Faith
& Knowledge Meet During Catholic Schools Week
Catholic Schools Week, an annual national celebration of Catholic
education, will be observed the week of January 27- February 2,
2002. This year’s national theme, Catholic Schools, Where Faith
and Knowledge Meet, celebrates a student’s choice to learn
in a religious environment.
To prepare for this annual event, each of the 141 Catholic grammar
schools and 37 Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese- Bergen,
Essex, Hudson and Union- is creating its own weeklong celebration
of Catholic education. Schools have planned student and teacher
appreciation days, academic events like science fairs and quiz bowls,
and prayer services. Many schools have also planned for the students
to attend Sunday Mass at the start of Catholic Schools Week to thank
the parish for supporting the school.
Our Lady of Czestochowa Elementary School, Jersey City, for example,
is hosting A Renaissance Fair of Learning... where children are
our masterpieces. Each grade will be assigned a specific area of
responsibility that may include scientific inventions, philosophy
& religion, music and language, and art. Principal Mary Baier
said, “It will be a wonderful experience of creative learning
and discovery. The curriculum will be fully integrated with the
period of the Renaissance.”
For the first time, students from St. Mary Elementary School, Rutherford
and St. Elizabeth of Hungary School, Linden will speak at weekend
Masses, giving witness to “what it means to me to attend my
parish school.” Their students will write thank you postcards
to parishioners, and distribute them after Masses. Student speakers
will also give witness for the first time at Our Lady of Good Counsel,
Newark.
St. Mary Elementary School, Rutherford will host two Evening Open
Houses to allow parents, parishioners and community members who
cannot attend day events the opportunity to interact with the school’s
faculty and staff.
At Our Lady of Good Counsel, Newark, area social workers will present
a workshop for parents about drug abuse. In Linden, St. Elizabeth
of Hungary alumni will host Career Workshops for students in the
fourth through eighth grades.
“The opportunity to celebrate a cornerstone of our faith—
our commitment to faith-based education, centered in the Gospel
of Jesus Christ and amplified by family and parish communities—
is an important privilege for us in the Archdiocese. I applaud the
many thousands of families who make substantial sacrifices to give
their children this advantage. I am grateful to the men and women—
both religious and lay— who dedicate their lives to Catholic
education, for their contributions are both extensive and immeasurable.
And most important, I congratulate more than 60,000 students in
our Catholic schools for their hard work to understand and live
the Gospel in all they do,” said Archbishop John J. Myers.
Catholic Schools Weeks will also receive media support from the
New Jersey State Marketing Council. A one-month, statewide Outdoor
Media campaign of 148 mid-size outdoor panels will begin in mid-January.
Funded by the Council of New Jersey Bishops, the effort will feature
56 panels in the four counties of the Archdiocese of Newark.
“The synergy of celebrations and support for Catholic Schools
conducted on various levels —- state, diocesan and local school
community —- will undoubtedly produce a very effective and
impactful statement about the vitality and life of Catholic education,”
said Patricia Braun, Director of Marketing for the Archdiocese Schools
Office.
For more information on Catholic Schools Week, please contact Patricia
Braun, at (973) 497-4258.
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2000
News Releases |
