Catholic Schools Week

This week is Catholic Schools Week across America.  It’s a week set aside by NCEA (National Catholic Education Association) to celebrate Catholic education.  This year’s theme is “Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service,” and Catholic schools all over celebrate this week.

I recall my time attending Catholic middle school and Catholic high school.  We had the Bishop celebrate Mass for all of the Cape Cod Catholic Schools, dress down days, dodge ball tournaments, quiz bowl tournaments, ice cream socials, and much more.  All of it was to recognize and appreciate the importance and value of Catholic Education.

I have attended Catholic school for 10 years now (yikes…time flies).  It has been a blessing to be able to share and learn about my faith in an educational setting.  I credit it with “forming” me spiritually, academically, socially, and emotionally.  The three schools I have attended – St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School, St. John Paul II High School, and St. Joseph’s College of Maine – are all very unique but share a common mission to educate others while continuing the Gospel mission.

Perhaps this week is a good time for all of us to reflect on the gift of education in our lives – what has formed us both in academics and in faith.  Now matter what, where, or when, we give thanks for the gift of education.

Chris Hughes