Dear Parishioners:
Last week throughout the Diocese, we celebrated Catholic Schools Week. Here at St Patrick, we are extremely blessed to have a parish Catholic school. As you may know, some Catholic schools have closed over the years.
Catholic schools are so different from when I was in Catholic elementary school. Stop by and check us out! I went to St. Ignatius of Loyola School in Hicksville (in the 1960’s, as did my mother (1930’s) and my grandmother (1910’s)! Our St. Patrick School gives a fine education but with the added spiritual development element. The students go to Mass at least once a week (either by class or with the entire school) and religion is part of their study. More importantly, the children “breathe in” Christ-centered values. I realize that a Catholic school education costs money and taxes are high. However, I think it is worth it!
St. Pope John Paul II has said:
“Catholic education aims not only to communicate facts, but also to transmit a coherent, comprehensive vision of life, in the conviction that the truths contained in that vision liberate students in the most profound meaning of human freedom.”
“In a cultural climate in which moral norms are often thought to be matters of personal preference, Catholic schools have a crucial role to play in leading the younger generation to realize that freedom consists above all in being able to respond to the demands of the truth.”
“The mission of the Catholic school is the integral formation of students, so that they may be true to their condition as Christ’s disciples and as such work effectively for the evangelization of culture and for the common good of society.”
Pope Benedict has written:
“The mission of the Catholic school is the integral formation of students, so that they may be true to their condition as Christ’s disciples and as such work effectively for the evangelization of culture and for the common good of society.”
“A good school provides a rounded education for the whole person. And a good Catholic school, over and above this, should help all its students to become saints.”
Let’s help our children become the saints God create them to be!
Remember: Together, we can do something beautiful for God.
In Christ,
Fr. Brian