Photo by James A. McBride
Echoing the words of Pope Francis, Bishop Dennis Sullivan urged graduates of Catholic high schools to “put out into the deep” with new beginnings and experiences, as they start the next chapter in their young lives.
For the past two weeks, Bishop Sullivan has celebrated baccalaureate Masses and addressed the 796 graduates of the Camden Diocese’s six high schools: Camden Catholic, Cherry Hill; Gloucester Catholic, Gloucester City; Holy Spirit, Absecon; Paul VI, Haddon Township; Saint Joseph, Hammonton; and Wildwood Catholic.
On June 1, the bishop presided at the Wildwood Catholic High School baccalaureate at Saint Ann Church, Notre Dame de la Mer Parish, Wildwood.
“The Lord is always with you. You are not alone; you are loved by God, saved by Christ, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit,” the bishop said, sharing the pontiff’s words to youth earlier this year.
The bishop added that in the course of students’ future “explorations,” and their journey through life, the road will inevitably bring them back to their Catholic high school mentally and spiritually, if not physically. The bishop recited lines from “Little Gidding,” the last poem of T.S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets”:
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Eliot’s words, he noted, show that clarity and understanding often come when we step back from a place, and later reflect.
As the graduates “explore through life, you will see what you have received from (Catholic education), an education of mind, body and soul, in the tradition of the church. Formation has happened, and it has affected you, even if you are not aware of it,” he said.
One day, he promised, “the light will go on (what you have learned), and you will be conscious and aware. You have been given a firm foundation, which encourages you to reach beyond and rise above,” he said.
The bishop’s emphasis on the lifelong value of Catholic education was echoed by others at the graduations.
In her valedictorian address at Holy Spirit, Julia Dalzell urged her fellow graduates to “keep the tradition of love alive, as well as all the other valuable lessons we have learned at Holy Spirit.”
“If there’s one thing of which I am absolutely certain, it is that Holy Spirit High School is special,” she continued. “You might not realize it until you are well into your college experience or facing your first job interview.”
Bishop Sullivan instructed students to “not be content with mediocrity; there’s too much of it in the world.”
In closing, he thanked the students’ families, and their school teachers, for giving their charges sacrifices “that are worth it, and giving them formation that will take them through the exploring.”
Diocesan high school graduates have been offered $87,404,981 in scholarships from colleges and universities, with $81,686,643 for academics, and $5,718,338 for sports.
In addition to the Diocese of Camden’s six high schools, there are three private Catholic schools in South Jersey: Bishop Eustace, a preparatory school in Pennsauken run by the Pallottine order; Saint Augustine, an all boys school in Richland run by the Augustinians; and Our Lady of Mercy Academy, an all girls school in Newfield run by the Daughters of Mercy.
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