Diocesan Catholic Schools Family Celebrates New Year

More than 450 administrators, teachers and staff from the Diocese of Evansville’s 28 Catholic schools traveled to Resurrection Parish on Aug. 4 for a true family gathering.

Maybe that should be families’ gathering.

“The theme for the Catholic school year here is ‘A Family of Families’ … ‘Una Familia de Familias’ … and we have all sorts of families,” Bishop Thompson said. “The presbyterate – all of our priests – is a family. Clerics – our priests and deacons – represent a family.”

“Our parishes are families,” he continued, “and our schools are families. And all these families make up one family – the Church; and a greater family – the family of God.”

The bishop noted that every family is called to be holy, and he talked about the Holy Family. “Without Christ at the center, He, Mary and Joseph would not be the Holy Family. And since all families are called to be holy, Christ must be at our center.”

He discussed the Mass’ first reading, in which the prophet Jeremiah calls out a false prophet (Jeremiah 28: 1-17). “Families today are dealing with a lot of false prophecies, Bishop Thompson said. “We must be Christ-centered to see all of them.”

He then talked about the gospel – Matthew 14:22-36 – in which Jesus walks on water. “Peter, as you know, got out of the boat. He began to sink when he took his focus off Jesus because of the wind distracting him.

“What are the winds in our lives?” Bishop Thompson asked. “Peter, in that moment, had the clarity of mind to cry out, ‘Jesus, save me.’ The hand of Jesus is there for all of us.”

“In our Catholic schools, we are forming young minds and bodies and hearts to be good citizens and good Christians,” he said. “Our goal is the kingdom of God and the salvation of souls; and everything else pales in comparison to that.”

Bishop Thompson talked about ongoing work on a Diocesan Pastoral Plan. “Part of that Pastoral Plan for me is Catholic identity,” he explained. “One of the areas I’m looking at is our Catholic schools. I want us all to take a good look at our Catholic identity.”

He said that our Catholic education has to be about Christ-centered living. “If we take our eyes off Him at any moment, at any time of the year, we start letting the winds of change, the winds of fear, the winds of anxiety and the false prophets take us down.’

We gather here today to celebrate Christ’s presence within us and among us,” Bishop Thompson added. “We are indeed a family. We are indeed capable of holiness – not by our merits but by the grace of God at work through Christ in word and sacrament in allowing us to live out that grace in service.

“It is our mission,” he said, “it is our calling, and it should be our joy.”

During the Mass, Bishop Thompson also noted that Aug. 4 is the Feast Day of St. John Vianney, patron saint of priests. He welcomed 23 priests from across the diocese who concelebrated the Back to School Mass with him.

Following Mass, Diocesan Superintendent of Schools Daryl Hagan and Assistant Superintendents Michelle Priar and Gwen Godsey joined Bishop Thompson in recognizing a number of teachers who celebrated anniversaries this year from 20 through 45 years of service to Catholic schools across the diocese.