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METUCHEN — “We gather together dedicated to the mission of teaching,” said Father Timothy A. Christy to the scores of both new and seasoned Catholic school teachers, staff and administrators filling the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi Aug. 30 for the Mass for the Opening of Schools. “The mission of Catholic education is to form students intellectually, spiritually, socially and mentally, the whole child in the context of our faith.”
Father Christy, rector of the Cathedral, presided at the liturgy and gave the homily. Concelebrants were pastors with parochial schools, as well as priests who minister as instructors in Catholic high schools.
Teachers joyfully greeted their counterparts from other schools, seeing some for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 shutdown, and listened intently as Father Christy’s homily served as a rallying cry for the benefits of Catholic education.
“I recall the signs during COVID outside hospitals that said, ‘Heroes Work Here,’” he began. “I would like to have signs outside Catholic schools that say, ‘Heroes Work here,’ for there is no price tag on our mission.”
Father Christy noted the results of a "Wall Street Journal" analysis of Catholic education compiled last fall. The study noted the precipitous drop in enrollment nationwide from about 59 million Catholic schoolchildren in 1968 to 1.9 million in 2019. This has a big impact on society, he said.
“We do not live in a time of faith,” he said. “We have traded our Biblical vision for a secular world view.” Urging the educators to, in the words of St. John, to “work while there is daylight,” Father Christy continued, “This is why you are here today. The mission you signed up for has to be nothing less than the mission of love.”
Recognizing that budgets might not allow the purchase of cutting-edge technology or equipment, he stated, “Catholic education is not so much that we don’t have enough tools, it is about fuels. We have been chosen by God to do this work … We need the supernatural food and strength to do something heroic.”
Despite the secular educational emphasis on cancel culture or a sanitized world view, Father Christy said, “The story we tell is God’s story, the story of creation and sin and redemption and God’s love. Look upon the children that walk into our classrooms, onto our sports fields, our music classes, produce our dramas — look at them as sacred, as God’s gift… if true daylight is waning, live the mission and ask the Holy Spirit for the boldness to be unambiguously Catholic.”
In this time of spiritual warfare, Father Christy advised, “No matter what subject you teach… see how whatever you are teaching touches the mystery and the love of God. Just like with the loaves and fishes, we give what little we have, and He is going to make it enough.”
Just as parents strive to fulfill a school supply list to best prepare their students for school, Father Christy concluded his homily with a list of spiritual goals the new and returning teachers, administrators and staff should attempt to accomplish.
“Love the Church,” the rector implored. “Go to confession, live in the state of grace and go to Mass as often as you can. Pray, lift up your heart in honesty before the God of the Universe. Try to love each other, and give each other the benefit of the doubt.”
Father Christy reminded the group, “It is radically important you are here. We love you, and we can’t do it without you. May the word of God shape and mold us, and may we go forth committed to being a saint.”
