I believe it’s important to be active in my parish, and I want to set a good example of involvement for my kids, but lately I dread going to committee meetings and even my women’s ministry group no longer sparks my interest. Should I just keep going and hope things get better?

Parishes thrive when parishioners are inspired to discover their gifts for service to the church and to the wider world. Our response to God’s love is to serve his people and build his kingdom. Each of us, by virtue of our baptism, is called and gifted as a member of Christ’s Body on earth. By being involved in committees and the various projects of your women’s ministry, you are responding to the call of your baptism. This is admirable and sets a good example for your children. But now, why the malaise?
 
First, let me affirm you for your honesty. Service to the Lord is to be a joy, not a dread and a chore. That doesn’t mean it won’t be challenging at times. Currently there is a disconnect between your intention to serve and your feelings about that service. Bringing that incongruence into the light is a good first step in discerning where and how God wants you to serve.
 

Fourth graders Joanna Figueroa, left to right, Maura Driscoll, Vicente Burdohan, Davian Lex and Victor Irizarry work on a project in their St. Roman School classroom on Friday, Jan. 21. As the Hispanic population grows at the school, principal Dan Tackes said the school is working to meet the needs of the Hispanic families especially through its communication efforts. (Catholic Herald photo by Juan C. Medina)A 2007 study stated that about one-third of all Catholics in the United States were Latinos. The collaborative study done by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, also projected that this number will continue to increase for decades. In fact, the study said that more than two-thirds or 68 percent of Latinos identify themselves as Roman Catholics. It’s only natural then, that this growth would be reflected in the numbers of students attending Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee: From the 2000-01 school year to 2010-2011 school year, there was an increase of 2,946 Latino students in the elementary schools and 489 in the high schools.

Kathleen Cepelka, superintendent of the Catholic schools for the archdiocese, said that during the eight years she worked as principal of Catholic Memorial High School in Waukesha, she was aware of the growing number of Hispanic children in that city.

“I can certainly tell you that we would welcome an increase of Hispanic children in all of our schools, because clearly the future of the church is very closely tied to the growth of the Hispanic or Latino population,” Cepelka said. “We would want these children to be formed in the way that we believe our Catholic schools can so appropriately and in a faith-based way, form them for our church as well as for their own society.”

Fr. Sean O’Connell, team chaplain and associate pastor at St. Dominic Parish, Brookfield, addresses members of the Catholic Memorial High School football team Friday, Nov. 18 during a Mass celebrated prior to the team boarding buses to Madisonfor the WIAA Division III state championship game the following day. (Submitted photo courtesy Seidel Creative Group)Catholic Memorial High School in Waukesha is one of the top 50 Catholic high schools in the country, according to the National Catholic High School Honor Roll.

Schools are chosen based on their commitment to academic excellence, Catholic identity and civic education.
 
Two Wisconsin Catholic high schools made the list, including Xavier High School in Appleton.
 
According to Kara Eagle, spokesperson for the National Catholic High School Honor Roll, Catholic Memorial is “a shining example” of overall high achievement while maintaining a strong Catholic identity.
 
“Based on the Catholic Memorial High School’s responses to three surveys relating to academic excellence, Catholic identity and civic education, (it is) among the top 50 in the nation,” she said. “Catholic Memorial has made great strides in the past few years to achieve this distinction, and we at the Honor Roll congratulate them on this achievement.”

As president of Catholic Memorial, Fr. Paul Hartmann credits principal Robert Hall and the school staff for immersing students in Catholicism, providing an outstanding community service program, and presenting the opportunity for young people to graduate and change the world.
 
“I have been president for three years, and graduated from Catholic Memorial in 1984, and while so many things, especially technologically, have changed since I attended, there is still the sense of community and family that are very much the same,” he said. “A lot of the faculty is still here, and I think that, above all, the Catholic identity is the most important. We have an obvious sense of our faith with the use of imagery, statues, crucifixes and overall prayer life at Catholic Memorial.”

Some of the holiest people around are also some of the most quiet and unassuming. Jesus often pointed out that spiritual bravado wasn’t the equivalent of holiness. He spoke up against the Pharisees praying aloud for all to hear, while highlighting the barely-noticeable widow who put a few coins in the offering jar. We all know of the salt-of-the-earth folks who go about their lives matter-of-factly doing good – they don’t have a position of authority in their job or the community, yet their example shines forth and their goodness inspires others to become better.

