Catholic Schools

With new school supplies and backpacks in tow, students across the Diocese of Trenton disembarked buses or walked alongside parents as they returned to school the week of Sept. 4, where they were greeted warmly by principals and teachers.

In St. James Grammar School, Red Bank, kindergarten teacher Kira Nelsen grinned as she welcomed students back to school. She said she was happy to meet her new students and see their smiling faces.

For Trenton Catholic Academy senior Angie Labissiere, attending The Catholic University of America, Washington, and receiving the Most Reverend David M. O’Connell Service Scholarship is a dream come true.

“I truly feel privileged to be chosen as the winner of the Bishop O’Connell Service Scholarship. Being able to attend college is a dream that I’ve always longed for,” the Hamilton school student said. 

“The fact that this scholarship is solely based on service means so much to me because service is a major part of my life. I owe all my blessings to the different service projects I have been a part of; they all played a huge part in breaking me out of my comfort zone and shaping me into the person I am today.”

“Children of the light.”

Those were the words Father John Bambrick used to describe the pews full of kindergarten through eighth-grade students from St. Aloysius School, Jackson, who gathered for Mass Feb. 2 at the end of Catholic Schools Week.

Students from around the state gathered Feb. 1 at the State House in Trenton to celebrate the many contributions made by Catholic schools and to recognize the standouts of the annual Catholic Schools Week poster and video project.

Sponsored by the New Jersey Network of Catholic Families and the New Jersey Catholic Conference, the day included a tour of the State House and a presentation of the selected poster and video entries that depicted, “Why I Love My Catholic School.”

“Each of us are given grace and called to follow the Gospels in our own lives, not just me because I’m a nun,” Sister of St. Joseph of Medaille Helen Prejean told an overflow audience in the Christian Brothers Academy, Lincroft, auditorium Feb.1.

Sister Helen, a 78-year-old Baton Rouge native, held the more than 950 students and guests spellbound for her talk on social justice during the celebration of Catholic Schools Week at the secondary school. 

What children aspire to become depends on many factors, not the least of which is the adults to whom they’re exposed. In St. Peter School, Point Pleasant Beach, educators are making sure some of that exposure includes people living a religious vocation.