It is Catholic Schools Week this week, January 28 February 3, 2001. Throughout the country the Catholic Church is mindful of its schools in a particularly focused way this week. The theme adopted for our Catholic schools this year is Celebrate Catholic Schools. Celebrations normally are reserved for special moments or special events.
Catholic schools know the human spirit and they still shape that spirit.
Catholic schools know that the human spirit is the place where students make sense of life itself, and of their lives in particular. Catholic schools know that, within the human spirit, students form their hopes and dreams for life itself. Catholic schools realize that these hopes and dreams are not simply about school successes, college, and a well-paying job. These are hopes and dreams for experiencing personal happiness and for discovering the lasting meanings that life holds. Catholic schools understand that paying attention to Jesus, as he is known and experienced in the Catholic Church, is the deepest dimension of a school s life.