CINCINNATI — Catholic school students, their teachers, and their communities throughout the 19-county Archdiocese of Cincinnati are celebrating the 43nd annual Catholic Schools Week Jan. 29 through Feb. 4 under the theme “Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service.”
“Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati have been living up to the motto of Catholic Schools Week for almost two hundred years – forming students in the faith and educating them for a life of loving service to the community,” said Susan M. Gibbons, superintendent of Catholic Schools and Director of Educational Services for the Archdiocese.
“As we celebrate that this year, we are pleased that the Archdiocese will be able to provide $2 million in needs-based K-12 tuition help for the 2017-18 academic year. The funds were made available from the Archdiocese’s successful One Faith, One Hope, One Love capital campaign. Applications are being accepted now at www.catholicbestchoice.org.”
On the first school day of Catholic Schools Week, Monday, Jan. 30, the Most Rev. Dennis M. Schnurr, Archbishop of Cincinnati, will speak with Catholic high school students across the Archdiocese via videoconference. The Archbishop will convey his gratitude for Catholic schools and answer student questions through a live-streamed webcast from Archbishop McNicholas High School in Mount Washington, beginning at 9:30 a.m.
More than 1,000 representatives from Greater Cincinnati Catholic schools will participate on Tuesday, Jan. 31, as Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Binzer presides at a special 10 a.m. Catholic Schools Week Mass at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains, downtown Cincinnati. A procession of students carrying school banners will begin at 9:40 a.m. Archbishop Schnurr will preside at a Mass for students from Dayton and the Northern Region at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1, at St. Peter Church in Huber Heights, with a procession at 9:40 a.m.
The 111 Catholic elementary and high schools in the Archdiocese will mark the week with special programs, such as open houses for parents and grandparents, out-of-uniform days, service projects, Masses, talent shows, special decorations, student-faculty games and entertainment.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati is the 38th largest Catholic diocese in the country, with almost 500,000 Catholics, and has the sixth largest Catholic school system in terms of enrollment with more than 40,000 students.
