This week we are showcasing Saint Benedict’s Catholic School as we celebrate Catholic Schools Week. An integral ministry of our parish, the school has been a mainstay here since its founding in 1962. With a current enrollment of 397 students in grades PreK-4 to 8, our students and their families stand as an integral component of the entire life of the parish. Certainly all families of the parish, regardless of their constituent make-up, where they work, or where they attend school, are essential to our life as the Body of Christ and the People of God. Yet, in a unique way, the Catholic School is an aspect of the ministry of this parish and, sadly, a diminishing number of parishes in our diocese.
We need to do all that we can to insure that our school remains vibrant. We need to do all we can to make sure that a Catholic education is available to any student who desires it, knowing that we all have to make a sacrifice in order for that to happen. We need to do all that we can to make sure that our school has the resources it needs to provide a well-rounded, academically rigorous, and faith-filled education for the students within its walls.
It is not easy – then no aspect of faithful discipleship is supposed to be easy. Yet, we have wonderful resources. Our principal, Kevin Donahue, is in his second year here and we can feel the difference. His compassion for the students, his attentiveness to educational priorities, his commitment to Catholic values and principles, and his care for his faculty and staff, is keenly in evidence each and every day. We have excellent teachers, and I am happy to say that we have a stable faculty. Yes, people retire and occasionally someone makes a career move, but we have a faculty that sees little turnover on a year-to-year basis.
We are always working on improving our programs and our facilities. The Outdoor Learning Center is almost complete, and will be up and running in the Spring. You will be hearing about expanded summer programs – open to all students of the parish and not just current students of the school – that will be of service to the entire community.
It is important to me as pastor to think of St. Benedict as a partner in the communities of Holmdel, Hazlet, Aberdeen, and Matawan. We live here, and yes, some of our parishioners and students live elsewhere – Marlboro, Freehold, Old Bridge, South Amboy, and Jackson, just to name a few – and we need to be known to and integral to those communities. Likewise, we are a school for children who desire a Catholic education and our school must be of service to the parish as a whole, and integrated within those communities we serve.
It is also a great testimony to our school and our parish that so many of our older children attend the Catholic high schools that serve our area and beyond.
I am on the search committee for a new superintendent of schools for the diocese. Mrs. Tier is retiring on June 30th. We have interviewed some absolutely amazing men and women from around the country who are seeking this position. While their qualifications are amazing, most important is their commitment to Catholic schools, and their personal exercise of their Catholic faith.
As we celebrate Catholic schools week, please take the time to visit with our representative students and faculty. If you are a parent or a grandparent and you have wondered about our school, please give us a look. We are here. We are ready to meet you. We are open to the conversation about how we can make Catholic education at SBS work for you and your family.