Hawaiian Shirt Dress-Up Day was enjoyed by students at Cathedral School in Superior to show their school spirit, especially by these kindergarteners in Mrs. Seybold’s class. (Submitted photo)
Peggy Schoenfuss
Superintendent of Schools
Throughout sacred Scripture, God uses many images to describe the sort of relationship he seeks with his people: A spouse, a father, a potter, vine-grower. One of the most common is that of the Good Shepherd of Israel. In the Old Testament, he shepherded his people through the patriarchs and prophets, the judges and kings. With the coming of the Lord Jesus, he himself becomes their shepherd.
Whether we are young or old, spiritually mature or just starting on our journey, we are all in need of this shepherding. We need guidance, protection, provision, comfort, correction. The extraordinary reality is that in his incredible love, Jesus longs to provide this for us. “At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)”
As we seek to form young people, we feel this need perhaps most poignantly. The changing and challenging times we live in provoke us to seek influences for our children that guide them to be morally upstanding adults. It is first and foremost through their family influences that they learn the concepts and skills to live a virtuous life. But where then do they learn to live amongst others and continue to be guided with dignity and respect?
In 2022, Pope Francis said, “Catholic education is also evangelization: bearing witness to the joy of the Gospel and its power to renew our communities and provide hope and strength in facing wisely the challenges of the present time.” It is in our Catholic schools that we see communities of faith for children to make mistakes and be lovingly guided toward right decisions.
Bishop James Powers calls upon our schools to be first and foremost true to the Catholic faith. Even with students and families that are not Catholic in our schools, we must always offer them the fullness of faith through the example of our actions and expectations. Our principals and teachers are continually growing in their personal faith and understanding of faith in the lives of our families and children. All of our schools strive for a loving, caring and firm relationship with Jesus Christ.
It’s important in all of this that we understand that our schools exist to bring the faith into everything our children learn. Faith is not just something we hold off to the side for when a disaster strikes or we’re feeling lonely. Faith is something that must be integrated into all areas of life. How we make decisions. How we react to other people. How we ponder the goodness of the world. Faith isn’t just one element in our mental landscape; it is the light by which we see everything.
Our society today tells us Christ is not necessary to live a moral and upstanding life. But is that true? The witness of the saints shows us that if we have Christ, we have everything we need. The circumstances of the lives of the saints vary tremendously – some were kings and queens, most were relatively poor; some lived to a ripe old age, others died young; some experienced worldly peace and success, others lost everything in the eyes of the world and died as martyrs. Nevertheless, living in harmony with and total trust in the Good Shepherd, they all experienced profound joy and unshakeable peace.
This is our ultimate desire for our children, isn’t it? Our Catholic schools can – and do – provide a rich entry into the life of discipleship that leads toward that joy and peace. In recent decades, our schools have grown tremendously in this pursuit.
As Bishop Powers’ Pastoral Letter on Evangelization so beautifully teaches, we are all called to this holiness, but also to take up the Lord’s command to share the good news with all nations. Our schools can help form our children and families to share the faith with one another. Because our Catholic schools are more than just an academic hub, we expect our children to leave our schools being faith-filled, strong leaders and independent learners. We have a strong tradition of our students going on to high school and being leaders of their classes, high academic achievers, and able to adjust to any situation. This comes from growing in faith and learning the skills of self-discipline and communication. We are so much more than just institutions putting information into children’s minds. We are families of faith that love and care for each other. It is through this that we learn to be Christ to others in the world.
