When my sister was a new mother and learning how to be the best Mom and the best employee, she was given one piece of advice that she didn’t forget. She was told that though popular opinion is that it is more important to be at home when your kids are young (if you are fortunate enough to be able to have a choice), most experts on raising children will tell you the high school years are the most critical. Why? It’s when our kids are beginning to have more freedom, when they are spending more time with friends and when they are beginning to really think seriously about how they want to “shape” their personalities. It is then that parents need to be really attentive to what is going on in their child’s world. What Mom or Dad doesn’t talk about how much they learn driving their kids around and listening to their kids’ conversations when the kids forget that the chauffer might be listening!
Given what our kids confront in high school, who wouldn’t want the best possible school environment. Catholic High Schools offer a great environment and the gift of faith. Our Catholic schools are steeped in the great tradition of Catholic education that is at the heart of the Church’s mission. Just a year age, Pope Benedict XVI spoke to American Catholic Educators at Catholic University and said:
God’s revelation offers every generation the opportunity to discover the ultimate truth about its own life and the goal of history. This task is never easy; it involves the entire Christian community and motivates each generation of Christian educators to ensure that the power of God’s truth permeates every dimension of the institutions they serve. In this way, Christ’s Good News is set to work, guiding both teacher and student towards the objective truth which…points to the universal and absolute that enables us to proclaim with confidence the hope which does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5). Set against personal struggles, moral confusion and fragmentation of knowledge, the noble goals of scholarship and education, founded on the unity of truth and in service of the person and the community, become an especially powerful instrument of hope.
If you are thinking about the value of Catholic education and are wondering what sets our Catholic High Schools apart, please plan to come to one of our school fairs to learn more and to see how faith, hope and love come alive in our schools.
2009 Regional Catholic High School Fairs:
Wednesday, April 22, 2009, 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
Marriott Bethesda North Hotel & Conference Center
5701 Marinelli Road, North Bethesda, MD 20852
(White Flint Metro; use Executive Boulevard entrance for complimentary parking)
- Thursday, April 30, 2009, 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
Marriott Greenbelt
6400 Ivy Lane, Greenbelt, MD 20770
(Greenbelt Metro; Beltway Exit 23-Kenilworth Avenue, left onto Ivy Lane; complimentary parking) - Sunday, May 3, 2009, 2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.
Trinity University’s Main Hall
125 Michigan Avenue, NE, Washington, DC
(Brookland-CUA Metro; complimentary parking on-site)
For more information go to www.adw.org/education