The school bells are ringing throughout our diocese. Just outside our chancery windows in Arlington, I have seen parents dropping their children off for school all week. For those just beginning school, this week is particularly momentous. For all of our students, the journey of learning and of living the faith stretches out before them.
Indeed, there is a tangible sense of anticipation and excitement in the air as this new academic year begins. Over 17,800 children are enrolled in our Catholic schools this year, representing a 7 percent increase from five years ago.
But to what are our children being called this year?
Once again, our young people are being invited to open their minds to the Good News of Jesus Christ. Our Catholic schools provide the opportunity for our children to be formed totally: physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually.
Five days per week, five hours per day: that is an extensive formation, a priceless opportunity for “students to deepen a relationship with God and to discover that all things human have their deepest meaning in the person and teaching of Jesus Christ” (Pope John Paul II, May 30, 1998). This formation is also sustained and nurtured through our catechetical programs and youth ministry. All these instruments of faith formation " the Catholic school, catechetical programs and youth ministry " assist parents, who are the primary teachers of the Faith within the “domestic church” of the family.
The Holy Father has announced the Year of the Eucharist, beginning this October, and ending in October of 2005. During this year, it is my prayer and hope that the formation which takes place in our schools, catechetical programs and youth ministry will deepen our young people's understanding of the Eucharist, that they and we would all see more clearly the intrinsic connection between how we worship and how we live. May this Year of the Eucharist be one in which our unity with Him in the Eucharist bears fruit beyond our church walls and informs every aspect of our lives.
I am so proud of the central role our 43 Catholic schools play (39 diocesan, four private), and I salute the teachers, staff and principals of all our Catholic schools. I echo gratitude to them for all of their diligent work and dedication. Together you are doing nothing less than forming the future of the Church and of the nation. I commend our schools as they focus this year on solidarity, a key principle contained in our Catholic social teachings that is rooted in our bond in justice and charity.
Recently our Holy Father said, “Now is above all the hour of the lay faithful, who, by their specific vocation to shape the secular world in accordance with the gospel, are called to carry forward the Church's prophetic mission by evangelizing the various spheres of family, social, professional and cultural life” (Ad Limina address, May 28, 2004). May our Catholic schools significantly advance the formation of tomorrow's Catholic adults, so that they will be equipped to continue the work of the “new evangelization.”
Whether we are in school or not, the school bells are calling all of us forward this year " forward to a deeper formation, a more prophetic evangelizing in our spheres of life. Throughout the approaching “Year of the Eucharist,” may the irresistible call of Jesus Christ spill over into every aspect of our lives! May our awareness of His presence be such that others look at us and see Him. If we do this, it will be a school year we all look back on with gratitude and wonder.
