2026 Catholic Schools Week Supplement
Catholic Schools: Drawing new maps of hope
By Brian Disney (Superintendent of Catholic schools in the archdiocese)
Happy Catholic Schools Week! We are blessed to have 69 Catholic schools serving more than 23,000 students throughout the archdiocese. As we honor the gift of Catholic education, we renew our mission focused on the whole person, the power of community and the promise of hope in every student’s journey.
Pope Leo XIV provided a vision for Catholic schools in his apostolic letter “Drawing New Maps of Hope” on Oct. 27, 2025, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the conciliar declaration “Gravissimum educationis” (“Declaration on Catholic Education”). In the letter, he reminds us that education “is one of the highest expressions of Christian charity.”
Catholic education does more than teach academic content. It also prioritizes the learning of virtues. At our Catholic schools, students discover the meaning of life, recognize their inalienable dignity, discern their vocations and apply their responsibility toward others.
Catholic schools put the person at the center of our endeavors. By focusing on a student’s inherent dignity, Catholic schools embrace “the entire person: spiritual, intellectual, emotional, social, physical.” In forming the whole person, our schools avoid fragmentation and integrate the Catholic faith into all aspects of the student experience.
Pope Leo also emphasizes that technological progress, including artificial intelligence (AI), is part of God’s plan, but its use must be guided by careful discernment. “Let us educate in a judicious use of technology and of AI, placing the person before the algorithm and harmonizing technical, emotional, social, spiritual and ecological intelligence.”
Pope Leo stresses, “Christian education is a collective endeavor: no one educates alone. The educational community is a ‘we’ where teachers, students, families, administrative and service staff, pastors and civil society converge to generate life.”
With this emphasis on collaborative formation, our schools echo the vibrant, shared mission of the Gospel. Catholic school educators recognize that parents are the first teachers and support them in that effort. Not only are parents and teachers actively engaged in Catholic education, but so is the entire parish community.
Catholic education “is an act of hope and a passion that is renewed because it manifests the promise we see in the future of humanity,” Pope Leo notes. We see the immeasurable value of each student and assist them with growing in the universal call to holiness.
Pope Leo reminds us, “Young people ask for depth; they need spaces for silence, discernment, and dialogue with their conscience and with God.”
Through this contemplation, students understand they are sons and daughters of God, and they build trust in our divided world filled with conflicts and fear. This hope empowers them to engage their whole persons in transforming the world into the kingdom of God.
As we celebrate Catholic Schools Week, we are inspired by Pope Leo to draw new maps of hope as we help young people grow in God’s grace and goodness. †