Catholic Schools Week will be celebrated this year from Jan. 30 to Feb. 5, 2022. Traditionally, schools celebrate Catholic education with a week of Masses, open houses, assemblies and special activities; however, with the ongoing pandemic and required safety protocols, some schools may modify their in-person events at Catholic schools.
The National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA), one of the sponsors of the annual event, noted that “COVID-19 has made it a challenge to get … schools noticed during Catholic Schools Week.” It said “the easiest ways to stay safe and still get noticed is to make good use of social media … and short videos, photos and animated clips.”
Since 1974, National Catholic Schools Week has been the annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States, sponsored by the NCEA and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Catholic Education. The week is set aside to focus on the good work being accomplished in Catholic schools nationwide and in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
The theme for Catholic Schools Week this year is “Catholic Schools: Faith. Excellence. Service.” The theme was chosen last year, and will continue to be the Catholic Schools Week theme until 2024.
“Catholic schools have a specific purpose to form students to be good citizens of the world, love God and neighbor and enrich society with the leaven of the Gospel and by example of faith,” the NCEA said in a statement explaining the theme. “Catholic schools instill in students their destiny to become saints. Academic excellence is the hallmark of Catholic education (and) … service is fundamental to Catholic education and the core of Catholic discipleship.”
Catholic schools in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington will join their counterparts throughout the country in celebrating National Catholic Schools Week.
Catholics in every parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington help support Catholic schools and to make a Catholic education more affordable and accessible for families. Since 2009, the archdiocese has followed a strategy that has strengthened and sustained Catholic schools with the establishment of regional schools involving several sponsoring parishes.
In the last school year, a combined total of more than 24,000 students from diverse backgrounds attend classes at 91 archdiocesan and independent Catholic pre-kindergarten through high schools located in the Archdiocese of Washington. The archdiocese’s Catholic schools are located in Washington, D.C., and five Maryland counties: Calvert, Charles, Montgomery, Prince George’s and St. Mary’s.
Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Washington award more than $6 million in tuition assistance each year. Of Catholic high school students in the archdiocese, 99 percent graduate and 97 percent of graduates go on to college.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington has a special web page about local Catholic schools that includes information on open houses at Catholic elementary schools in the archdiocese.
