Catholic Education Week is a week specially set aside to celebrate Catholic Education and our Catholic schools and why the triple connection of home, school and parish is an important and integral part of Catholic education. This triad emphasizes for our children, the reality of our wider Catholic community that collaborates on their faith formation and education.
Our Catholic schools are, by definition, faith-based schools, firmly rooted in the gospel values of Jesus Christ. It was this conviction, from the very beginning of publicly funded education in the province, that the Catholic population, under the leadership of Bishop Michael Power and some very dedicated Catholic trustees, doggedly sustained a fight for the right of Catholics to their own publicly funded Catholic schools. What we enjoy today is due to a history of sacrifice and determination and the extraordinary works of Bishops, Sisters, Brothers, priests and lay men and women, to build and preserve Catholic education in the face of all forms of opposition, both political and legal.
The challenges to the existence of publicly funded Catholic education are alive today. In an increasing secular Ontario, there are those who see publicly funded Catholic education as anachronistic and discriminatory. But, Catholic education has contributed significantly to Ontario and to Canada in the contributions of all those wonderful graduates of our Catholic system.
This week we continue to celebrate a school system, which celebrates and defines itself on faith and mercy and embraces Christ’s message of salvation for all peoples! Our students are our hope! We believe that the current generation of students in our publicly funded Catholic schools will serve with the same spirit and generosity as their previous generations.
This year’s Catholic Education Week theme is, “Igniting Hope.”The theme for CEW 2020 was inspired by three sources:
- The recent Papal Exhortation, Christus Vivit, by Pope Francis following the 2018 Synod of Bishops on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment
- The recent Ontario Bishops’ pastoral letter, Renewing the Promise (2018)
- The Ontario Catholic School Graduate Expectations by the Institute for Catholic Education (2011)
There are five sub-themes for each day of Catholic Education Week:
Day 1: Our Hope in Christ
Notre espérance, c’est le Christ
Day 2: The Hope Within Us
L’espérance en nous
Day 3: The Hope Among Us
L’espérance au milieu de nous
Day 4: Hope for the World
L’espérance pour le monde
Day 5: A Future Full of Hope
Un avenir rempli d’espérance
Every year, during Catholic Education Week, YCDSB looks forward to celebrating students, staff and community members’ achievements with events and activities. This year, Catholic Education Week is May 3 to 10. Despite school closures due to COVID-19, York Catholic will continue its tradition of celebration by moving them online. Using the resources, as well as our own developed activities, we have prepared a series of activities, which will highlight how the students and staff at our school are Igniting Hope.
NOTE: His Eminence, Thomas Cardinal Collins will be celebrating the Catholic Education Week Mass on Wednesday, May 6 at 10 am EST. All students, families, staff, Trustees, and the broader Catholic community are invited to participate “virtually” in this celebration of the Eucharist by clicking on the link at the scheduled time: https://www.stmichaelscathedral.com/live
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13