the class, the word is related to the word, salutation, expressing or containing a welcome or greeting.

It makes sense that the varied words surrounding graduation should parallel the mixed emotions of this event!

Now What?!
by Javier Bravo

As teens graduate, they come across many questions regarding their departure to college or university. Here is a practical idea you can offer to help them continue the practice of their faith as they begin their college career.

Give students the practical assignment of having them research their next school to see if it has a Campus Ministry program or Newman Center. You could also have them research the city where their school is located to find local parishes that serve the college campus community. As part of the assignment, ask students to write a letter or send an e-mail to a local campus minister or pastor introducing themselves and stating they will be a new parishioner at the beginning of the school year. I also encourage you to write a letter or e-mail to accompany theirs. This is a great way of handing on the torch of their religious formation.

Getting students in touch with the campus ministry program at the university they will be attending in the future also helps them get on mailing lists so they can get updates on events happening at the beginning of the school year, events that usually include opportunities to meet new people. These announcements often introduce the Mass schedule as well as when other sacraments are available. You will find many students grateful for this step they may have never thought to take.

Graduation Gift Ideas

Whether you are celebrating graduation with one teen or many, find gifts that touch their hearts and guide their faith at the Saint Mary's Press Gift Boutique!

"Faith, Family, Friends" Necklace $33.95	Shield of Faith key ring or necklace $6.95 and $5.95	Saint Mary's Press® Personal Journey Bible $18.95	Scripture Heart $4.95