An open letter to Catholic School Students:

Do you know why you are going to a Catholic school? Permit me to give you a little bit of background.

Your parents and grandparents are the ones who built the Catholic school educational system in your city, state, and nation. Your parents and grandparents saw the importance of a great education and saw the connection between their faith in God and his Church and education to assist the greater community in becoming more than just an average citizen of society and believer in Christ.

A Catholic school education is now more expensive than it used to be. In previous decades, religious sisters and brothers who worked for next to nothing staffed our Catholic schools. They spent long hours to make sure the teachings of the Church and the education of the next generation was excellent. Now our teachers are mostly laywomen and men. And they deserve a living wage and to provide for their own families.

As Catholic Schools Week approaches, let us remember where our Catholic schools were, and where they are going.

Let us pray…

God of knowledge and faith,
thank you for the opportunity to go to a Catholic school.
When I go to Mass, I hear that knowledge is so important.
Thank you for my parents and grandparents
who have built our school and supported it throughout the years.
Help me to be a good student
and to become a good supporter of my parish, city, and country.
Please bless all those men and women
who have spent their lives teaching in our Catholic schools.
Please bless my friends and teachers I learn with every day.
I ask for all these blessings in the name of God’s Son, Jesus.

Amen.

(4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2024)