Schools find many ways
to celebrate Catholic heritage

Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published Friday, January 27, 2006

Detroit — Catholic elementary schools across the Archdiocese of Detroit are taking a number of approaches to celebrate Catholic Schools Week this year.

Some are kicking off community service initiatives.

Others are using the week to show appreciation of the members of a Catholic school family – students, staff and parents.

And still others are delving into the heritage and history of Catholic schools.

"With anything in our life, it's good to pause and reflect on why we do what we do," says Paula Nemeth, pastoral minister at St. Robert Bellarmine Parish, Redford Township, who is overseeing Catholic Schools Week at the parish's elementary school. "That will help our plans for the future and help that grow."

Sr. Loretta Schroeder, IHM, principal at St. Mary of Redford, visits to see the family pictures of students while Asia Hayes, third-grader, holds her family portrait. Others in the class gather below pictures of their families.

Catholic schools around the country have celebrated Catholic Schools Week annually since 1974 to raise awareness of and participation in Catholic schools. This year, the celebration begins Jan. 29 and runs through Feb. 3.

This year's theme is "Catholic Schools: Character, Compassion, Values."

Some schools have planned special charity initiatives, such as canned food drives and fundraisers, to emphasize the Catholic spirit of charity during the week.

The students at All Saints School in Canton, for example, will be having a fundraising and bean drive for All Saints Soup Kitchen in Detroit, which was damaged by a fire on Christmas.

St. Mary of Redford Elementary School in Detroit will have a penny drive to benefit a charity for the poor, said principal Sr. Loretta Schroeder, IHM. And that's not all at the 150-student school on Detroit's west side.

Each student, and teacher, in the school will emphasize the importance of their family by bringing in family portraits to line the halls. Also, students will write letters of appreciation to their parents and treat their folks to dessert in the school cafeteria.

Sr. Schroeder said it's important to take time out of the fast-paced school year to recognize the goodness that abounds in a Catholic school's community and its children.

"We think we're a great school, and it's important that we can take a week to step back and take a look and say, 'we are pretty good,'" Sr. Schroeder says. "We're lucky to be here as a family. … It just confirms your belief that God puts that seed of goodness in children and if it just gets a chance to grow, my golly, it's there."

Mary Miller, principal at St. Paul on the Lake School, Grosse Pointe Farms, says she believes strongly in Catholic School's Week's ability to spread the good news about Catholic schools. Students at St. Paul will be having a "special person day," for which students can bring a grandparent, parent, older sibling or anyone else to see what goes on at their Catholic school.

At a school where she previously served, Miller recalls having a young woman so impressed after having been a special person, that when the woman's own children were old enough, she wanted to send them to the Catholic school.

"We want to bring Catholic education and all of the good things that we do and make it visible," Miller says.

Sharing the concept of Catholic schools is an important aspect of Catholic Schools Week. And, as Our Lady Queen of Martyrs School in Beverly Hills is stressing, so is showing appreciation for all who make Catholic schools possible.

The Beverly Hills Catholic school is taking each day to show appreciation for the school staff, parents, students and the community surrounding the school. After all, says dean of students Beth Whalen, it's everyone's duty to exude Christ to the students, and lead them in His way.

"The parents and teachers and everyone involve in Catholic education has a calling," Whalen says. "We have to go back to why you send your kids to Catholic schools — our faith is everything. The wonderful thing about Catholic schools is our faith, and we use it in everything we do."