Herald of Hope
During this Catholic Schools Week, it is with fondness that I recall my own humble beginnings in the small Catholic grade school at St. Francis Xavier in Cross Plains, just west of Madison. I have happy memories of my own grandmother driving me to school — and staying! — because she was one of the women who cooked at the hot lunch program at our school. I can still see that wonderful circle of women who helped to prepare our lunches standing in the kitchen, ready to greet us with smiles and hot food. I will also never forget my eighth-grade teacher Jan Ricciarelli, who, with great emotion, read to us “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was the catch in her throat and tears glistening in her eyes that made an unforgettable impression on me. Those moments taught me, “One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.” That lesson — formed not by textbooks but by people — captures Catholic education at its very best.
So much has changed in Catholic schools over the past 50 years — and yet the essence is still very much the same.
Catholic schools are a kind of protective womb — a place of formation and transformation — the environment in which children are nurtured to grow intellectually, physically and spiritually. It is the place where they gain head smarts, yes — we owe them academic excellence! — but we also bear the responsibility of ensuring that every child who attends a Catholic school comes to know Jesus Christ. Not just knowing about him, but to know him as their friend, companion and Savior. This is not an added benefit of Catholic education but the Church’s mission and identity.
Is this a tall order? Certainly.
Is it achievable? Absolutely.
Is it easy work? No — and it was never meant to be.
It is gained only through the shared efforts of teachers who guide our classrooms, administrators who lead with wisdom and love, and parents who entrust them with the education of their children. Our Catholic schools are part and parcel of who we are as the Church. They are instrumental in breaking cycles of poverty, empowering individuals to reach higher levels of ability and vocation, and healing broken systems in society.
In the “Declaration on Christian Education,” Pope Paul VI writes: “Holy Mother the Church must be concerned with the whole of man’s life, even the secular part of it insofar as it has a bearing on his heavenly calling. Therefore, she has a role in the progress and development of education.” (emphasis added)
Catholic education, then, is not optional.
The declaration continues, “The influence of the Church in the field of education is shown in a special manner by the Catholic school . . . its proper function is to create for the school community a special atmosphere animated by the Gospel spirit of freedom and charity . . . and finally to order the whole of human culture to the news of salvation so that the knowledge the students gradually acquire of the world, life and man is illumined by faith.”
The answer, it would seem, is education — education that forms the whole person.
Still, many parents understandably question whether the financial and time investment is worth the outcome, especially compared to alternative educational options. According to the National Catholic Educational Association, Catholic schools boast a 98.6 percent graduation rate — surpassing other religious schools (96.8 percent), non-sectarian schools (91.2 percent), and public schools (87 percent). Yet, some of the most important outcomes cannot be quantified.
The Church affirms this responsibility once more in the same declaration, stating that the right to establish and conduct Catholic schools contributes profoundly to the protection of freedom of conscience, the rights of parents and the betterment of culture itself.
At its core, Catholic education is about educating the mind, body and soul. As St. Paul urges in Romans 12:2: “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and pleasing and perfect.”
We see this vision embodied in the Gospel when the young Jesus is found in the temple, sitting among the teachers — listening, questioning, and engaging them (Luke 2:41–52). He is fully at home in his father’s house — growing in wisdom, stature and grace.
That is the model Catholic education strives to follow: formation that is intellectual, spiritual, relational and transformative. And it is why, generation after generation, Catholic schools remain essential — not only for the Church, but for the world she serves.
May God continue to bless our Catholic schools!
