Dear Catholic Schools and Parish Communities:
Catholic Schools Week is a time for us to come together and celebrate what we see every day: faith being lived, shared, and proclaimed in real and meaningful ways in our schools. This year’s theme, Proclaiming Our Faith, reminds us that proclamation is not something reserved for special moments. It happens in the ordinary, faithful actions of our students, staff, families, and parishes.
In British Columbia, Catholic education is a choice. Parents choose it because they want faith to be part of their children’s daily lives. Teachers and staff choose it because they understand their work as service and witness. Our students grow into this choice as they learn how faith shapes who they are. Together, we live out the wisdom of Scripture: “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)
Across our diocese this week, we see that formation come alive. Our schools gather with their parish communities to celebrate Mass, with students serving as greeters, lectors, choir members, and altar servers. When children lead prayer, sing, read Scripture, and serve at the altar, they proclaim their faith through active participation in the life of the Church.
We see proclamation in acts of service and generosity. Students cooking and sharing meals, raising funds for the Holy Childhood Association, organizing bake sales and chili lunches, and living the spirit of “children helping children” show us that faith naturally moves outward in love, especially toward those in need.
Proclamation also happens through creativity. When students create murals, prayer cards, and bookmarks for parish communities, share art and messages of faith, and encounter the many ways the Church gives praise through music and tradition, they witness to a faith that is alive and shared. In these experiences, our children come to recognize their own gifts and their place within the one Body of Christ.
Leadership, too, becomes proclamation. As baptized members of the Church, our students, staff, and families already participate in the life and mission of the Church. When this shared identity is lived out through prayer, service, welcome, and responsibility within our schools, faith is proclaimed in everyday ways. This is the witness we see daily in our communities, and the proclamation we celebrate together during Catholic Schools Week.
Thank you to everyone who makes this possible. May Catholic Schools Week be a time of gratitude and renewal, helping us recognize the many ways faith is already being lived and proclaimed each day in our school communities. In Christ, Pamela Guilbault Superintendent of Schools
Pamela Guilbault
Superintendent of Schools
Download a copy of the letter here: https://5il.ca/136p