Catholic Schools Week 2026

Pope Leo, building on the teaching of Pope Francis, recently issued the apostolic exhortation, “Dilexi Te (“I have loved you”): To All Christians on Love for the Poor.” In that document, he makes his own the desire that the Catholic Church should be a “church of the poor for the poor” and identifies care of the poor in the name of Christ as the essential mission of the Church. He also firmly roots educational opportunity as one of those essential missionary works of the Church.

Pope Leo recalls Pope Francis’ teaching that education is a high expression of Christian charity. “Yours is a mission full of obstacles as well as joys…,” he quotes his predecessor as saying to educators, “A mission of love, because you cannot teach without loving.” This is the mission and goal of our Catholic schools, to express the love of Christ Jesus that finds a place in our own hearts, confident in the belief that knowledge of God and the world is the path to freedom, dignity, human progress, and even salvation in the truth. When we provide education that arises from charity and centers on the development of charity, we do the work of restoring justice and promote the faith.

On this Catholic Schools Week, I want to especially thank those who sacrifice for this work of charity, justice and faith-development. This includes, in a special way, our teachers, administrators and employees who work sacrificially to be able to promote education in a faith context. This also includes the many families and volunteers who offer their time, talent and treasure to promote Catholic education for the love of their young people and their neighbor.

There are two other groups that I should mention. First, our Catholic parishes and parishioners who make extraordinary sacrifices for the love of young people and confidence in education to promote well-being and faith. It is not unusual for our parishes to dedicate 40-percent of their parish collections or more to the maintenance of these laboratories for charity. Increasingly, there is a group of donors, including our Diocesan and Parish Annual Appeal donors, who contribute to scholarship funds to assist the families of students with financial assistance to assure that the labor of love that is Catholic education reaches as many young people as possible.

Here’s a particular example. A group of parents brought to my attention a desire to assist our Catholic schools to serve more people with disabilities. They gathered, created a Northern Kentucky affiliate of the Fire Foundation; a Catholic Foundation that promotes Catholic education for people of all abilities. Recently, they have offered to fund a part-time Inclusive Education Coordinator who will assist our Diocese’s schools to include more students of varied ability. They are also assisting in training faculty and staff and are beginning a grant process to promote inclusion in our schools. This kind of devotion highlights Catholic education as the work of charity that it is and fosters that mission in the life of the Church. I am grateful.

We recognize our own poverty and our need for a Savior, becoming the Church of the poor. That recognition inspires devoted love for Jesus, which in turn directs us outward to serve the poor. Material, intellectual and spiritual poverty fosters a charitable response that is Catholic education. Christ is made known through the love of so many, manifesting the Body of Christ and his loving mission in the world.

Thank you all. In this Catholic Schools Week, let us celebrate that high calling that has served so many of us and continues to bring Christ to the world today.

+Bishop John Iffert