St. John XXIII Peace Pole and Memorial Garden
On June 8th, 2006, Blessed John XXIII School (now St. John XXIII School )celebrated an emotional memorial dedication in honour of a dear student, Noah who passed away after a short but courageous battle with cancer. It was an emotional event with prayer, song, speeches, and the release of 37 Painted Lady butterflies (the students raised the butterflies from larvae). To mark the occasion the school erected a beautiful peace pole, blessed by Father Steven Skakaczki, in loving memory of Noah. Since then the St. John XXIII community lost two more beloved students to cancer, Nicholas and Marco. In their memory, the gardens surrounding the peace pole were expanded and memorial plaques were placed in the garden. As well, a photograph of each boy adorns our foyer along with a butterfly sculpture symbolizing peace and hope.
Peace Pole:
The Peace Pole project is an international project endorsed by the World Peace Organization. A Peace Pole is a hand-crafted monument that displays the message and prayer May Peace Prevail on Earth on each of its four or six sides, usually in different languages. There are more than 200,000 Peace Poles in 180 countries all over the world dedicated as monuments to peace. They serve as constant reminders for us to visualize and pray for world peace. Peace poles around the world have been dedicated to very special individuals because of their great work in promoting a culture of peace…Blessed Mother Teresa, St. Pope John Paul II, and the Dali Lama to name a few.
To our knowledge, St. John XXIII is the only school in Southern Ontario with such a pole. The school community endorsed this project as a means of honouring our student as well as honouring the inspiring messages of “Peace & Obedience” as proclaimed by our patron John XXIII. The pole was built by some of our graduating students now at St. Martin Secondary School under the guidance of Mr. Frank Mancini Technology teacher. The school community is extremely grateful for the work of their hands and for the time and effort they put into creating our beautiful pole.