Pastor's Pen - January 31, 2016

This week we celebrate “Catholic Schools Week.” I want to begin by saying thank you to our entire parish community for "coming on board" in support of our St. Paul Parish School. Over the past 51 years --- lay teachers and principals have been so committed, parents have sacrificed to send their children to the school, people of the parish have paid for the building of the school, many have shared their resources to help cover part of the cost of the Catholic education of someone else's children, and the students and graduates have taken pride in this Catholic institution. So much has gone into this great apostolate, along with the help of God.

It is still an incredible struggle for any parish to maintain a viable school as part of its mission. With the costs of education continuing to climb both in the private and public sectors it is a true blessing when a faith community like ours can support this challenging but worthwhile apostolate. Tuition monies from parents of school children and special money-raising projects cover over 60% of the cost of our St. Paul School program. The other part of the cost comes through the support of the rest of our faith community. I am a very strong believer that it continues to be the responsibility of ALL of our parishioners (the single, the retired, the married with children and those married without children or with grown children) to share in the support of the Catholic education apostolate relating to "our" children. The early Catholic settlers to this area over 150 years ago always felt that the care and development of the children was a shared responsibility by all the members of the community. The community on a whole left a legacy --- the faith formation and education of the children, regardless of which individual family the children belonged to. That dynamic also needs to be present in this moment of history --- relating to our school and our religious education apostolates.

Our Catholic school can more holistically, explicitly and freely integrate the development of faith in the context of the curriculum and activities of the children than a public school is permitted to do. Although faith formation is primarily the responsibility of the individual family, the Catholic school can supplement that formation in great measure by providing daily religious instruction, liturgies, prayer, sacramental preparation and prayer services, besides continual education in Christian values and ideals. Our own particular school has a reputation for its holistic approach to education. Besides the nurturing of their faith and basic learning skills, children receive instruction in music, art, physical and computer education. Other cultural and community outreach activities further enhance the student's life. Communication with and the participation of parents is a focus played out in a number of different ways by our school.

Our school has truly become an instrument that directly and indirectly impacts and enriches our entire parish community and its life. In turn I am very proud of how beautifully our entire faith community has met the challenge of supporting this apostolate. Let's keep it going. Don't be ashamed or afraid to promote our St. Paul Parish School.

Fr. Ralph