Catholic Schools Week: Faith, Excellence, Service

BISHOP KEVIN J. SWEENEY

From the first days that I began serving you as the Bishop of Paterson, I began learning about our Catholic schools. I had attended Catholic schools in my years of schooling. I learned from my brother priests in the Brooklyn Diocese about the schools in their parishes. Those initial experiences barely scratched the surface of what I have learned about Catholic schools in our diocese since I became your bishop.

The theme of this year’s Catholic Schools Week consists of three important results from Catholic schools: Faith, Excellence, and Service. The reality of our Catholic schools is anything but simple. I learned quickly that our schools are one of the treasures of our diocese. People feel passionately about their Catholic schools. Parents want the schools to be supported. Those who went to Catholic schools often credit their Catholic school education as the reason why they are still active in the Church.

Faith is the first part of the theme for this year’s Catholic Schools Week. While our Catholic schools teach all the subjects in any school, they first teach about faith. If you are in our Catholic schools, you are hearing about Jesus. You are learning about Jesus. You are growing closer to Jesus. It would be hard to have the depth and breadth of this experience anywhere else. This is an important reason why parents and parishes sacrifice to make a Catholic school education available to as many as possible. Jesus is at the core of every Catholic school.

Research on Catholic schools found that, as graduates grow older, they were more involved in their parishes and the life of the Church. They often had a greater commitment to social justice and making our society better. There were very measurable differences in the love of the Church found in adults who had attended Catholic schools as children. A school where the curriculum includes a strong emphasis on religious and moral values is a school so needed in our world today.

Excellence is the second part of Catholic Schools Week. The phrase has sometimes been used about Catholic schools, different where it counts. This is true not only in the religious instruction. It is also true of the commitment seen in the teachers and staff who are tireless seekers of excellence for the students. I do not see our Catholic schools as “competitors” for other kinds of schools. I see our schools as reminders of the need for every person to develop his or her potential — and to never rest in striving for a better world. The excellence we seek is especially in character, values, and generosity.

Service is the final part of the theme. Like many schools, each school has service as part of their curriculum. But it is not service for the sake of service. Rather, it is service that comes directly from the values taught about Jesus and the life of the Church. We are not here to take from our schools. We are here to grow with our schools in reaching out to the poor, working against injustice, and helping the students develop a love in serving people who are in need. Helping people in need becomes second nature for our graduates. This love of serving those in need is a quality that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Helping our schools to flourish is only possible by the tireless work of our Diocesan School Office, led by Father Stan Barron, Vicar for Education, and Mary Baier, our Superintendent of Schools, and other members of our Diocesan School Office. They lead our schools through our Education Council, support networks, and making certain that our students and schools receive everything that is available to them from the most innovative and visionary programs.

As a former parish pastor in Brooklyn, I would be remiss if I did not use this time to also thank our pastors, staff members, and parishioners who have sacrificed to support our schools. When I visit our parishes and go into our schools, I see the results of their hard work, dedication, and love.

I also want to thank all the members of religious communities whose members have served in our Catholic schools. What a message of love they have shown to generations of students and parents.

Since coming here, I have been so proud of the work being done by the Tri-County Scholarship Fund in making it possible for hundreds of students to attend our Catholic schools. Their generosity is an essential resource for the success of our schools. They have established a legacy that has educated and helped thousands of our students over the years.

It may seem to some that Catholic schools are a burden when one considers the financial costs. They can be, but they are also a wise investment in our future. In the decades to come, we can be proud that we sacrificed for this investment.

Faith, Excellence, and Service — not a bad investment for results that will never end.

Happy Catholic Schools Week.