CDSBEO Celebrates Catholic Education Week

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 7, 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 of the Ottawa Archdiocese, with clergy from various parishes around the Board as concelebrants. The student choir from St. Mary Catholic High School provided music for the mass, and each school received a lectern cover embellished with the logo for Catholic Education Week 2018 – Renewing the Promise.

Catholic Education Week 2018 draws from previous literature on Ontario Catholic education which speak of the unique mission of Catholic education in Ontario. Archbishop Prendergast reminded parishioners that each of us have ways of becoming in touch with Jesus.

“Jesus said ‘I am the vine, you are the the branches. Apart from me, you do nothing, but connected with me, growing your life from me, drawing the sap from me, you can do all things. You can bear abundant fruit.’ That is the fruit that we expect from Catholic education. Transforming the lives of our young people, transforming the lives of our parents and teachers,” explained Archbishop Prendergast in his homily. “If we are intimately connected with Jesus, we bear fruit.”

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.