1/24/25 - Friday Forget-Me-Nots by Jim Silcott

Photo Caption: Sub Sale open until 2/1/25

Dear Our Lady of Peace Family,

There was a time, long ago now, when it was pretty simple if you were a Catholic and considering your educational options. If there was a Catholic school in your parish you went there. It didn’t matter if your parents didn’t like the pastor or the principal or the sports program or any of the other things people take into account nowadays. Your parish, the one that geographically aligned with where you lived, was the center of your universe. The parish school was the center of the universe for your kids. 

Thanks to dedicated Sisters who worked for little more than board and lodging, tuition was inexpensive, and if you couldn’t even afford that small amount, your pastor would allow you to make arrangements. Perhaps you could mow the grass or help in the cafeteria. When your kids were older they could help around the school or parish as well. The cost per student was very low because they would put thirty, forty or even more students in the classroom in straight rows of desks with one teacher, a sister, who had to have eyes in the back of her head. 

Now there are more parishes without schools than with them. The Sisters are few and far between in our classrooms (although we are blessed with Sister Sheena and Sister Meritta!). Where there are choices of which Catholic school to attend, parents very much scrutinize everything about the program, the faculty, the principal, the pastor as is their right. If they are dissatisfied, they can go somewhere else, and they do. 

Tuition has risen astronomically. Teachers need to be paid a living wage. We are lucky in Ohio to have EdChoice and Emmaus Road, but for some tuition is still unaffordable. 

As we celebrate Catholic Schools Week later this month (see above) we look back on what was the golden age of our schools with nostalgia and fondness. Certainly, there was much to be proud of back then. Our schools in 2025 are very different. But there is much to be proud of today as well. 

But whether our students are being taught in straight rows by Sisters in habits or in Mrs. McGee’s “flexible seating” arrangements in fifth grade, the core of our schools has been and must continue to be centered around Jesus Christ and His Church. It is not enough to teach the Catholic faith and the Gospel values. It is not enough just to have our students attend Mass on Fridays, receive first penance and first communion in second grade, and confirmation in eighth. We must, all of us, parents, teachers, staff, priests and religious, demonstrate the beauty and miracle of having Christ in our midst in prayer, in discussion, and, most importantly in the act of transubstantiation that occurs during the Mass where we truly gave God, in the form of Eucharist. 

In addition, in our daily interactions with one another we must treat all whom we meet with the dignity of each having Jesus Christ within. Let Our Lady of Peace and every Catholic School be a beacon of light and hope for all and let us share the good news that Christ is living within us and among us! 

Jim Silcott