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In 1975, Pope Saint Paul VI, in his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelization in the Modern World, wrote, “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.” What is most needed in Catholic Schools today? Credible witnesses — teachers across all disciplines whose hearts have been captured by Christ and zealously accompany students in the pursuit of truth.

One of the greatest gifts my mom and dad ever gave to me was the gift of a Roman Catholic education. My formal education began at St. Patrick School, Smithtown, N.Y. The school was staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood, N.Y. They were excellent educators and certainly left an impression on my young mind. Sister Patricia Ann Kenny was my first-grade teacher who taught us to love Jesus and His Blessed Mother. On the lighter side, she also taught us all about leprechauns! Her love of all things Irish left an impression on this Italian American!

There are six buildings that comprise the property of St. James of the Marches Church in Totowa, N.J. During the three and half years I have been privileged to be the pastor. On many weekend afternoons, I have walked alone through one of the said six buildings. Each time I have experienced some or all of the following thoughts and emotions as I strode through one revered building in particular.

This time of year, people in various places may notice something odd. A procession of animals, everything from dogs and cats to hamsters and even horses, is led to churches for a special ceremony called the Blessing of Pets. This custom is conducted in remembrance of Saint Francis of Assisi’s love for all creatures. Francis, whose feast day is October 4, loved the larks flying about his hilltop town. He and his early brothers, staying in a small hovel, allowed themselves to be displaced by a donkey. Francis wrote a Canticle of the Creatures, an ode to God’s living things. “All praise to you, Oh Lord, for all these brother and sister creatures.”

To the public, Dobbs v. Jackson was about abortion rights, but in the court case, the subject was hermeneutics. It is hard to believe but true that most college graduates complete their studies without hearing the word or engaging the concept of hermeneutics. Like the scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, they receive a diploma but not an education. Hermeneutics is most simply defined as the methodology of interpreting texts.