Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2008 / Celebrating Catholic schools
Celebrating Catholic schools
Award honoree works to involve others in his parish
by Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published January 25, 2008
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Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic
Student council president Mike Leone shows off some of the goods students at St. Isaac Jogues School have collected for a food drive centered on Catholic Schools Week. Many schools around the archdiocese show their Catholic heritage during the week by helping the less fortunate. In the background, from left, are student council members Rachel Wilson (sixth grade), Kevin Allen (seventh grade) and Erin Nelson (sixth grade). |
Detroit Parents, students and educators involved in Catholic schools know all year long that they're a part of something special. That's why many are grateful for the chance to celebrate all things pertaining to Catholic education during Catholic Schools Week, which this year takes place from Jan. 27 through Feb. 2.
"We are a Catholic school. We are unique. There is a difference, and we need to take the time to point that out," says Patricia Domagala, principal of St. Isaac Jogues School in St. Clair Shores. "We need to take time out and appreciate not only the freedom but the responsibility we have in being a Catholic school."
Similar sentiments are felt by members of the National Catholic Education Association and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, who each year designate the last week in January as Catholic Schools Week. Across the country, nearly 2.4 million students attend 7,800 elementary, middle and secondary Catholic schools. More than 100 of those schools are located in the Archdiocese of Detroit.
In this archdiocese and others, schools conduct special prayer services, charity efforts, appreciation days and academic events to highlight the blessings that come with Catholic schools.
"It's a way to celebrate in a nontraditional way, to have some fun with it, to reinforce why we're there, and to celebrate our Catholic values and our beliefs," says JoAnn Hermes, who with her husband, Tom, has two children attending St. Dennis School in Royal Oak. "My kids know that other schools don't do this, and it's a whole week of reminding us why we're at where we're at."
Catholic Schools Week
What is it? A week set aside to celebrate Catholic schools and their contribution to their communities and the nation.
When is it? The last week in January. This year, it's Jan. 27 through Feb. 2.
Who celebrates? Students, parents, teachers and administrators at Catholic schools across the country.
Who sponsors it? Catholic Schools Week is promoted by the National Catholic Educational Association and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Anything else? Jan. 30 is National Appreciation Day for Catholic Schools. For more information, visit the National Catholic Educational Association website. |
At St. Dennis, students take on a different theme each day of Catholic Schools Week such as faith and spirit, and appreciation for family, students and faculty. The idea, says first-grade teacher Cathy Clark, is to go beyond the day-to-day classroom activities to reach all those who contribute to making the school strong.
"We're reaching out to the community of the parish and anybody who's in the parish," says Clark, head of the school's Catholic Schools Week committee. "It's a time when we can give them back something."
At Our Lady of Victory School in Northville, Catholic Schools Week is a time to reflect on faith. Students team up with prayer partners, explains principal Stephanie Tozer. The school's older students act out Bible stories for the younger ones. Also, reflections on this year's theme Catholic Schools Light the Way are read each morning during the announcements.
"We're focusing on who we are as a Catholic school," says Tozer. "And the students look forward to doing something out of the ordinary."
Many schools participate in acts of charity to mark the occasion some with canned food drives, some with fundraising efforts, others by writing letters to elderly or homebound parishioners.
"It's so we can show that we were made in God's image by helping others," explains seventh-grader Ariana Castillo, a student at St. Isaac Jogues.
At St. Isaac Jogues, among a week filled with appreciation days for the students, teachers and community, the students participate in a canned food drive to collect 6,000 items to feed the less fortunate.
"It fits in, because you help a lot of people," says seventh-grader Michael Wroblewski. "Other projects have the same goal we try to help people as much as we can."
If the students reach their goal, they have a day where they don't have to wear school uniforms but their teachers will.
The idea garnered an enthusiastic response, says Domagala.
"It looks like I'll have to find a jumper pretty soon," she says.
What you can do :
Do you send your child to Catholic school? Do you want to do something special to observe Catholic Schools Week, Jan. 27 to Feb. 2? The National Catholic Educational Association has the following suggestions:
Write a letter of appreciation to your child's teacher, your parish priest, or even one of your own former Catholic school teachers. Let them know you appreciate their dedication to Catholic education.
Donate books or other learning material to your Catholic school's library.
Pray with your family for all those who contribute to the success of your child's education.
Volunteer at your school for Catholic Schools Week activities.
Write a letter to your representative in the U.S. Congress and state legislature to let them know that Catholic education is important to you.
Invite friends, relatives and neighbors to your school's open house. Many Catholic schools have open houses during Catholic Schools Week. |
There are some off-the-wall ideas, too. Or, in the case of All Saints School in Canton, "on-the-wall" ideas. During an All Saints fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, students pay $1 each for a piece of duct tape, which they use to tape their principal to the wall.
Of course, many schools have other ways of celebrating that also delight students. Our Lady Queen of Martyrs in Beverly Hills, for example, has a pep rally and "pillow polo" tournament a sport resembling hockey for the older students to participate in. Plus, other perks.
"My favorite part would definitely be not having homework," says Caroline Christie, of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs seventh-grader.
Caroline says she appreciates Catholic schools for the way she learns about the Lord, and that it's not just tied to religion classes.
"When we're in the classroom, teachers can bring up God related to subjects other than just religion," she says.
Jay Walton, an eighth grader at the school, agrees. And Catholic Schools Week which at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs also is marked with appreciation days, fundraisers and other special events is a great way to acknowledge the blessing they have in their education, he adds.
"You need some time to appreciate a Catholic education," Jay says. "It makes everything easier when you have a week to look forward to and to celebrate."
While the spirit of Catholic Schools Week is strong in grade schools, Catholic high schools in the archdiocese celebrate the occasion, as well.
The choir from Bishop Foley High School in Madison Heights puts on a performance at St. Dennis School, for example. And in Farmington, Mercy High School for the last couple of years has scheduled one of the year's biggest events, its Heart of Mercy Assembly, during Catholic Schools Week.
The assembly, during which they give an award to a teacher and a student who exemplifies Mercy's values, sets the tone for the week, says development director Nadine Maynard. "It's a real visible reminder to the girls, aside from religion classes and everything we say and do, of what we're all about," Maynard says.
The rest of the week, the school community focuses on the core values of the school human dignity, mercy, justice, service and option for the poor.
Whatever the grade level, though, school communities around the archdiocese see Catholic Schools Week as a reminder that all the work, time, energy, volunteerism, and tuition that go into each school yields the priceless reward of an education centered on Christ.
Just ask a student.
"It's very important so you can learn how Jesus acted," says seventh-grader Ariana, "and we can express it through our lives today."
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