CATHOLIC SCHOOLS: The Good News in Education
Bishop Paul S. Coakley
Every January the Church celebrates the feasts of two of our first canonized American saints, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. John Neumann. Though both lived early in the Nineteenth Century their lives were very different. What they shared in common was a commitment to the vision and value of Catholic schools. They are among the great pioneers of Catholic school education in America.
Every January we observe Catholic Schools Week to help keep alive that vision which values Catholic schools for the great gift they have been and continue to be for the Church in America. Catholic Schools are truly “The Good News in Education” today. Simply put, Catholic schools play an invaluable part in proclaiming the Gospel and handing on the faith from one generation to the next. With Jesus Christ at the center, all teaching and learning and every facet of the educational environment find their proper place and proportion in relation to Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Though Catholic schools have the great advantage of being able to teach and speak freely about the truths of faith, religion is not just one subject among many. The truths of faith and the practice of faith permeate our Catholic schools as the very atmosphere which our students and faculty breathe.
We are very proud of the achievements of our students in attaining excellence in academics, athletics and the arts. But what we are most proud of and committed to is the formation of Christian disciples. We are forming boys and girls and young men and women to be persons of character and virtue who will take their places in Church and society. We are preparing them for their mission to be light for the world and salt for the earth. Catholic school students learn the importance of serving others, as Christ served. They experience the importance of a community formed by faith in which prayer and worship provide the life-sustaining pulse.
Catholic schools have been an integral part of the Church’s commitment of service in the world. This is because we prepare students to take their places in the world: in the world of work, in the professions, in culture, in public service, in the arts, in the family.
Everybody benefits by strong Catholic schools. I hope that the commitment of those previous generations which left us the precious legacy of our Catholic schools will be matched by our own commitment so that those who follow us will have the same opportunities. Our challenge is to be good stewards of the gifts we have received so that future generations will inherit a similar legacy.