Students at Jubilee Mass for Catholic Schools urged to share lessons of Jesus
Over 1,000 students from across the Archdiocese of Newark gathered in the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Sept. 12 to celebrate the Jubilee for Catholic Schools.
Each of the 64 Catholic schools in the Archdiocese was invited to bring 25 representatives to the event marking the Jubilee Year of Hope. Students wearing green, blue, and burgundy school uniforms were accompanied by parents, school leaders, and faculty members.
Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., Archbishop of Newark, presided at the Jubilee Mass. Concelebrants included Auxiliary Bishops Elias R. Lorenzo and Pedro Bismarck Chau, Father Stephen J. Fichter, the Episcopal Vicar of Education, and many pastors whose parishes are enriched by Catholic schools.
Gratitude for the one teacher
“What are we grateful for when we celebrate the Jubilee for Catholic Schools?” Cardinal Tobin asked worshippers in his homily.
Students should be grateful “first and foremost” for their faculty, the cardinal said. “I’m not principally talking about the women and men who will teach you and make sacrifices to be with you, but about the one teacher: Jesus.”
An education centered in Christ teaches students “who we are, where we came from, where we’re going to, and how we can get there together,” Cardinal Tobin said. Catholic schools help students flourish by bringing out the gifts that God has given them. “Jesus will call forth gifts in us that we didn’t even know we had, and he’ll give us what we need, not always what we want.”
A place of community and discovery
Cardinal Tobin also expressed gratitude for the Catholic school community, which he said brings diverse people together and celebrates their gifts and differences. “We look out for each other. We accept each other. We reach out and forgive each other,” he said.
“Thirdly,” the cardinal added, “we give thanks that Catholic schools are places where we learn to travel.”
“I’m talking about the travel inside us,” he explained. That journey happens “inside us” and leads us to discover “the one thing we really need, and that is God and God’s friendship.”
All of the lessons that Jesus teaches in Catholic schools are meant to be shared with the world through service and self-giving, Cardinal Tobin concluded. “The lessons we learn in our schools never really make sense until we give them away.”
At the end of Mass, Fr. Fichter thanked Superintendent of Catholic Schools Barbara Dolan and her staff for organizing the Jubilee celebration. Smiling students later gathered to take group photos in and around the magnificent French Gothic cathedral.
To view more images of the Jubilee for Catholic Schools, click HERE.
Featured image: Catholic school students from across the Archdiocese of Newark attended the Jubilee for Catholic Schools on Sept 12 at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, NJ. (Photo by Shania Mosquera / Archdiocese of Newark)
