I am honored to have been asked to speak on a topic I believe wholeheartedly in: the value of a Catholic School education.
I still recall two lessons I leaned in first grade from the Baltimore Catechism. Some of you are old enough to also recall these.
Who made me? God made me.
Why did God make you? God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.
We often hear that young people today are lacking direction, that there are too many lifestyle options presented to them, and that everything is "OK." Well, these two first directives from the Baltimore Catechism gave a definite purpose and direction to my life, and I learned them at St. Bridget of Sweden Catholic School in Van Nuys.
After St. Bridget of Sweden, I attended Chaminade College Preparatory High School in Chatsworth, and then in West Hills. Chaminade is a private, Catholic middle and high school founded in the Marianist Catholic tradition, named after Blessed Father Chaminade, a French priest.
In both these schools, I received what I consider outstanding academic and spiritual formation. The teachers challenged me to think critically, to reflect, to consider what is known as fact in this world from the perspective that we are all on a journey together to the next. I received a very solid repertoire of knowledge-based and interpersonal skills that prepared me for success on the university level and for further post-graduate education.
So much so, that I have been teaching in Catholic School education for 26 years at present (including seven years here at St. John of God School). My husband Tom and I chose Catholic school education for our own children.
Attending St. John of God School and St. Paul High School have prepared Joseph and Albert exceptionally well for the academic and social pressures of university life. I firmly believe it is because that same foundation I was given 40 years ago was also extended to them by the well-qualified, hard-working teachers and staff of these schools.
Within this foundation are particular values that must be modeled and experienced, not simply taught in a textbook. Catholic schools support family life in acknowledging the family as the Domestic Church. The values my husband and I uphold and want as part of our family life were therefore strengthened in the classroom, values of service to the larger community, the inherent dignity of every person, our interdependence upon one another, the importance of the variety of talents and gifts in our human community, and the intrinsic value of life from the womb to the tomb. And these values were affirmed in an atmosphere where other adults, families, and young people were journeying and learning together.
I know there are many parents who are concerned about the dangerous social and moral pressures of the day, and have chosen to home-school their children. While I applaud them for their sacrifice, I have to say that as a parent of teenagers, it was especially beneficial to my credibility as a parent to have other adults repeating the same moral messages I was touting at home.
In other words, if enough seeds are thrown from different directions, it is more likely they will take hold and there are better odds some will withstand the choking weeds and winds of our day.
My parents sacrificed like so many others, to pay the tuition for Catholic school. Dad was a meatcutter with his own business. I have memories of opening the store with him at 6:30 am, and then traveling to school. After school, he would pick me up sometimes in his meat apron. Once, a friend commented, "Oh my gosh - did your Dad just leave his surgery to pick you up from school?"
But that is a case in point. In my Catholic high school, it didn't matter that my family did not have as much money as some others. Catholic schools operate from the view that Jesus instituted: All are welcome, all are children of God. My sons were lucky enough to experience this, as I wish all children could.
Many of you have seen the popular t-shirt: "I survived Catholic school."
I wonder how many around the world could rightly wear a t-shirt reading, "I survived because of Catholic school!" I propose that many, many could.
I owe my own education, that of our sons, and for 26 years, my personal livelihood to Catholic education. And I believe it helps our children do more than survive: it helps them live life to the fullest.
Thank you for all you do to support Catholic education. Anna Dickan is Religion Department chair and teacher at St. Paul High School in Santa Fe Springs and music minister at St. John of God Church in Norwalk, where she offered this reflection after Mass last weekend.
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