As September dawns upon us, with the blessedly cooler weather, education is the by-word. Many are returning to school, some are heading off to College for the first time, and your Cathedral Church is in high-gear to prepare our educational programs for the coming year.
On Tuesday of this week Bishop McManus celebrated a Pontifical Mass with 450 Catholic School teachers and administrators from across the Diocese. What an inspiring sight it was to see these wonderful men and women gathered together to prepare in prayer to share the truth with their students.
The truth, of course, is that what we teach is not a fact or a theory or any “thing.” What we teach is a person, God and man, who first taught us how to live and in his dying and rising saved us from our selfishness and sin. Catholic Education is, therefore, at its root, the work of evangelization: the great proclamation which first echoed off the empty walls of a tomb not far from Calvary: He is Risen! God loved us so much that he sent his only Son to be our hope and our salvation.
Jan and Sister Maria Louisa and Fanny are hard at work making plans for the opening of Religious Education classes at the end of the month. Registration forms and calendars are in this week’s bulletin. This entire program is built upon the generosity and faith of our catechists, to whom we each owe a huge debt of gratitude. Over the next several weeks the Catechists will be blessed and commissioned at Sunday Mass. Please pray for them!
Our Adult Education series will begin again on Tuesday, September 15th. Please check the brochure in this week’s bulletin and plan to join us for an exciting exploration of questions of faith and family which you have suggested would be of interest to our Cathedral family.
My classes at Saint John’s seminary begin this week, as well. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I will be leading our seminarians from across New England through a Practicum in Ars Celebrandi (how to celebrate the Sacred Liturgy as a Priest!) and a class in Sources and Structure of the Homily. Pray for them!
