Happy Twenty-First Sunday! With much anticipation, this past week was filled with little voices in the school hallways and little arms and legs running across the playground. We’re back to the school bell schedule, and it’s a joy to have the kids around again. If you ever need a pick-me-up, just walk into a kindergarten classroom. You’ll be instantly swarmed by tiny hugs and entertained by funny stories about whatever is on their minds: I lost my tooth, I went on vacation, I have two dogs, where do you live, my dad knows you, I also lost my tooth, look at my new pencil, look at my shoes, can you play with us…all the important things. Visiting the classrooms? Definite perks of the pastor’s J.O.B.
I wrote two weeks ago that I’d give an update about our diocesan campaign in support of Catholic education, and I’ll probably spend the next several weeks walking through this. Let me begin with the grand scheme by putting the ‘why’ of this endeavor into my own words. Next week I’ll give the big-picture rundown of the ‘how’. After that, we’ll move into the details of parish participation and individual household participation.
One of my heroes, St. John Paul II, said: “As the family goes, so goes the nation, and so goes the whole world in which we live.” He spent much of his pastoral ministry as pope defending the sanctity of marriage and family life, and promoting and defending the nuclear family as the fundamental cell of the Church and of society. He believed in the Church’s mission to evangelize the world hinged on its evangelization of the family. He saw that the greatest evils perpetrated against humanity were those that most directly distorted, divided, or destroyed the family. There is no doubt in my mind that his teaching on the family is prophetic for our times. And it answers the overall question: “Why are we having a diocesan capital campaign for Catholic education?” Because the evangelization of the family is at its heart, and such is our mission.
Dioceses and parishes evangelize families principally by discerning the local priorities that best support the vocations within the family: husbands and wives in their vocation as spouses, moms and dads in their vocation as parents, and children in their vocation as sons and daughters. This is where Catholic education enters the equation. Wherever it is offered, Catholic education blesses all corners of the family. It presents a practical gospel vision for the identity, formation, and mission of the human person. It protects our children from cultural headwinds and trains them in faith, knowledge, and skills to change the world for Christ. It assists moms and dads seeking to raise their sons and daughters in the faith. It provides stability to Christian communities across generations.
Catholic education is a powerful arrow in the Church’s quiver, and its mission deserves every generation’s care and concern. So here we are. What we’re aiming for in the grand scheme of this campaign is to ensure our diocese’s Catholic schools have the material resources necessary to bless and evangelize our families for future generations. Check back next week as I discuss in detail how the campaign will do this. Peace and blessings on your week!
Fr. Brian