Virtue-Based Restorative Discipline (VBRD) is a spiritual approach to disciplining that cultivates virtue and provides a rich foundation for fostering faith both at home and at school. This program was developed in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis by the Director of School Climate, Lynne Lang. VBRD can significantly improve school culture, relationships at home, and increase faith practices. Those affected by this movement are becoming the voice of hope – a necessary virtue to change the face of the future for Catholic parishes and schools.
Our goal at St. Paul is to decrease anti-social behaviors by creating quality relationships and holding students accountable to restore relationships that have been harmed and to increase faith practices through education on virtues and integration of faith through prayer and virtue-based activities at home and school.
THE GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF VBRD
1. We will dedicate ourselves to living virtue.
2. We will support others in living virtue
3. We will commit to constructive thoughts, words, and deeds.
4. When faced with challenges or conflicts, we will find solutions that cultivate virtue for ourselves and one another.
MONTHLY VIRTUES
Each month we highlight one virtue for self-reflection.
September: Faith - Believing in God and all He has revealed. We are given the gift of Faith in order to enter into both a personal and communal relationship with God
October: Reverence/Respect - Showing the deepest respect for God in how we treat others. Following the model of our Blessed Mother, we learn to respect and say “Yes” to God’s plan for us.
November: Gratitude - Seeing everything as a gift from God and being thankful. We realize that we are all blessed in many ways, and owe our entire lives in thanksgiving to the Lord.
December: Generosity - Giving without counting the cost. Our lives are not about what can be given to us, but what can be given by us. God calls us to share the blessings in our lives with others, and we honor him when we share of ourselves.
January: Stewardship/Service - Returning to God the fruits of your time, talents, and treasure. All that we have belongs to God. We live as He created us to live when we give of ourselves to those who have a need in their lives.
February: Honesty - Being trustworthy and true. When we fail, to be honest, we distance ourselves from God. He has given us the gift to be the best we can be, so we have a duty, to be honest, and trustworthy to others.
March: Forgiveness - Allowing love to triumph over anger and vengeance. We are called to forgive those who trespass against us, and we are called to ask God to forgive our trespasses against others, and our trespasses against Him
April: Justice - Being fair and giving each person their due. We are all created in God’s image and likeness and have the responsibility to care for all of His creation.
May: Mercy - Caring for those who may be suffering. Modeling after Our Lady of Mercy, we are called to care for the most vulnerable. “Whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” Matthew 25:40
OUR VIRTUE PRAYERS
Opening Prayer - Colossians Prayer
Dear Lord:
We are your chosen ones, holy and beloved. Help us to grow in heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, so we may bear with one another and be forgiving. If we have a grievance against another, may we be as forgiving as you have been with us? And over all these virtues may we put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. Let your perfect peace control our hearts, the peace that calls us into one body. We are thankful, in your holy name. Amen.
Ending Prayer – Prayer of St. Francis
Lord make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred let me sow love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
And where there is sadness, joy
O divine master grant that I may
not so much seek to be consoled as to console
to be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love
For it is in giving that we receive
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it's in dying that we are born to eternal life
Amen
The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church