Students encouraged to ‘learn, serve, lead, succeed’ during Catholic Schools Week Mass

Juan Martinez-Gaspar, left, Paul Chrisman, Rosanna Spearing and Elizabeth Roller, all students at Holy Name School in Beech Grove, kneel in prayer on Jan. 29 during a Catholic Schools Week Mass in SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis. Several hundred Catholic school students from across central and southern Indiana took part in the liturgy. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)

By John Shaughnessy

Tapping into the Catholic Schools Week theme of “Learn, Serve, Lead, Succeed,” Archbishop Charles C. Thompson made those four goals the heart of his homily during the Catholic Schools Week Mass at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis on Jan. 29.

The archbishop told the congregation of students, teachers and school leaders from across the archdiocese, “Catholic schools provide that environment, provide that special place to listen, to hear about the Good News—to hear about what God wants from us. It provides us a place and an opportunity to grow and develop that good soil of the spirit of our lives. It enables us to be rooted in the Good News of Jesus, and also to be rooted in Church teaching, how to live that out.”

Focusing on the students, the archbishop said, “We need you to be able to grow, to bear good fruit and more importantly to be good citizens, to be good witnesses, to be good disciples of Jesus Christ. Because we are called to transform the world, to proclaim the kingdom of God to people—not to let the world’s kingdom reign. That’s why we need to learn, serve, lead and succeed. To make a difference.”

The archbishop also stressed how Catholic schools are different from other places of learning.

“Our schools are not merely private schools. We exist to learn, to serve, to lead and to succeed in the name of Jesus Christ. We exist to keep pointing to the world that there is something greater than this moment. It’s everlasting life. Not just that you will be successful in this world, but you will know life eternal in the kingdom of heaven.” †

The Criterion

February 7, 2020

Students encouraged to ‘learn, serve, lead, succeed’ during Catholic Schools Week Mass

By John Shaughnessy

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