Catholic Schools Week
‘Learn. Serve. Lead. Succeed’:
Catholic Schools Week 2020 The following is an abridged version of the Catholic Schools Week message from Bishop O’Connell that first appeared Jan. 24 on TrentonMonitor.com. To read the original, unabridged version, go to TrentonMonitor.com/CatholicSchoolsWeek A MESSAGE FROM BISHOP
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DAVID M. O’CONNELL, C.M.
very generation has the obligation and responsibility to educate the next generation. That involves the teaching of subjects like math and science, language and literature, history and health, among others. Catholics are no less bound to educate their young in the same subjects than their public counterparts. There is something else, however; something that is more than just a subject in the curriculum that is not found in public schools. Rather, that something is an atmosphere, a culture, an environment, a spirit, yes, even a vernacular that pervades the Catholic school community … and that is the Catholic faith. In the Catholic school, the Catholic religion is a subject to be taught, learned, loved and lived well beyond the doors of the Catholic school building. Although, as the Second Vatican Council reminds us, Catholic parents have always been considered the primary teachers of the Catholic faith by the Catholic Church, they depend upon Catholic schools to support and strengthen what they believe as Catholics. Having devoted my entire life as a priest to Catholic education at all its levels, there is a real sadness that fills my heart when I see more and more Catholic schools close in dioceses and parishes throughout our country – and, especially in our own diocese, as we have seen recently. The fact of the matter is Catholic education and Catholic schools in particular are at serious risk. There is no question that our Catholic schools do an excellent job of educating our young people across the curriculum; graduating more students and sending more graduates to college than their secular counterparts. Catholic schools infuse their students with the “Good News of Jesus Christ” and with the Catholic faith intended to last a lifetime, with light and hope so contrary to what our contemporary, relativistic society offers. So, what is the risk? ONLY 17 PERCENT of Catholic adults attend church on Sunday in the Diocese of Trenton. A large majority of young Catholics in our religious education programs do not continue to study their faith beyond the time they receive Confirmation and they absent themselves from Mass. THE MONITOR MAGAZINE February 2020
Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., visits with students in Sacred Heart School, Mount Holly, during Catholic Schools Week Jan. 28. Mike Ehrmann
Enrollments in Catholic schools are steadily declining, causing Catholic schools to close because the resulting revenues are just not there photo to sustain them and pay just salaries to their faculties and staffs. Parishes simply cannot afford giant subsidies necessary to keep their schools’ doors open, and parents cannot absorb the costs. Some schools in our Diocese have closed. And more may follow. How is the Catholic faith to be handed on and nourished? The number of Catholic marriages has plummeted in recent years and Catholic families whose parents and grandparents loved and practiced their Catholic faith are not even seeking Catholic funeral Masses for them. Recent scandals in the Church have driven otherwise practicing Catholics to question the moral authority and credibility of those responsible for leadership in the Church. With increasing numbers of Catholics advocating against the sacredness of all human life and the dignity of traditional marriage, the mainstream media has convinced some otherwise faithful Catholics that long-held Church teachings are “out of touch” and irrelevant to contemporary life. THESE ARE FACTS. So, what do we, as Catholics, do? Give up? Give in? Surrender to the risk? Never! The stakes are too high. The battle has been too hard fought. The prize, too precious. The sacrifices upon which the Catholic Church in our country has been built have created too solid a foundation to let it crumble. “You are Peter,” the Lord Jesus promised, “and upon this Rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Our Holy Father Pope Francis has taught that “true education enables us to love life and opens us to the fullness of life” (Pope Francis, “Address to Catholic Teachers and Students,” 2014). In essence, that love for life is what Catholic schools inspire in their students. Everything that happens in the Catholic school is a call to those students to be the very best they can be in life: not simply by getting by; not just by putting in another day. “Catholic schools have it all,” we often say in the Diocese of Trenton. The excellence in “true education” that we impart in the Catholic school is what makes the world better, safer, more just, more loving, more ethical, more peaceful … more holy. What could possibly be more important or greater? This year, as we celebrate Catholic Schools Week with the theme “Learn, Serve. Lead. Succeed,” let all Catholic families in the Diocese of Trenton ask and answer that question.