As we prepare for Catholic Schools Week, I find myself a little nostalgic about what my mom and dad did for all 13 of their children through the gift of a Catholic education and the immeasurable impact it has had on all of us. Many of us even stayed involved in Catholic education over the years.
I crunched some numbers before writing this column, and even I was blown away. The Enzler kids attended Our Lady of Lourdes School in Bethesda for 112 years! (My older sisters went to kindergarten at Bethesda Elementary.) We all went to Catholic high schools – St. John’s for the boys, Holy Cross, Ursuline and Immaculata for the girls – so there’s 52 more years.
All of us went to Catholic colleges, so that’s 52 more years. And then, several of us earned advanced degrees, mostly at Catholic colleges.
That adds up to an astounding 216 years – more than two centuries! – of Catholic education that our parents made possible for us through their sacrifices and their desire to form us in the faith.
I remember asking Dad one time how much our family gave to the Church on Sundays. He didn’t give me a specific number, saying that we did the best we could, but that he and Mom wanted to make sure that all their kids received the gift of a Catholic education. I have no idea what all those years cost, but it must be substantial.
I know they would say it was worth it. I’m convinced that gift is one of the main reasons all of us have continued to live and share our faith. To the best of my knowledge, all my siblings still practice their faith regularly and do their very best to attend Mass every Sunday.
To be honest, it’s a little surprising given that there are 13 of us and that many families struggle with their children stepping back from participation and attending Mass once they finish grade school or high school. We consider ourselves truly blessed.
This particular year, I am also thinking about education because I will be the chaplain at St. John’s College High School, my alma mater, at the beginning of the next school year. At that point, I will have retired from my full-time role as president and CEO of Catholic Charities. When I was a pastor, I always taught several hours a week in our parish school, and I absolutely loved it. I look forward to spending time with the young men and women at St. John’s.
Several of my siblings also taught in Catholic schools. My youngest sister, Brenda, taught for many years at Our Lady of Lourdes, Georgetown Visitation, Our Lady of Mercy and most recently at Stone Ridge. She has been a superb math teacher and great gift to her students, many of them young women at all-girl schools. She has decided to retire at the end of this year as a full-time teacher and chair of the middle school math department, but she loves tutoring and will likely continue to educate students that way.
Her husband, Frank, has also been a teacher for decades and is currently the principal of St. Bartholomew’s in Bethesda, where I am in residence. While I didn’t hire him, I am thrilled he is here. He is an outstanding principal with a passion for teaching, leading and guiding young people. He has also been a great coach at St. Jude’s School and St. John’s High School through the years. Frank is joining Brenda and taking a well-earned retirement this summer.
Two of my other sisters also taught for many years – Carol at Georgetown Visitation and Eileen in Davenport, Iowa. My brother Tom taught for a few years when he was finishing college before starting his career in business.
The pandemic made education difficult for all schools, but I think our local Catholic schools distinguished themselves in all they were able to accomplish under trying circumstances. Many families turned to Catholic schools when the public schools were not fully back in session, and many of those decided to stay.
We have a great product. We do a spectacular job of leading and guiding, not just in the “three Rs” but also in morals, values and character. It’s a great gift to be able to bring religion into everyday situations, to make it part of the culture.
After the horrific terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, I thought about what it would be like to be a teacher in a public school. You couldn’t talk about God or faith as a source of comfort and healing for those who died, and the grieving families left behind. In the Catholic schools, it was very much a part of what we said and did, helping young people to deal with the pain as some buried their loved ones while all of us struggled with the idea that others would so brutally attack innocent people here in our own land.
As you can tell, I am a huge believer in the value of a Catholic education. As I look back over my life, I feel particularly blessed with the gift of my parents and family, but the second biggest blessing in my life was the opportunity to go to Catholic schools for 20 years (including seminary).
I know it is an expensive commitment, and I am grateful to parents, teachers, the archdiocese, parishes and schools that provide funds for tuition assistance to help those who otherwise might not be able to make the commitment. In my experience, those who do make the commitment find their children and their families blessed in ways that are beyond our ability to describe. Our faith is a part of everyday life for those students, laying the foundation we hope lasts their whole lives.
I pray that current and future generations experience the same gift that my family gave to us kids, a gift that has continued into adulthood and spread to others. I try to “pay it forward” through my own teaching, through helping others send their kids to Catholic schools, and by serving on the boards of various Catholic high schools and colleges.
I hope you’ll join me in taking a moment to thank God for the many blessings of Catholic education and consider how we can make that gift available to as many as possible now and in the future.
(Msgr. John Enzler, the president and CEO of Catholic Charities of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, writes the “Faith in Action” column for the archdiocese’s Catholic Standard newspaper and website and for the archdiocese’s Spanish-language El Pregonero newspaper and website.)
