Catholic Schools Week - January 31, 2021

This week, January 31 - February 6, we celebrate National Catholic Schools Week. It reminds us of the value and importance of Catholic education. We are blessed to have our own parish Kindergarten through 8th-grade school, our own early education center, and also to have several Catholic high schools in our area. I hope you see the great things that are going on in them!

Did you know that (according to the National Catholic Education Association) there are 6,183 Catholic Schools in the United States? Of these 4,995 are elementary schools and 1,188 are secondary schools. Of the 1.74 million children educated in Catholic schools there is great diversity; the minority population in Catholic schools account for 21.8%. Did you know the average cost in a public school (PK-12) to educate a student is around $14,439? (source National Center for Education Statistics). Therefore, Catholic Schools save the country $25 billion dollars! Catholics are great citizens!

I know I appreciate my own schooling in a Catholic elementary school in my hometown. The education and faith-formation has stuck with me. Thank you all for your support of Catholic Education. It takes us all to make it happen, and I know many make great sacrifices—staff, teachers, parents, and all parishioners!

What is most important is passing on the faith and helping the next generation on their journey to heaven. A 2014 CARA study on Catholic schools revealed only 5 percent of adult Catholic Millennials (born after 1982) who never attended a Catholic school go to Mass weekly compared to 39% who attended Catholic secondary school. I suppose that means attending Catholic school makes a person almost 8 times more likely to keep attending Mass! I can see the difference Catholic education makes for students. I’d also like to make note of the great job our religious education, our homeschool parents, and our youth ministers are doing as well to educate and form our youth in the faith.

Please pray for our Catholic Schools and if you’d like to know more, please let us know.