Dear Parishioners, Up to the time I entered seminary, I had only attended public school. I went to public school from grade school through high school. And even when I went to college, I attended a public, state school. During that time I was certainly practicing my faith, attending church and praying. But, I never knew what a Catholic school was really like until I went to seminary. I bring this all up because since that time I have come to appreciate the Catholic education system immensely.

My first experience of Catholic education on a grade school level was while I was ministering in what the seminary called apostolate. On apostolate, we would engage in some sort of local ministry in order to gain experience about what it would be like to be a priest. My very first year, I was sent to a parish named St. Eleanor in Collegeville, PA where I would spend all day in their grade school and all afternoon visiting the sick. I remember being told just to go into all the classes every week for a couple of minutes and teach the students any topic in the faith. When I did this, I found something amazing: I would ask the students questions about the faith and they would be able to answer them (even the youngest ones). Being a convert to Catholicism, I did not know some of these answers until I was twenty years old. I was also amazed at how well behaved the children were and that they prayed in school. Before this point, I never really thought much about Catholic education. I knew the value of knowing the faith and even facilitated bible studies and discussion groups while I was in the Catholic Campus Ministry at college. But, something really impressed me about these children and I found that I enjoyed teaching.

Over time, I came to realize that there is more to being in a Catholic school than just having higher levels of discipline, safer environments and generally better sports teams. In Catholic schools, there is a great opportunity to live out, and to pass on the faith. In this busy life, we can tend to compartmentalize our faith to something we just do on Sundays, if at all. But as Catholics, we believe that the faith is meant to be lived out. It should touch on every aspect of our lives and make us more holy. I have come to know that in Catholic schools that really do live out the faith and teach their students well, there are more opportunities for prayer and connecting faith to life and learning.

The truth of Christ lifts us up and sheds light into everything that we do. If we cannot pray and cannot bear witness to the truth of the faith, then everything else we learn by comparison is diminished. A student may be able to learn similar subjects in any school. But, to know Christ is the greatest knowledge of all because it leads to eternal life. That is why I greatly enjoy my own role in ministry to schools and see it as an important part of our parish mission.

Have a happy Catholic Schools Week and God bless,

Fr. Carter