From Sunday, Jan. 26 (the Sunday of the Word of God) through Saturday, Feb. 1, in this Jubilee Year of 2025, we will celebrate “National Catholic Schools Week,” the annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States. You can learn more about Catholic Schools Week at the “NCEA” (National Catholic Educational Association) website.

I always look forward to Catholic Schools Week in our Diocese, especially because it gives me an opportunity to visit many of our Catholic Schools and see all the wonderful work that is being done. The visits are also an opportunity for me to thank principals, administrators, pastors, teachers, volunteers, and students for all they do daily to make our Catholic Schools true centers of evangelization and Catholic Education. I am also very grateful to Mary Baier, our Superintendent of Schools, and her team, the staff of our Catholic Schools Office.
This year, I have the opportunity to thank two priests for their leadership and service as our Diocesan Vicar of Education. Father Stan Barron, pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, Flanders, served as the Vicar for Education for twelve and a half years until his retirement from that role this past December. Father Paul Manning, who previously served as Vicar for Education from 2005 to 2012, has stepped back into that role while remaining our Diocesan Vicar for Evangelization. I am very grateful to Father Stan and Father Paul for their very generous and dedicated service.
In this Jubilee Year, a great Jubilee of Hope, we are all invited to respond to our Holy Father’s call to be “Pilgrims of Hope.” One of the ways that we can be pilgrims of Hope is by passing on the gifts of Faith, Hope, and Love to our children and younger generations. That “passing on” of Faith, Hope, and Love can also be called “Catholic Education.”
We know and believe that parents are the “first catechists,” the first teachers of their children in the ways of Faith. For so many of us, our home and family were our “first school.” Parishes and parish faith formation programs have the privilege and responsibility to collaborate and share with parents in the education of children. As we celebrate Catholic Education, we pause to give thanks for pastors, priests, deacons, religious, catechetical leaders, and, especially, volunteer catechists who offer faith formation and sacrament preparation programs in our parishes.
We are also grateful for our Catholic Schools. National Catholic Schools Week gives us all an opportunity to pause and recognize what a blessing Catholic Schools have been and continue to be here in our Diocese, throughout our country, and in all parts of the world. Those of us who are “products” of a Catholic School Education are so grateful for that gift. We also hope that those who have not had the opportunity to attend a Catholic School or the opportunity to send their children to a Catholic School can see what a blessing our Catholic Schools have been and continue to be. The more that we are aware of the value of our Catholic Schools, the more we realize that if we need to fight, struggle, and sacrifice to keep our Catholic Schools vibrant, it is a fight worth fighting. I believe that many readers of this column and many throughout our diocese are very aware of some of the financial and other challenges we face as we strive to support and grow our Catholic Schools. I am encouraged more and more every day that our diocesan, parish, and school leaders are both conscious of the challenges and enthusiastically and prayerfully dedicated, day by day, to continue to support, strengthen, and grow our Catholic Schools, to “fight the good fight,” no matter the challenges we may face.
In doing some research to write this column, I saw on the NCEA website a recommendation to have a different theme each day for the celebration of Catholic Schools Week. You can find more information (and see some great pictures) here.
I would like to list the suggested themes here because, as I reviewed the daily themes, it reminded me of a very important message, a message that, at times, we may take for granted. Here are the suggested daily themes for Catholic Schools Week:
- Sunday: Celebrating Your Parish
- Monday: Celebrating Your Community
- Tuesday: Celebrating Your Students
- Wednesday: Celebrating the Nation
- Thursday: Celebrating Vocations
- Friday: Celebrating Faculty, Staff, and Volunteers
- Saturday: Celebrating Families
Take a few moments; review the list: parish, community, students, nation, vocations, faculty, staff, volunteers, and families. Think about how, every day, every part of that list is impacted, strengthened, inspired, and supported in every Catholic School. The mission of our Catholic Schools is vital to the mission of who we are as the Church, as God’s Family, called, chosen, and sent to bring the Good News of the Gospel to all nations, to the ends of the earth. There are many ways that we live and share in that mission–as individuals, families, parishes, dioceses, and other ecclesial communities–but we should not take for granted how our Catholic Schools contribute to and accomplish our mission as disciples, as the Church.
There is at least one group that is not specifically mentioned in the list. We could probably “fill up” another week if we thought about all the participants, beneficiaries, and supporters of Catholic Schools. At the moment, there is one additional group, not absent from the list but “woven through” and included in many if not all of the groups mentioned on the list, and I would like to mention this group because they are a very, very important part of supporting the mission of our Catholic Schools. We should not forget to mention our very generous DONORS!
As Bishop, I have been inspired by donors and benefactors who support the work and mission of the Church in so many ways. When I think about those who support our Catholic Schools, in addition to anonymous donors, who sometimes offer very generous assistance, I am particularly grateful for all those who support and contribute to our annual Diocesan Ministries Appeal. The DMA, in addition to supporting the work of Catholic Charities, our senior priests, and the education and formation of our seminarians (future priests), also supports our inner-city/urban Catholic Schools, where so often families are not able to afford the full tuition to send their children to a Catholic School.
I am also so grateful for the work and generosity of the TRI-COUNTY Scholarship Fund, which “Since 1981, … has provided partial K-12th grade scholarships to financially disadvantaged children from Northern New Jersey so they can attend safe, values-based, quality independent schools which allow them to thrive.” You can learn more at their website.
Under the leadership of their President, Prudence A. Pigott, their dynamic staff, and their dedicated Board of Trustees, “TRI-COUNTY” raises funds, solicits donations, and works with corporate and community partners to offer scholarships to students and families who could not otherwise afford the tuition for a Catholic or values-based private school. They also actively collaborate with the students, their parents, the schools, and school leadership to provide resources and support from Kindergarten through High School graduation, helping students advance to a college or university education that they otherwise could (literally) only have dreamed of.
In this year of 2025, we have entered together with the whole Church in a great Jubilee of Hope. As we celebrate Catholic Schools Week in this Jubilee Year, let us remember that “hope does not disappoint.” We can be filled with hope in our Catholic Schools here in our Diocese of Paterson.