The Tablet October 2, 2004

Catholic High Schools Guide Life's Journey

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

This is the time of year when parents and eighth graders are thinking about choosing a high school for next year and many students are already preparing to take the Test for Admission into Catholic High School. This is also the time when many students are entering Catholic high schools as new freshmen. It is a new beginning in many ways for students returning to their schools, looking forward to a year filled with learning and challenge.

Here in the Diocese of Brooklyn, there is a wonderful tradition of schools operated by religious congregations of women and men, as well as some Catholic high schools that are responsible to lay boards of directors. Whether it be in fidelity to the charisms of the religious congregation's founder or out of dedication to the lay apostolate of Catholic education, these fine Catholic secondary schools of excellence provide parents and young people with a faith-filled environment in which they may grow in "wisdom, age, and grace in the sight of God" and all men and women.

Consider, if you will, how the Church sees the role of the Catholic secondary school as distinct from, yet building upon, the parish elementary school. First and foremost, the young people who, along with their parents, have chosen Catholic high school, do so because they want to continue their education with teachers from whose example they can continue to learn what Christian life is all about. They are older now, and have more questions. Catholic education points them toward the Truth as they seek to answer those questions.

Young people especially are searching for their own identity, and Catholic high schools invite them to discover that identity as they discover who God is for them and how God is present in their everyday life. The person of Jesus is presented by the Catholic secondary school as the pattern on which the student ought to model her or his life. Our Blessed Mother, the young Mary of Nazareth, is the best example of how a young person, by fidelity to and love of God, was able to change the whole of salvation history with her "Yes." The young lad in the Gospel with the five loaves and two fish was essential to Jesus feeding the five thousand; Catholic high schools challenge the young women and men who attend them to say "yes," to transform history, to be essential co-workers with Jesus in "feeding" those who seek Him.

The task of the high school is in some ways easier because the students are no longer children, but in many ways the challenges are greater because they are teenagers. As much as the world impacts the children who attend our Catholic parish schools, so much more does the secularism and materialism of the world impact teens. In a Catholic school the world does crowd in, but the school helps to shed the light of Truth on the dark places in the world. That light of Truth leads the students in our Catholic high schools to Jesus, and with Him to a challenge to transform this world into the Kingdom of God.

As a Diocese, we can be justly proud of the accomplishments of our students, faculty and administration. Over 95 percent of our students go on to college. The sacrifices of all, especially their parents, bear great fruit for the future.

Last week, I celebrated Mass for the students at Christ the King High School in Middle Village, the first Mass for their academic year. The student body is 80 percent Catholic and the participation was heartwarming. In my homily, I compared high school to the journey of life, which begins with small steps. The Gospel of the day was the scene of Jesus sending His disciples on their missionary journeys. He told them to travel light, unencumbered by any attachments to material things. So too all of us must make life's journey a step at a time, detached from the things which weigh us down. As we put out into the deep, may the load we bear be made lighter by the conviction that the Lord bears our burden with us.