The Archdiocese of Philadelphia celebrated the national observance of Catholic Schools Week (CSW) from Sunday, January 31, 2021 through Saturday, February, 6, 2021. The CSW theme for this year was Faith. Excellence. Service. Each day had a daily theme.

Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez participated in his first CSW as shepherd of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He was joined by Bishop Michael J. Fitzgerald, who oversees Catholic education in the Archdiocese; Sister Maureen Lawrence McDermott, I.H.M., Ph.D., Superintendent of Secondary Schools and Chief Academic Officer for the Archdiocese; and Andrew McLaughlin, Ed.D., Secretary for Elementary Education for the Archdiocese to record video messages that spoke to each daily CSW theme.  The messages were shared on the Archbishop’s social media platforms as well as the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Schools’ platforms each day. 

Archbishop Pérez helped to kick-off the week-long Catholic Schools Week celebration with the first video message.  Archbishop said, “Catholic education is a lifelong gift that seeks to shape our young men and women as servant leaders for the future based on the values of the Gospel.”  He continued, “I want to give a special shout out to all of our students, parents, teachers, administrators, staff members, and benefactors. You make our schools live and breathe each day as centers of excellence.”

The CSW daily video messages are outlined and linked below noting the theme and featured speaker for each.

• Sunday, January 31^st: “Celebrating Your Parish”
  • Most Reverend Nelson J. Pérez, Archbishop of Philadelphia

• Monday, February 1^st: “Celebrating Your Community”
  • Most Reverend Michael J. Fitzgerald, Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia

• Tuesday, February 2^nd: “Celebrating Your Students”
  • Andrew McLaughlin, Ed.D., Secretary for Elementary Education

• Wednesday, February 3^rd: “Celebrating the Nation”
  • Most Reverend Nelson J. Pérez, Archbishop of Philadelphia

• Thursday, February 4^th: “Celebrating Vocations”
  • Most Reverend Michael J. Fitzgerald, Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia

• Friday, February 5^th: “Celebrating Faculty, Staff, and Volunteers”
  • Sister Maureen L. McDermott, I.H.M, Ph.D., Superintendent of Secondary Schools

• Saturday, February 6^th: “Celebrating Families”
  • Most Reverend Nelson J. Pérez, Archbishop of Philadelphia

In addition, the Archbishop shared a CSW message to the faithful in Spanish.  That message was posted to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Office for Hispanic Catholics Facebook Page @ HispanosPhilly and also included on La Voz, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Spanish language radio program. 

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Editor’s Note:  For information about Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, please visit www.aopcatholicschools.org/.  For more information about National Catholic Schools Week please visit:  https://www.ncea.org/CSW.

Contact:

Meredith Wilson
Media and Events Specialist
215-587-3747