Beverly Hills — Babies baptized at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish get a special gift in addition to their candles and white robes.
They also receive a special welcome into the parish community — a hand-written note from a second-grader on a card designed by that student. And it serves not only as a welcome to the baby, but as lessons to the second-graders in writing, computers and their faith.
Students started on the project at the beginning of the school year, when second-grade teacher Nancy Riddle coordinated with the school's computer teacher to have the first computer project of the year be for students to design cards. Because they're sent to children as they're baptized, the cards feature motifs of crosses, hearts, soaring birds and smiles.
The second-graders were targeted because they will also be making a sacrament of initiation — they'll be receiving their First Communion in May. "They are so excited about making their First Communion," said Mary Staeger, the school's other second-grade teacher. "This is a great way to share it with someone else."
The project was doubly special for the Heikkila family, of Clawson. Patrick, a second-grader and the family's oldest son, got to address his card to someone very special to him: his baby sister, Carys. Carys, now 6 months old, was baptized in December.
Mom Carrie said she and her husband, Joe, had known about the project ahead of time, but they didn't know what Patrick would write on his card. He had written to his sister that he was making his First Communion this year, and he was glad she was being baptized. His artwork was of a priest performing a baptism.
"We were just really excited to see it," Carrie Heikkila said. "He was very proud of himself."
Patrick, 8, said he learned about the sacrament of baptism and more about computers during the project. "It was fun because I was writing to my sister," he said. "It's a way to show her I love her."
The Heikkila family, parents Carrie and Joe and childrenPatrick, 8, Conor, 3, Carys, 6 months and Caitlin, 5, attend Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish; the oldest three children also attend the school. |
Second-grade teacher Nancy Riddle, right, coordinated the welcome-letter program with Mary Staeger, the other second-grade teacher at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs school. |
The Heikkila family also includes Caitlyn, 5, and Conor, 3, who are in kindergarten and preschool at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs.
Staeger said students also learn about letter writing and penmanship, making the project many lessons in one. She said it was "wonderful" that it worked out that Patrick's sister was getting baptized.
Riddle, who had heard about a similar project taking place in another school, developed the project in time to start at the beginning of this school year. Babies don't get baptized every month, so the students have been sending their cards as the baptisms are scheduled.
The cards are printed on heavy paper stock and even have a "created by" and the student's name on the back. They're mailed to the baby's family after the students write a personalized message on them.
Elena Busuito, 7, one of Staeger's students, and Andrew DeLave, 7, one of Riddle's students, each wrote a message on a card they'd designed to babies baptized. They explained that they learned how to place pictures using a card-making program in computer class.
Busuito said during the project, she learned about the sacrament of baptism, such as the importance of the candle, oil, water and a white garment. "They're the four things you need to be baptized," she said.
The students also learned that baptism welcomes them into the Church. "We learned how special it is," she said.
DeLave explained how the second-graders do the project as part of their preparations for making their First Communion in May. "We receive Jesus," he said.
DeLave also said he hopes the babies receiving the cards will remember it for the rest of their lives. Busuito hoped the baby girl to whom she was writing knows that "she's welcome to the parish."
