It’s that time of year – early August – when one can sense a reawakening as you drive by school buildings. Windows are being opened, lights are going on, and movement can be seen in once quiet classrooms.

In my day, as you walked by a Catholic school building at this time of year you could catch the scent of Murphy’s Oil Soap wafting through the open windows.



All photos submitted by Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Detroit.

Across the Archdiocese of Detroit, school administrators and teachers are dusting off desktops and bookshelves. Textbooks are being unpacked, organized, and prepared for distribution.

This early August ritual has been repeated for more than 175 years, going back to when Fr. Gabriel Richard served as pastor at historic St. Anne de Detroit Parish and founded the first Catholic schools in the area.

Every August since that time, Catholic schools throughout our Archdiocese have begun anew their mission of education and faith formation for the youth of our Archdiocese.

As I reflect on this annual ritual, I marvel and ask myself a question: Why do so many families in this archdiocese make Catholic education a priority, especially now in the midst of widespread economic struggle?

Despite hard times faced by so many of our families, student enrollment last year experienced only a modest drop – a  6 percent decrease in elementary schools and a 2 percent decline in our high schools. We could have expected to be harder hit.

Why weren’t we?

I believe the reason why parents today continue to sacrifice to send their children to Catholic schools, as parents did 175 years ago, is that they are seeking a quality education that is first and foremost grounded in Catholic tradition and doctrine.

Quality education has always been a hallmark of Catholic schools.

We are proud that all of our schools in the archdiocese currently meet the rigorous standards for accreditation by the Michigan Nonpublic School Accrediting Association (MNSAA), Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS), the North Central Association (NCA), and other accrediting bodies.

But equally important is the mission that Archbishop Allen Vigneron has charged to every Catholic school: “To Share Christ in and Through the Church.”

As Catholic school educators, we embrace this mission and partner with parents and guardians to make it a reality.

In a just a few weeks the spruced-up school buildings will again be filled with the sounds of children praying, playing, and learning.

Another school year will officially begin, and with God’s blessing, the dedicated hard work of parents, teachers, and administrators, and the prayerful support of the Church of Detroit, our schools will, in the words of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops, once again “afford the fullest and best opportunity to realize the fourfold purpose of  Christian education, namely to provide an atmosphere in which the Gospel message is proclaimed, community in Christ is experienced, service to our sisters and brothers is the norm, and thanksgiving and worship of our God is cultivated.”