To Teach as Jesus Did:

Catholic Education in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee

DJanuary 11, 2017ate goes here

February 16, 2017

“Lent in Our Catholic Schools”
 

Soon the beautiful season of Lent, the Church’s annual opportunity for retreat, repentance, and renewal, will be upon us.  Soon we’ll begin the journey of 40 days of “regular time” during which we’re called to reflect on our lives and develop new ways of thinking and acting that are consistent with the Gospel.  In short, as we will hear on Ash Wednesday, we’ll soon be entering the time for us all to turn back to God. 

I urge all school communities to plan carefully for Lent 2017.  Each school is challenged to consider a school-wide theme, based on Scripture, and to implement specific practices based on the three primary Lenten themes of prayer, almsgiving, and fasting.  Examples of each may include:

• Prayer:  daily opportunities for silence, prayer, and reflection; a focus on the Sunday readings; Stations of the Cross; the Sacrament of Reconciliation; Scripture study; spiritual reading.

• Almsgiving:  service projects that immerse us in a culture not our own; outreach to the disabled, the grieving, and those who struggle; visits to the sick and the elderly.

• Fasting:  forms of self-denial that call us to remember how abundantly we’ve been blessed; abstaining from words, thoughts, or actions that may hurt others and counteract peace.

For our archdiocesan Catholic school Lenten reflections this year, sent each morning to all principals and ideally also forwarded to teachers and staff, I’ve chosen to use the theme of this year’s Catholic Stewardship Appeal, “We Are One,” and call us each day to remember and reach out to groups in our Catholic school communities—and beyond—who are in special need of our prayer, our attention, and our love.
 

I wish each of you a most blessed and fruitful Lenten season. 
 

Kathleen A. Cepelka, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Catholic Schools