Catholic Schools Week 2018 celebrates significant contributions of Catholic education. Catholic schools throughout the Diocese of Trenton will join with others nationwide to celebrate National Catholic Schools Week, Jan. 28 to Feb. 3, with open houses, exhibits, prayer services, showcases, Mass, and a variety of other exciting activities for students, families, parishioners and community members.
The theme for this year’s CSW observance, “Catholic Schools: Learn. Serve. Lead. Succeed,” is brought to life with the official CSW logo of an open book made up of multi-colored pages that symbolize how all areas of Catholic schools blend together with faith – symbolized by the cross – at the forefront.
“Catholic Schools Week annually provides all Catholics — whether they have children in Catholic schools or not — with the chance to think about how the faith is taught and witnessed and the ‘value’ that Catholic schools offer to children, to parents, to families, to the Church, to society at large with respect to that faith and its influence,” wrote Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., in his annual message.
JoAnn Tier, diocesan superintendent of Catholic schools, reported that, in the Diocese of Trenton, “16,182 students choose Catholic schools and save taxpayers in excess of $184 million annually. The schools are academically competitive demonstrated by students’ scores that exceed the 75 percent national average. In 2017, 1,684 graduating seniors were awarded over $227 million in scholarships and grants.”
A round-up of special events and activities taking place in Catholic schools of the Diocese is available
here. For a
full listing by county of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Trenton, visit our
website.
Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., has announced the following clergy appointments: Father James Grogan, from administrator of Nativity Parish, Fair Haven, to pastor, effective Jan. 12, 2018.
Father Carlos Castillo, from medical leave to parochial vicar, St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish, Toms River, effective Feb. 13, 2018.
Collection for the Church in Latin America, Jan. 27-28 In dioceses across the nation, including in the Diocese of Trenton, the annual Collection for the Church in Latin America will be taken up at Masses the weekend of Jan. 27-28.
For more than 50 years, the collection has been a sign of solidary between the Churches of the United States and those in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2017, the collection approved nearly $7.2 million dollars in grants to support the Church in Latin America and Caribbean.
The collection supports the work of the Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America by funding grants for a variety of pastoral efforts such as lay leadership training, seminarian and religious formation, prison ministry and youth ministry. All of these efforts help Catholics share their faith.