Students celebrate Catholic Schools Week on Capitol Hill

Washington D.C., Jan 31, 2007 / 09:13 am

As the nation’s nearly 8,000 Catholic school students celebrate Catholic Schools Week a small delegation is visiting the U.S. Capitol to spread the “good news” about Catholic Education.

“Catholic Schools do good work all year around. But during this week we want to focus everyone’s attention on the fact that Catholic schools are good news,” said Karen Ristau, President of the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA). “In addition to learning reading, writing and arithmetic, students also learn responsibility—and how to become persons of character and integrity.”

A delegation of more than 150 Catholic school students, teachers and parents visited Capitol Hill today to mark National Appreciation Day for Catholic Schools and to meet with congressional leaders to showcase the great accomplishments and contributions of Catholic schools.

The delegation will hand-deliver letters from chief administrators of Catholic education to their representatives and a background package on Catholic schools to every congressional office.

Schools in other parts of the country are encouraged to carry their message of good news to local and state officials.

“High achievement rates, high retention rates, high moral values and high student and parent satisfaction are the distinctive marks of a Catholic school,” said Fr. William Davis of the USCCB. “That’s the good news and we want to share it.”
 
Catholic Schools Week is organized by the National Marketing Campaign for Catholic Schools, a joint project of the NCEA and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. This year’s theme is “Catholic Schools: the Good News in Education.”