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September 14, 2008

Shh…quiet…

By Sister M. Paul McCaughey, O.P.

SUPERINTENDENT

Without fuss or fanfare, almost 100,000 young people burst into Catholic classrooms, most of them at least a week before Labor Day.

Actually, I thought about a huge shindig at Navy Pier — but worried how long it would take for Lake County students to get there … and if bringing buses from Catholic schools over 200 blocks south of the city would be disruptive of precious study time and further strain school budgets.

The back-to-school parade idea was already taken.

Parents, parishes, alumni and donors had already committed to save the state, as well as local taxpayers, millions of dollars through voluntary tuition and investment, so a boycott was not the answer to needed publicity.

Online high school books were already in backpacks, names and new workbooks already neatly stacked on fourth-grade desks, hallways already painted by parents, preschool reading corners already set up, smart board in-services already complete and strengthened religion curriculum ready to be posted on the Office of Catholic Schools Resource Portal.

In 218 elementary schools and 40 high schools, Catholic school students were ready to continue to earn outstanding test scores, graduation rates twice the city schools’ average … and to commit to something more in their care for one another within communities that exist because Jesus loves children.

So ... we did what we always do: we quietly went back to work.

At St. Patrick in Wadsworth, teachers and administrators from Lake County gathered to reflect on their ministry and pray at Eucharist for their students; at St. Mary of the Annunciation in Mundelein, it was the parents who shared their dreams at Eucharist on the evening of the first day of school. At St. Agatha Catholic Academy in Chicago, students accepted red ribbons for their prevention efforts at Mass and celebrated their personal dignity while at Pope John XXIII in Evanston, and at St. Andrew and St. Monica (both in Chicago), assemblies highlighted the national recognition for their excellence in creating environments of care and strong parental networks. Old St. Mary’s in Chicago’s South Loop asked the Spirit’s blessing on the year as they prayed for more space to expand; St. James in Arlington Heights, Cardinal Bernardin Early Childhood Center in Chicago and Holy Family in Inverness blessed their expanded facilities.

Chicago’s Christ the King Jesuit High School held their very first opening prayer service while the cardinal offered Eucharist at Regina Dominican in Wilmette and Marian Catholic in Chicago Heights to celebrate their 50 years of college preparatory success.

Jesus’ name is powerful — Our Savior, the Transfiguration, Holy Cross. Our Lady’s nurture and strength is experienced under the titles of Our Lady of the Gardens, of Humility, of Grace, of the Wayside, of Wisdom, of the Sea, of the Lake and at Santa Maria Del Popolo, Immaculate Conception and Nazareth.

The Saints are alive with learning — Joseph, Angela, Lawrence O’Toole, Richard, Barbara, Anastasia, Catherine and Lucy, Columbanus, Edmund, Hilary, Leonard, Agnes and Agnes of Bohemia, Therese and Theresa, Paul of the Cross, Thomas of Canterbury and John De La Salle.

In every corner of Lake and Cook counties, there is learning and loving, in these schools I have already visited and in many more: the back-to-school release on the Catholic School Web site provides a more complete look at on-site advancement and initiatives.

For more information, visit www.archchicago.org and click on “Catholic Schools.”

The facilities are widely diverse but the schools hold this in common: administrators, faculty, parents, staff and students who want something more for the future of their families, their neighborhoods, their church, and their world.

Study informed by faith is a powerful concept. It is an idea kept alive by those who understand that rallies at the pier and parades may be something to consider, but that we already have the non-negotiables: the freedom to make the Sign of the Cross, the advancement of a solid curriculum, and the ownership of caring communities.