There seems something incongruous about the beginning of the fall semester and a mid-August heatwave, but the opening of school is indeed rapidly approaching. Students will be returning to our Catholic high schools and elementary schools this month. During the summer, administrators and teachers have been preparing for their return.
With the retirement of Sister Gloria Cain, SSND, as superintendent of Catholic schools, a search is underway for her replacement. During the interregnum Sister Dawn Achs, SSND and Dr. Ann Poore will serve as interim co-superintendents, while continuing to carry out their regular assignments.
Once again I commend and thank the administrators and teachers for maintaining such a high level of academic excellence in our schools and complement our parents on the sacrifices they are making to provide a value-centered Catholic education for their children. Thankfully, we are able to offer financial assistance to many.
This year our Diocese of Dallas is observing the 125th anniversary of its founding in 1890 by Pope Leo XIII. Our Catholic schools are even older, dating to 1874 and marking 141 years of educational excellence this fall. Today the need for a value-centered Catholic education to reinforce the example and teaching of parents is greater than ever.
Pope Francis, in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, addresses the importance of Catholic education today. “We are living in an information-driven society which bombards us indiscriminately with data – all related as being of equal importance – and which leads to a remarkable superficiality in the area of moral discernment. In response, we need to provide an education which teaches critical thinking and encourages the development of mature moral values.” (EG 64)
Our children deserve no less.
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Image Credit: St. Joseph Academy, Sherman, TX (c. late 1920’s) – St. Joseph Academy in Sherman was established in 1877 by Bishop J. M. Odin, CM, of the Diocese of Galveston and entrusted to the Sisters of St. Mary of Namur. In 1966, the name was changed to St. Mary School when St. Mary Parish purchased it from the sisters. It has been continuous operation for over 100 years. The Sisters of St. Mary continued to staff the school until 1991. Courtesy of Diocese of Dallas Archives
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