Catholic Schools Week 2023: service, seminarians and slime
Principal Brian Hull gets “slimed” by students who raised the most money during the Fund Run for Catholic Schools Week at St. Mary Catholic School in Spokane Valley on Jan 30, 2023. (Photo: Grant Whitty, Inland Catholic)
In a commencement address at the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul, Minn. two years ago, Bishop Robert Barron said, “The entire point of Catholic intellectual formation is to produce magnae animae (great souls).” Barron’s words are reminiscent of the great Jesuit expression cura personalis, which speaks not only to the formation of one’s mind but the whole person. One of the most significant fruits of Catholic education is its ability to build up future saints and leaders—sending them out into the world. This is truly worth celebrating.
In 1974, members of the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) gathered to establish the first Catholic Schools Week to honor Catholic education in the United States. Since then, hundreds of dioceses and thousands of Catholic schools have participated in the festivities. This year, Catholic Schools Week was Jan. 28 - Feb. 3, 2023. Throughout the diocese, schools gathered to celebrate their Catholic faith and education in various ways.
Parochial schools celebrated the Holy Mass with their parish communities on the first Sunday of the week to kick off the celebrations. The Schola Choir of St. Charles school in Spokane took to the choir loft singing the Mass parts and hymns in English and Latin. Nearly every parochial school had students serve as lectors, gift bearers, greeters and altar servers, giving some parishioners the “weekend off” from their regular Sunday duties.
Students and community members at Assumption school in Spokane smile with their mountain of toilet paper for donation to Catholic Charities in the school gymnasium on Feb 3, 2023. (Courtesy Photo)
Throughout the week, schools partook in various service projects raising funds or collecting goods to donate to various charities within the diocese. In North Spokane, the Assumption students participated in a toilet paper drive benefiting Catholic Charities’ Father Bach Haven. Trinity collected so much cereal for needy families that a domino chain of cereal boxes was formed through the school hallways. To celebrate the success of the school’s Fund Run, St. Mary students in Spokane Valley got to “slime” the school principal, Brian Hull. 5th-grade teacher Sharon Lonergan had the honor of dumping an entire 5-gallon bucket of slime on Mr. Hull.
On Wednesday, students from across the diocese gathered for Catholic Schools Week Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes. Bishop Thomas Daly celebrated the Mass alongside ten priests from various schools. Each school in the Spokane metro area sent delegates from their school to attend the Mass. In addition, Father Jeff Core, faculty and students from Holy Family in Clarkston, made the journey up from the Palouse for Mass.
Bishop preached on the Gospel, which spoke about Jesus preaching in his hometown: “Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?” He then began to ask the students what they knew about Jesus and how they might get to know him better. He then drew from the Gospel, mentioning how the people in Jesus’ hometown knew much about Jesus factually but did not know who he was. “Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?” He then encouraged the congregation to pray regularly, build a relationship with Jesus, and get to know him better.
Bishop White seminarian Anthony Nguyen (Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon) answers questions from students at Trinity school in Spokane on Feb. 1, 2023. (Photo: Grant Whitty, Inland Catholic)
As the Office of Vocations continues to cultivate a culture of vocations throughout the diocese, the director of vocations, Father Kyle Ratuiste and seminarians from Bishop White Seminary made rounds of visits to various schools in the Spokane Metro area throughout the week. Seminarians shared their experience of discerning a vocation and answered questions from students about seminary life and vocations at large. In Clarkston, the pastor of Holy Family school and parish, Father Jeff Core, visited with students about his call to the priesthood and what it means to live a vocation.
Later in the week, the school community at St. Aloysius brought in a well-known Catholic priest and speaker, Father Tony Ricard of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Father Tony, alongside his musical group of young men, Knights of Praise, spoke and sang praise and worship songs with students for an assembly at St. Aloysius church in Spokane.
Many schools offered fun meals and events for the whole family to close out the week. For example, St. Charles and Assumption hosted bingo nights. In addition, Walla Walla Catholic Schools hosted a mother-son dinner, and St John Vianney in Spokane hosted a father-daughter dance.
Thursday of Catholic Schools Week was The Feast of the Presentation. The Gospel reading from the feast pairs well with the spirit and hope of Catholic schools in Eastern Washington. Speaking of Christ after The Presentation: “The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.” (Luke 2:40). As the Father hopes for his Son in this verse, the bishop, too, hopes for these things in the lives of the students. There is much to be thankful for in a diocese with 13-grade schools, four high schools, and a Jesuit university. Please pray for all Catholic school students, religious, faculty and staff across the diocese.
