CDSBEO Celebrates Board-wide Mass for Catholic Education Week 2019
Students and staff across the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario marked the beginning of Catholic Education Week through the celebration of the annual Board-wide Mass, held on Monday, May 6 at Holy Cross Church in Kemptville.
Representatives from every school in the Board participated in the celebration, along with parish priests, trustees and administration. The Mass was presided by Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, of the Ottawa Archdiocese, with clergy from various parishes around the Board as concelebrants. The student choir from St. Francis Xavier Catholic High School provided music for the mass, and each school received a glass heart, which is a symbol of both the Board theme, Be Holy – Joy springs from a loving heart! and the theme for Catholic Education Week 2019, Living as Joyful Disciples.
Catholic Education Week 2019 draws from previous literature on Ontario Catholic education which speaks of the unique mission of Catholic education in Ontario. Archbishop Prendergast reminded parishioners about the mission of St. Fraçois de Laval, the first Bishop of New France, whose feast day is May 6.
“In all of François de Laval’s activities, he put into practice the good advice that St. Paul gave to Timothy in today’s first reading, speaking to him about encouragement, patience and teaching, and evangelizing, and pursuing sound doctrine. All of these are essential to strong Catholic education – teaching, evangelizing, and sound doctrine,” noted Archbishop Prendergast. “Your challenge is to live as the saints of old did – yearning for holiness or fullness, what Matthew Kelly calls the best version of myself. That’s what holiness means, to be the best version of yourself.”
The week long promotion is the culmination of several months of school activities, social justice initiatives, prayers and reflections designed to help students deepen their awareness and understanding of their calling to serve others with compassion, humanity and joy. Catholic Education Week is marked by many open houses and special school activities that take place during the week-long event, which celebrates the distinctiveness of Catholic education. For a complete listing of Catholic Education Week 2019 events in CDSBEO schools, please visit: http://bit.ly/CathEdWeek2019
