tvc.dsj.org | August 21, 2018
CATHOLIC
SCHOOLS
21
Welcome Back to School
Dear Students, Teachers, School
Administrators and Parents,
As we begin a new school year
this month, it gives me an op-
portunity to welcome you back
to school, to thank you for your
commitment to Catholic Educa-
tion, and to share some of my hopes for you in the
months and years ahead.
Our schools are proudly Catholic. Their very
identity stems from the mission entrusted, first to
the Apostles and then to the whole Church: “Go out
to the world and preach the Good News.” He sent
them, not as individuals, but as a community, each a
member of his own Body.
This notion of community is essential in who
we are and what we do. We are bound together by
connections that go beyond the classroom, school,
family and parish. We are bound together by the
Lord Himself, by our proclamation of the Word of
the Lord and our celebration of the Sacraments. That
is why our Sunday celebration of the Eucharist is so
essential to our identity as Catholics. Weekly Mass
gives us the opportunity to celebrate the ties of faith
and Christian life that bind us to a vast community
of believers, here and throughout the world.
We have said so often that parents are the “first and
best teachers” of their children in all things, especially
in the ways of faith. So it is important that we give
to them tools that help them appreciate and exercise
this most grave responsibility. Parish and School Faith
Formation programs aim at this. As your children are
prepared to celebrate the Sacraments – Holy Com-
munion, Confirmation and Penance – you and your
families are invited also to renew your ties with the
Lord and the Church. I encourage you and your entire
family to take advantage of these opportunities to
continue to learn and grow in your relationship with
the Lord Jesus.
Our young people have a deep longing to belong.
If we do not guide them to come to know the love of
the Lord, His care for them, they will look in other
places. The Catholic School is equipped to work in
partnership with parents to fill this longing.
At the beginning of this year, I offer you my thanks,
my encouragement and my prayers that the days,
weeks and months ahead are filled with learning that
draws us all closer together in Christ, who is our way,
our truth and our life.
I would like to take the opportunity to welcome
our new Superintendent of Catholic Schools, Jennifer
Beltramo. I am grateful that she accepted our offer to
come to San Jose, and I look forward to working with
her in the months ahead. And, finally, I also welcome
Bishop Oscar Cantú, our Coadjutor Bishop. Although
he will not officially arrive until the end of September,
he celebrated Mass earlier this month as we marked
the beginning of the school year with the teachers and
administrators of all of our schools. What a wonderful
start of the new year!
May God bless you all.
With every best wish and kind regard, I remain,
Sincerely yours,
Patrick J. McGrath
Bishop of San Jose
Diocese Begins a New Chapter in Catholic Education
By Liz Sullivan
In the Diocese of San Jose it marks the
unofficial start of the school year – the
annual Convocation Mass. On August
13, teachers and officials from across the
Diocese traveled to Mission Santa Clara
at Santa Clara University to celebrate the
new school year.
For the Department of Catholic
Schools, it marked its own new begin-
ning as Jennifer Beltramo succeeds
Kathy Almazol as Superintendent of
Schools.
Those in attendance were also hon-
ored to have Coadjutor Bishop Oscar
Cantú celebrate the Mass. Bishop Cantú
was appointed by Pope Francis to the
Diocese of San Jose on July 11.
Before Mass, as Beltramo welco med
the hundreds of teachers gathered, she
spoke of the relationship between God
and education.
“Each of us in this room has a
unique calling from God,” she said,
as her obvious passion for teaching
in Catholic Schools came through in
the tone of her voice. “Our relation-
ship with God is the common thread
through all of our actions and service.
God has called each and every one of
us by name. We are united across our
entire diocese with a shared purpose;
to inspire and strengthen our next
generation of Catholic Faith.”
Beltramo continued: “I am humbled
by the passion and commitment of so
many of you in this room. It is truly a
privilege to walk with each of you on
this journey.”
For Bishop Cantú, this Mass was his
second appearance in the Diocese, after
meeting with Chancery staff shortly
after his appointment.
The Bishop, who holds several ad-
vance degrees, said he comes from a
family of teachers including a grand-
mother and two sisters who are both
teachers and principals. Also, the
Bishop spent about five years teaching
at Saint Thomas University in Hous-
ton and at Saint Mary’s Seminary in
Houston.
“A good teacher knows his subject
and a good teacher loves his subject
matter,” Bishop Cantú began his hom-
ily. “A good teacher must come to know
and love his students.”
The focus of the Bishop’s homily was
the idea of wonder leading to the power
of Wonderful.
“Wonder is each life sifting through
our fingers as each year passes,” he
said. “It escapes from our heart. It is
engraved in our DNA and it can be
recovered. Why do we need wonder?
Because it is an openness to receive the
wonderfulness of our God. If you know
and love your subject matter you know
the wonderful of God. Open yourself to
God. Dignity seeks dignity and wonder
seeks the wonderful.”
Bishop Cantú concluded, “A good
teacher never stops learning. Today I
pray for all of you. I pray that this may
be a year of wonder; wonder of speech,
wonder of heart, wonder of mind and
wonder of attitude. Wonder inspires
what is most wonderful.”