Catholic school values celebrated
Joanne Ward
Associate Publisher
Catholic Schools Week may be three months away, but it received a big boost this year as the diocese marked the annual event with a Liturgy Oct. 30.
Principals, teachers and students from 40 elementary schools and five high schools within the diocese participated in the 3 p.m. Mass held in St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral, Metuchen.
Students served as lectors and gift bearers while the diocesan children’s choir, joined by several parish children’s choirs, provided music.
Traditionally held at 7 p.m. on the last Saturday in January, the beginning of Catholic Schools Week, this year’s Mass was moved up.
“We felt both the time and the weather would be better so more children would be able to attend with their families, and it’s always a plus when we can celebrate the good work of our Catholic Schools as well as promote community among our students,” noted Msgr. Michael J. Corona, executive director, diocesan Department of Education.
Principal celebrant Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski praised the work of the diocese’s Catholic schools, and thanked the teachers as well as parents for their support and involvement.
In his homily, Msgr. Corona related the Gospel’s message, “The greatest among you will be the one who serves the rest,” to Catholic schools.
“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give,” he said, adding, “Jesus tells us to give, and give, and give.”
Through a story of how a water well had dried up because of lack of use, Msgr. Corona likened the water to God’s graces which flows to us through the Church and the sacraments.
Msgr. Corona said it is in Catholic schools that students experience the living waters of God’s love, that they learn to live life as a child of God, and learn how to be followers of Christ who serve others.
“Catholic schools open up our young people (so that) they know God’s love, live it and experience it day in and day out,” he explained.
Emphasizing the importance of Catholic schools, Msgr. Corona ended his homily by referring to the document Revitalizing Catholic Education, issued by the bishops of the United States in June, in which they called Catholic schools vital to the future of young people, the nation and most especially the Church.
Many in the cathedral were moved by the choir’s Offertory song, Feed My Lambs, and they applauded them after their thanksgiving song, Cantata Domino.
School and parish children’s choirs who participated in the Liturgy included: St. Bartholomew, East Brunswick; St. Matthias, Somerset; St. Mary, South Amboy; Immaculate Conception, Somerville; St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral, and St. Joseph School, North Plainfield. They were directed by Thomas DeLessio, diocesan director of music.
St. Matthias School’s Home School Association co-president Kim Hudley noted that the Mass showed how much children benefit from Catholic education.
Expressing the opinion of many, Carolyn Czarnecki, an eighth grade student in Sacred Heart of Jesus School, South Amboy, said, “When we were singing and praising together as a school community, I felt a deeper connection with Christ. We were an assembly of one.”
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law