Catholic Schools Week has been celebrated in Ireland for the last five years. This annual event calls on Catholic schools to give expression in a special way to a particular aspect of Catholic education. This theme of Catholic Schools Week 2015 is ‘Catholic Schools: Called to Serve’.

This call to serve comes from Christ himself. Jesus is called ‘teacher’ on forty-six occasions in the Gospels. It is the title most commonly associated with him by his first followers. So what did Jesus teach? In the villages, hills and valleys of Galilee he taught the people that the reign of God was dawning in their midst. He spoke of the reign of God as healing for the sick, hearing for the deaf, new sight for the blind, freedom for prisoners and good news for the poor.

All Christians are called to serve their brothers and sisters. This means helping them to stand up and walk on their own, exorcising their fear of the unknown and expanding their minds through education. It entails feeding them when they are too weak to feed themselves, opening their eyes to the reality of life, challenging them to let go of hurts and prejudice, and liberating those who are unjustly oppressed. It involves introducing them to ever-greater horizons of transcendence and beauty. This is how we continue the healing ministry of Jesus so that ‘the blind see again, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, the good news is proclaimed to the poor’ (Lk 7:22).

Catholic schools are called to serve also. This year’s theme  ‘Catholic Schools: Called to Serve’ lends itself to examine what we understand by service and who it is our schools serve. To this end, Catholic education is called to self-reflect and refresh its mission.

Serve, as a word, is a call to action. As a concept, to serve is an integral element of Jesus’ mission in the Gospels. Education is a platform from which all are called to serve – parents, teachers, students, community and the wider world. In particular, Catholic schools place at the centre of their ethos an identity with the mission of Jesus Christ, who continually calls all who hear his voice to serve.

Resources for Catholic Schools Week 2015

Celebrating Catholic Schools Week in Schools

• Primary School Resource in English  and Irish
• Catholic Schools Week Post Primary Resources – English
• Catholic Schools Week Post Primary Resources IRISH
• Poster for Catholic Schools Week 2015. Click to here download

Celebrating Catholic Schools Week in Parishes:

• Celebrating Catholic Schools Week in Parishes. Click here  to download