Christian Service Hours
The Living Faith service hour program
“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
The Living Faith Program assists students in bringing the great treasure of our Faith and the values of our school out of the classroom and into the world. Through service, each student is invited to understand by experience the gift that Christ has given. A true leader steps up to the task at hand and brings others along. A true disciple sees that all comes from God and lives a life of service in response to the good things He has done. The Letter to James tells us that faith without works is dead. Desiring that we possess living faith, we engage in service at Marquette Academy High School according to the following guidelines..jpg)
Christian Service Hours
The Gospel of Matthew 25:34-40
“Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee or thirsty and gave thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did that to me.’
Philosophy
Completing Christian service hours is based on the Church’s teachings on the Works of Mercy. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines the Works of Mercy as, “Charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. (2247)
Hourly Requirements for High School
The Living Faith Service Program requires students to complete 30 hours of service per academic year, totalling 120 hours for the four years. This year, juniors, sophomores, and freshmen will be required to have completed 20 hours of service in each of the following categories: School, Church, Faith, and Community. Overall, 80 hours must be specifically categorized. For the rest of the hours to reach 120, the category does not matter, so long as the 20 hour minimum is met in each category. To reiterate, a minimum of 20 hours should be school related, 20 faith related, 20 church related, and 20 community related. The rest of the hours can be in any combination of categories, or even in a single category.
For the 2024-2025 school year, all juniors, sophomores, and freshmen are required to abide by the requirements listed above. The senior class is exempt from the category requirement. They are, however, expected to have completed 30 hours of service for each year of enrollment at Marquette Academy High School. Thus, students who started as freshmen are required to have at least 120 hours, whereas transfer students will have fewer, depending on when they transferred to Marquette.
Explanation of the Service Hour Categories
School Hours
School hours are directly related to building up our school community. Helping with athletic camps, writing thank you notes to benefactors, assisting with May Merriment, the Turkey Dinner, and other school functions, and cleaning around campus are all ways to earn school hours. Serving on student council and assisting with school events will also earn hours in this category. Serving as a manager for a school sport does not count toward service hours. Assisting with the fall play or spring musical as part of the tech crew does count toward service hours.
Church Hours
Church hours are directly related to parish or church activities. This category includes serving as a greeter or usher at Mass, serving/reading at liturgies (the Mass, the Stations of the Cross, etc.), helping to teach CCD, volunteering for Totus Tuus/VBS, helping with church functions, visiting the homebound, singing in the church choir, cleaning the church grounds, and decorating for the holidays. Activities that immediately aid or benefit your church count towards church service hours. It is not required that the church be a Catholic church. It can be service to any Christian denomination or religious group. Attending Sunday Mass does not count toward church service hours.
Faith Hours
We cannot give what we do not have, and an essential part of the faith is developing our own interior lives. Each and every person is called to reach the heights of holiness, but we only get there through time spent with our Lord. Faith hours are earned by taking time for personal prayer outside of the mandatory times of prayer built into the school schedule. So, going to chapel during class or as a house when required does not earn faith hours. Neither does attendance at Sunday Mass, as that is an expected activity according to the Ten Commandments. However, praying during Advisory, attending chapel Mass on Tuesday and Thursday, attending daily Mass at a parish, praying the rosary by oneself, reading the Bible, and taking time to pray on one’s own all earn faith hours. These hours should be recorded according to the duration of the prayer. Praying a rosary counts as .35 hours, since a rosary is typically 15 to 20 minutes. The chaplain will input attendance at chapel Mass. Besides that, students should keep track of their own time in prayer and submit it themselves.
Community Hours
We cannot give what we do not have, and an essential part of the faith is developing our own interior lives. Each and every person is called to reach the heights of holiness, but we only get there through time spent with our Lord. Faith hours are earned by taking time for personal prayer outside of the mandatory times of prayer built into the school schedule. So, going to chapel during class or as a house when required does not earn faith hours. Neither does attendance at Sunday Mass, as that is an expected activity according to the Ten Commandments. However, praying during Advisory, attending chapel Mass on Tuesday and Thursday, attending daily Mass at a parish, praying the rosary by oneself, reading the Bible, and taking time to pray on one’s own all earn faith hours. These hours should be recorded according to the duration of the prayer. Praying a rosary counts as .35 hours, since a rosary is typically 15 to 20 minutes. The chaplain will input attendance at chapel Mass. Besides that, students should keep track of their own time in prayer and submit it themselves.
Service Opportunities
The Living Faith Program is a good opportunity for students to practice taking initiative in their communities. In the student center, the Living Faith bulletin board has postings with opportunities in each of the categories. Students should consult it regularly for ideas on how to serve.
Logging Hours
Students have two options for logging service hours. There are paper slips available on the Living Faith bulletin board. Students should have these filled out and signed by supervisors and then turned in to the chaplain’s office in order to receive credit for their hours. The other option is to submit your hours through the MobileServe app, which tracks service hour submissions. Each student has an already existing account in MobileServe. Submitting hours through MobileServe is the preferred method.
Setting up your account:
- Go to mobileserve.com
- Click “Log In”
- Use the Google Widget to login using your Marquette Academy Email.
--This should have you logged into your class properly--
Logging your hours:
- On your main folder click the Log Hours button
- Complete the information, choose which of the four categories it falls under, and be sure to notify your supervisor that an email from MobileServe will be coming.
Video Tutorial on How to Log Hours: How to Log Service Hours (wistia.com)
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to have 5 hours in each category each year? Or could I complete all 20 hours for a given category in a single year?
The only requirement is that a student have at least 20 hours minimum in each category by the end of his or her senior year. For example, if Felicity completes 20 hours in the Faith category over the course of her freshmen year, then she does not need to log any more hours in that category for the rest of her time in high school. She will certainly need to complete 100 more hours to reach the 120 minimum total requirement, but she can earn those hours in any combination of categories. For example, she might choose to earn 40 hours in community, 30 hours in church, and 30 hours in school. That would bring her total to 120, and she would have more than 20 hours in each category. Therefore, Felicity has fulfilled the graduation requirement.