I had the pleasure and privilege of assisting Bishop Sullivan the first week of June as he officiated at the graduations of Wildwood Catholic Academy and Camden Catholic, Gloucester Catholic, Holy Spirit and Paul VI High Schools. I was present as each of the 605 graduates was called by name, and I stood by the Bishop as he personally congratulated the young people on their success in reaching this important milestone.
In the coming week, 770 students from 25 elementary schools across the Diocese will graduate from eighth grade, approximately 70% of whom will go on to a Catholic high school. A few days later, 612 youngsters will mark the end of their time in kindergarten and be ready to enter first grade. I know the feelings of excitement gratitude, and pride that were palpable at the high school graduations will permeate these occasions, as well.
The end of a school year is often filled with nostalgia – remembering those things that will not happen again in a person’s scholastic life. This nostalgia is good. It helps to solidify the positive memories and strong foundation that each student takes to the next grade, or in the case of eighth-grade and high school graduates, to the next school. It is also a time to celebrate accomplishments – for example, the exceptional standardized test scores of both elementary and high school students, which continue to exceed national averages and serve as a reminder of the academic excellence of Catholic schools. In our Catholic high schools, 95% of graduates will be attending higher-education institutions thanks to the $99,485,647 that this year’s senior class was awarded in scholarships.
Of course, Catholic schools offer students more than a set of yearly accomplishments. The years that a student spends in Catholic school are tied together by their celebration and reception of the sacraments. All elementary and high school students attend Mass at least monthly at school, and those in grade two and older receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation at least twice a year. These encounters with Christ are the glue that bonds the community together, and they kindle the fire in each student that drives them to discover and become who God intends them to be, year after year.
The sacraments also remind us that our joy, hope and rest are with Jesus, and that he is also a role model for us to understand sacrifice and patience. We started with another “COVID year” of masks, quarantines and some remote learning. As the public health situation evolved, students and faculty were able to return to a school environment that resembled school before the pandemic. Those transitions and the unknowns surrounding them added stress to the typical demands of preparing for and participating in lessons, tests, extracurricular activities, sports and so many other parts of school life.
I am grateful to all of the parents, students, teachers, principals and staff at each school for their patience and perseverance. We are all hopeful that the worst of the pandemic is behind us, even if we do not know what the future holds – for the pandemic or otherwise. But we do know that whatever it holds, the Christ-centered communities of Catholic schools, and the sacraments that underlie and flow through every year of a student’s time in them, will keep us close to Jesus and thriving next year and beyond.
Congratulations to every graduate and to every family for the accomplishments of another school year. I wish all members of each Catholic school family – and all of the parishioners who support the schools – a peaceful, healthy and restful summer with continued closeness to Jesus through prayer and the sacraments until school opens again in September.
Dr. Bill Watson is superintendent of Catholic schools for the Diocese of Camden.
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