Next week, Jan. 31 through Feb. 6, we celebrate our annual Catholic Schools Week. The theme this year for that celebration is, very appropriately, “Catholic Schools – Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service.”

It is worthwhile that we stop to focus on this element of the life, faith and evangelization carried out by the Catholic Church in our country.

For the Diocese of Rockford, this week is important because we can boast of our 40 parish schools and six diocesan high schools. Additionally, the Dominican Sisters of Springfield established Rosary High School in Aurora and the Benedictine monks sponsor Marmion Academy.

All told, in this diocese our Catholic schools are home to 12,955 students from pre-kindergarten to senior high school. We have 1,085 teachers in our Catholic school system along with the contributions of administrators, service personnel and the dedicated staff in the diocesan Education Office.

But of course our celebration is not simply local. Nationwide, there are 6,568 Catholic schools, comprised of 5,368 elementary schools and 1,200 Catholic high schools.

We can be proud of the success story of Catholic education. With a favorable national teacher student ratio of 13 to 1, the graduation rate from our Catholic high schools is 99 percent. The percentage of our graduates who go on to college studies is nearly 86 percent.

Did you know as well that, based on the per student cost for each child in public education, the savings to our governmental educational expenditures from Catholic education comes to $24 billion dollars each year?

These, of course, are numbers to be proud of from a purely educational standpoint. But our Catholic schools are much more.

It is the distinctiveness of our Catholic education that it cultivates in our young people a view of life and the world that flows from the truth lived through our Catholic faith.

In a time when our increasingly secular society is losing its way, our young people are exposed to challenges and temptations as never before. Catholic schools help them to grow in and understand their Catholic identity and God’s plan for them and for their families.

If you have a chance, please make an appointment to come and visit one of our Catholic schools. Please do so especially if you have children and have a decision to make about where to enroll them. That visit will show the values of faith and formation that are the hallmark of Catholic schools.

First and foremost, you will see that our schools are characterized by prayer. That prayer is based in the conviction that only if we are constantly and personally turning to God in our thoughts and words will we open hearts to Him and to the fullness of faith. Catholic schools teach our children to pray.

Blended with the academic excellence is also the sacramental life. Our students are taught to go to meet Christ in the Mass. And they are formed to see that outside of school, each Sunday, Mass is an integral part of who and what we are as Catholics. They are regularly given practice and opportunity for the sacrament of confession, setting up that healthy lifetime practice of seeking Christ’s forgiveness.

There is also the intangible value of all of our subjects — math, science, music, you name it — being taught in the context of faith. At every moment, our students are taught that the goal is to get to heaven and to transform this world according to the mind and heart of Christ. Be it on the volleyball court or in the school play, we teach our students that they are to live like Christ.

Catholic schools have long been a source of life-long connections in the context of faith. How many have found the consolation and support in life and in faith of classmates and friends found during time spent together in elementary or high school?

In addition, the vocation to marriage among believing classmates, and especially vocations to the priesthood are understandable outcomes from years of shared study and faith.

It is true that these desirable results from Catholic education come at a cost. That is and always has been the generosity in contributions of finances, expertise and the self-giving of teachers and staff. It calls for the engagement of the families of Catholic students. It is no secret that parishes often sacrifice greatly to found or operate the parish school.

In this Catholic Schools Week, I ask for your prayers. This is first and foremost a spiritual endeavor. But I ask too for your personal and financial help for our schools.

They have stood the test of time. They have given me the knowledge and faith that has opened the door for eternal life with Christ. Our Catholic schools are worthy of this week of celebration. They are worthy of our support.