Sunday, January 28 begins Catholic Schools Week, an annual opportunity to celebrate our Catholic schools and to thank all who make Catholic education possible. During this week, each of the 50 schools in the Diocese of Columbus will host events and activities to recognize families, show appreciation for administrators and teachers, celebrate clergy and religious, and participate in service activities for the community. It is also a time for inviting new families to take a look at the difference that Catholic schools make in the lives of our students.
Catholic Schools Week is also a chance to share exciting news about the Our Catholic Schools. The Office of Catholic Schools continues to implement the strategic plan that was introduced two years ago. This plan, Real Presence, Real Future: Our Catholic Schools, lays out an exciting vision for the future. Framed around three primary goals – Catholic Identity, Academic Excellence, and Sustainability – the plan outlines the action steps that will develop our system of schools in each of these areas. We have seen a great deal of success enacting this plan; so much so that we are fast approaching the time to begin work on our next strategic plan.
Enrollment across the Diocese continues to experience significant growth. Our nearly 18,000 students in preschool through 12th grade represent the highest enrollment in the past 10 years, and our 11 high schools are seeing their highest combined enrollment in the past 15 years.
Families have responded to the good things happening in our Catholic schools. So much so that we are at near capacity in the majority of the schools in the Diocese. More than a dozen schools are in some stage of planning for an expansion or upgrade in facilities to meet the growing demand. In fact, we are even exploring possible locations for new schools. The future of Catholic education in the Diocese of Columbus is certainly bright.
Welcoming all families who desire a Catholic education into our school communities has become much easier this year due to the great blessing of universal EdChoice. This new program from the State of Ohio offers income-based scholarships to every family in the state, making Catholic school more affordable than ever before and an option for every family in our Diocese. EdChoice scholarships are our tax dollars being used to help parents make the best educational choices for their children.
Realizing that not all financial needs can be met solely through EdChoice, we have also been working to raise much needed tuition assistance funds through the Emmaus Road Scholarship Fund, an Ohio Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO) that allows donors to receive a dollar for dollar tax credit in return for gifts for tuition assistance. In 2022, $1.9 million was raised. Last year, we far surpassed the previous total and raised $2.9 million for student tuition assistance. These funds truly make a difference in the lives of our students.
The 2023-24 school year started off in wonderful fashion, as the 1,400 men and women who serve as educators in our schools gathered together for the first time since 2019 for a day of encounter and evangelization. We spent a day in prayer with and for one another, being inspired by our speakers, Fr Dave Pivonka from Franciscan University and Catholic author and broadcaster Katie McGrady, on the great vocation we have as Catholic educators in service to the Church. It was a great day of prayer and renewal – and certainly a beautiful sight to see all of the educators in our Diocese united in Adoration of Our Lord, praying for our schools and our students.
We continue to strengthen our Catholic culture at every school through the continued implementation of our new Religion course of study, which debuted last year. This year, we have been focusing on incorporating Pope St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body into our classes, with help from our friends at Ruah Woods in Cincinnati. I am truly grateful for the work of our principals and teachers to bring this important culture into our schools. We have also completed the first round of high school visitations, in which a visiting team spends a day at a school to assess the Catholic culture and to share best practices and new ideas.
We recently welcomed Dr. Brett Salkeld, the author of a powerful new book, Educating for Eternity, to our Diocese. Dr. Salkeld spoke to all of our administrators about infusing a Catholic worldview across the content areas, which we refer to as Catholic Academic Integration. This involves teaching all subjects, including math, science, art, literature, athletics, from a Catholic perspective, always with an eye toward the goodness and grandeur of God. This is being put into practice through our ongoing work of revising the math course of study, a major project for this year.
Knowing that our Catholic culture is front and center in our schools, we are working on finding new and better ways to find and hire excellent, on-mission, and on-fire teachers. It is not just religion teachers who are accountable for the success of our students’ formation, but all faculty and staff. Adding to our already wonderful corps of teachers ensures that the men and women who work with our children everyday love Jesus and want to share that love with every student every day. A jobs fair for our Catholic schools will be held on Saturday, April 13, at the Newman Center at Ohio State. All with an interest in Catholic education are welcome to come and meet our school administrators.
None of the success of our Catholic schools would be possible without the dedicated people who make it a reality every day. During this celebration of Catholic Schools Week, I would like to sincerely thank the administrators who tirelessly lead our schools, the teachers and staff who educate and care for our children daily, and all of the families that have made the choice to send their children to schools where they can learn and thrive in the fullness of our Catholic faith. We are truly blessed here in the Diocese of Columbus by so many who are motivated by their love of the Lord and desire to create excellent Catholic schools.
I ask that you keep our schools, our administrators and teachers, and our students in your prayers. And, of course, please encourage anyone with an interest in learning more about our schools for their children to contact their local Catholic school or visit www.education.columbuscatholic.org.
