This is a “big year” for the Watson family. This is the second – and last – year that all five of our children will be in the same school, with the same schedules, holidays, and drop-off and pick-up times. Of course, next year will be another “big year,” with our oldest starting high school and our twins receiving the Eucharist for the first time.
The truth is, every year holds milestones for our South Jersey students, families and schools because it brings the promise of new beginnings and the continuation our children’s journeys through Catholic education.
For example, Holy Spirit High School, Absecon, is beginning the celebration of its 100th year of providing excellent education and Catholic formation to high school students in Atlantic County. In Cherry Hill, leadership at Camden Catholic High School has been busy upgrading classrooms to support new offerings in genetics, analytics and cyber security. Saint Margaret Regional School, Woodbury Heights, is starting a television studio. Our Lady Star of the Sea School in Atlantic City is formally opening a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) Lab, joining 12 other South Jersey Catholic schools that already have such labs in place, and four additional schools building programs this year.
A century of Catholic education in this region, combined with up-to-the-minute innovations, illustrate why our schools are sometimes called “hundred-year-old start-ups.” South Jersey Catholic schools have deep roots in the faith, roots that have helped them to weather challenges and changes for more than a century. In the last two years, we have seen the value of our unwavering commitment to Catholic faith and values. That foundation has allowed our schools to stave off the worst effects – educationally, socially and physically – of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Catholic school communities share the belief that we are all made in the image and likeness of God. They help each student to form and develop an ongoing relationship with Jesus, through which they discover who God made them to be. The successes of the last two years, and the academic excellence for which South Jersey Catholic schools are well-known, follow because all of our actions are oriented toward this mission and purpose.
Of course, none of this happens automatically. Students in Catholic schools don’t succeed individually or collectively because we say we are Catholic. None of us can expect to experience the full benefits of Catholic school communities by participating only peripherally. It takes work from each of us to commit to a relationship with Jesus that is borne out in our relationships with one another. That’s why we pray together; it’s why we acknowledge and accept God’s presence as the driving force for what we accomplish together.
The most important way we pray together in Catholic schools is by participating in Mass. We have just begun the first of three years of a National Eucharistic Revival. The Eucharistic Revival is an invitation to all of us to grow in our understanding and devotion to the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.
One of the most notable elements of our participation in the revival is the planned teaching Masses this year, where students will learn in greater detail that the Catholic Mass is not simply a Sunday service, but a spiritual exercise where every element from beginning to end is rich with meaning. Thanks to our participation in the Eucharistic Revival, our students have an opportunity to more deeply understand the nature of the Mass. That is certainly not something they can expect to learn in a standard public school curriculum.
High school students will have the opportunity to attend a mini-retreat with a national Eucharistic preacher who will be visiting us this spring. All students will participate in special lessons, events and activities that emphasize the Eucharist as God’s Word made flesh through the Incarnation at Christmas; the Eucharist as a sacrifice during Lent; and the Eucharist as a heavenly banquet during the Easter season.
Through these and other experiences, as well as through the Catholic school curriculum and the witness of principals and teachers, we will grow closer to Jesus individually and as school communities. The Eucharistic Revival reminds us that no matter what we experience – whether challenge or celebration – when we grow close to Jesus and stay close to him, we grow in wisdom to know God’s will for us and courage to pursue it.
Indeed, we are embarking on a “big year.” Please join me in praying for all Catholic school administrators, teachers, staff, students and families as we undertake another year amid a rich curriculum, diverse extracurricular activities and strong spirituality.
Dr. Bill Watson is superintendent of Catholic schools for the Diocese of Camden.
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