Catholic schools: Learn. Serve. Lead. Succeed.

As readers who occasionally scan my public calendar in the Sooner Catholic or on the archdiocesan website can attest, I spend a lot of time visiting our Catholic schools. Every year I travel to each of our 22 Catholic elementary and secondary schools around the archdiocese.
 
Among these, we have three Catholic high schools (including the new Cristo Rey OKC Catholic High School), 18 elementary schools and one school for children with special needs (Good Shepherd Catholic School at Mercy). I am proud of each of these institutions. Each one represents a shared commitment among parents, pastors, administrators, faculty and staff, the parishes and the archdiocese. At Good Shepherd and Cristo Rey, we also enjoy a special partnership with local businesses and other public and private institutions.
 
From the earliest days of the Church’s history in the United States and in Oklahoma, Catholic schools have had an irreplaceable role in the life and mission of the Church. They have served not only our Catholic people and parishes but have made an incalculable contribution to the broader community as well. Much of the credit for this rich heritage is owed to the religious women and men who pioneered our earliest Catholic schools. We celebrate this ongoing commitment and legacy annually during Catholic Schools Week, which we observe this year from Jan. 27 through Feb. 2.
 
The theme for Catholic Schools Week 2019 is “Catholic Schools: Learn. Serve. Lead. Succeed.” Our schools are committed to pursuing and promoting excellence in every sphere. However, we can achieve this only if we are clear about why we exist at all. As we seek to raise standards across the board, we raise highest the standard of our faith.
 
The value-added quality of our Catholic schools is that they enjoy the privileged opportunity to partner with parents in handing on our Catholic faith. As an expression of the Church’s mission to “Go Make Disciples” our schools’ primary purpose is to be evangelizing communities of disciples.
 
Catholic schools are privileged places of evangelization. Here, faith is nurtured through a close collaboration with parents. Faith is celebrated through worship and prayer. Faith is lived out in loving service to others. Faith is strengthened as it is integrated across the entire curriculum and in every facet of the educational environment.
 
Here, we pursue excellence in academic instruction, character development as well as faith formation. We do this by being authentically Catholic in our teaching and practice, but also by being inclusive of students from every social, economic and ethnic background. We welcome students of other faith traditions, but owe them an opportunity to appreciate the fullness of our Catholic faith and heritage.
 
In order for our Catholic schools to continue to thrive, we have to strategize ways to expand our enrollment, keep our schools sustainable and make Catholic schools accessible to more and more children and their families. Our schools need a solid financial footing if they are to remain viable. Our schools need ways to provide tuition assistance and scholarships for those who otherwise would not have the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of a Catholic education. These remain some of the greatest challenges to the continued flourishing of our Catholic schools.
 
For more than 100 years, our Catholic schools in Oklahoma have flourished because of the generous stewardship of families, religious women and men, priests and parishioners who together have made tremendous sacrifices to make Catholic schools available for their children, grandchildren and their neighbor’s children. Increasingly, we are finding ways to engage the business and civic community to provide opportunities for parents to choose a Catholic education as well. It always has been a shared commitment and a shared sacrifice.
 
The future depends on our ability to sustain this spirit of stewardship. Today, we are benefitting from the sacrifices of those who have gone before us. And, we have to keep in mind those who will come after us. Parents of today’s Catholic school children cannot be left to shoulder the full cost of Catholic education alone. For most, it simply is too expensive. Whether or not we have children in Catholic schools we all benefit from maintaining strong Catholic schools.
 
I hope you enjoy the insert in this issue that profiles our Catholic schools and how we are striving to keep them strong.