Up! Up! Up! As we begin Catholic Schools Week 2024, the Diocese of Lansing can reveal that enrollment at Catholic schools across diocese has grown for the third year in a row. Deo gratias!
In total, Diocese of Lansing schools have witnessed a 10% increase in student numbers since 2020 with our 36 schools now educating over 8,400 children.
But why are Catholic schools proving so popular with families? That's the question Tom Maloney, Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Lansing, now attempts to answer. Tom writes:
“In my many years working in education, such sustained growth in the Catholic school sector is unprecedented. But why is it happening? I firmly believe that more and more families like what they see in our Catholic schools. In fact, I think they love our aspiration to form young people in knowledge, wisdom, and virtue so that they become happy and holy adults who can fulfill their God-given potential in this life and attain heaven in the next. Put simply: parents want the best for their children. They want them to become both saints and scholars. That’s exactly what our schools exist to achieve. So, let’s look at both those goals.”
“Saints. From the moment your child walks into a Catholic school, they are taking one step closer to God. The God who loved them into existence. The God who became man for them. The God who now calls them daily to grow in holiness and happiness in relationship with Him. To paraphrase the late Pope Benedict XVI: We are not made for comfort or mediocrity. We are made for greatness. We are made to be saints.”
“Scholars. Our schools also want to help children be the best student possible. Learning within our Catholic schools is rooted in the traditional understanding that faith, reason and science coexist in harmony, one with the other. Each emanates from God. Each reveals something of God. Each leads us towards God. That’s the reason why a Catholic school pursues both rigor and excellence in all academic disciplines.”
“A Catholic school in the Diocese of Lansing is also a safe and happy environment where a child is allowed to be, well, a child. Our parents know they have our guarantee that those contemporary ideologies that seek to confuse and corrupt children won’t get beyond the classroom door.”
“It’s also a safe haven for the parent. We recognize and respect that they are the primary educator of their children and we will never usurp mothers and fathers in that unique responsibility.”
“Thank you to growing number of families who are choosing a Catholic education.”
“Thank you to the administrators and teachers who work so unstintingly for the love of God and the children in their care.
“Thank you to Almighty God for the many blessings he bestows each day upon our schools since the foundation of the Diocese of Lansing in 1937.”
“With the help of divine grace, we look forward to raising new generations of saints and scholars in the decades to come. Have a great Catholic Schools Week!”
* To know more about Catholic schools in the Diocese of Lansing: https://dolcatholicschools.org/