It is a paradox of Christianity that strength and truth often arrive humbly wrapped – in swaddling clothes, for example.
 
And if this is true for Christian people, it is also true for Christian institutions. Dominican High School, a small co-ed Catholic high school in Whitefish Bay, is so quiet and unassuming, it doesn’t even show up on the radar of some parents considering Catholic high school for their children.
 
But for those who slow down enough to take a look at Dominican – for those who recognize the Gospel connection between humility and greatness – they invariably find in Dominican the genuine beauty of Catholic education done right.
 

St. Joseph Lower Academy students listen to the blessing and dedication at St. Joseph Upper Academy in Kenosha on Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2010. The school is in its first year as a K-12 school and is a model for Catholic education across the country. (Catholic Herald photo by Allen Fredrickson)On any given day, students at St. Joseph Catholic Academy in Kenosha might be speaking Mandarin Chinese, Italian, French or Spanish, studying from their personal laptops, or meeting with a campus minister to discuss faith issues.
 
Not too surprising for a group of high school students, right?

However, these are middle school students, and this K-12 school has become a model for Catholic education across the county.

In its first year as a K-12 school, St. Joseph Academy has changed Catholic education. While the Catholic educational system in the United States is suffering financial setbacks and closing or merging parish schools, St. Joseph Academy reflects a new era in successful collaborative community education.
 
Following more than 20 years of committees, task forces and debates regarding the future of Catholic education in the Kenosha area, St. Joseph Academy formed in the 2010-11 school year with the merging of the 53-year-old St. Joseph High School, St. Joseph Inter-parish Junior High and the recently closed St. Mark Elementary School. According to president Robert Freund, the transformation was a period of intense difficulty, but the school has not only survived, but also thrived beyond its expectations.
 

Nanabayin-Kofi Coleman is a 2010 graduate of St. Lawrence Seminary, Mt. Calvary. (Submitted photo courtesy St. Lawrence Seminary)While many teenagers go on mission trips each summer, it was what happened away from the worksite that had the most impact on Nanabayin-Kofi Coleman.

Following his junior year at St. Lawrence Seminary High School in Mt. Calvary, Coleman went to impoverished south Texas in 2009. Laboring with fellow students to help build a simple home for an elderly woman hammered home the importance of service ministry.

“What I saw was pretty shocking,” he said recently in an interview with your Catholic Herald Parenting. “Each night we had a reflection on what we can do with our service, putting things in perspective.

“I realized if I complain, I really don’t have it that bad. There’s a lot of suffering in the world beyond what I see on a daily basis.”

Coleman, 18, credits his education at St. Lawrence Seminary for helping him process his emotions about the mission trip and other forms of volunteering.

“Things might come up again on a Saturday night in the dorm – how to put faith into practice,” Coleman said. “Could I have gotten that experience with a different group of people? I don’t know.”

A “Jeopardy” champion with a master’s degree in meteorology, Michael Falk is now a junior high school math teacher at St. Mary Visitation School, Elm Grove. Pictured in his classroom on Thursday, Jan. 20, Falk likes to challenge his students with activities such as regular “brain busters.” (Catholic Herald photo by Ernie Mastroianni)Why would a “Jeopardy!” champion with a master’s degree in meteorology opt to teach at a Catholic elementary school?

Simply because of something – better make that some things – he saw.

A year or so ago, Michael Falk, who had won more than $300,000 during several appearances on the popular quiz program in 2006, came upon an advertisement for a junior high math teacher at St. Mary Visitation School in Elm Grove.
 
“The job description looked like it was written with me in mind,” Falk recently recalled for your Catholic Herald Parenting. He visited the school and “saw a strong Christ-centered community with excellent parental involvement, rigorous academics and great opportunities for spiritual growth for both staff and students.”

Having spent a semester at the front of a St. Mary’s classroom, Falk might just be more enthusiastic than ever. The 31-year-old teacher called St. Mary “a great place to learn and work and share faith with others.”

Emmitt Gehl, second grade, files into his classroom on the first day of class, Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010, at the [...]