St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral
March 19, 2012

As your bishop here in the Diocese of Trenton, I am so happy to be with you and to welcome you to our Cathedral.  Although you are all from different parishes and schools around our vast diocese, this Church in Trenton, because it is the bishop’s Church, belongs to everyone no matter what your parish is or where you go to Church on Sunday.  So, welcome!

Today is the Solemn Feast of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary, Mother of God.  We don’t have much historical information about St. Joseph, not even in the Gospels or the other writings in the New Testament and, yet, he is one of the most important people in our Christian tradition.  He is not mentioned at all in the Gospel of Mark at all or in any of the letters of St. Paul.  We read about him in the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke because they give a great deal of detail about the birth of Jesus and tell some stories about his early life.  And the Gospel of John refers only once to him as Jesus’ father and tells us that we know him and his Mother.

Today, the Gospel of Matthew describes Joseph’s role in the birth of Jesus.  Matthew refers to Joseph as the “son of David” and the first reading from the Second Book of Samuel talks about Joseph’s ancestor, King David, and how God will build his Kingdom through David which Kingdom will endure forever.  Joseph played an important role in that Kingdom because he took care of Mary and Jesus.  They were his family, the Holy Family.  Our Gospel today uses the expression about Joseph, “he was a righteous man,” a just man, who did what God commanded him to do through the angel.  Matthew speaks of Jesus as a “son of a carpenter.”

The Gospel of Luke tells the story of how Joseph took the Holy Family to Jerusalem for the Passover when Jesus was twelve and that Jesus was obedient to Joseph and Mary when he returned home to Nazareth.  And that’s the last time we hear about Joseph.

But, as is often the case in the history of the Church, great traditions grew up about Joseph.  Although he was not the actual father of Jesus --- God was his true Father --- he fulfilled that role for Jesus here on earth.  He took care of Jesus and his Mother Mary.  He raised Jesus.  He was present throughout his early life.  And as Joseph cared for Jesus, the Church gave him the honor of being named its universal patron, caring for the Church, praying for the Church.

It is fitting today --- a good thing --- that we come together on this Solemn Feast of St. Joseph to celebrate Catholic schools and Catholic education.  Just as Jesus learned so much growing up at the feet of Joseph and Mary who cared so much for him, so too we learn so much in the schools of our Catholic Church which, through the example and help of Joseph and Mary in the Holy Family, cares so much for us, teaches us, guides us and sends us on our way through life, living the way Jesus lived and following him.  St. Joseph was a “just man” who did what God asked of him.  We learn from his example to be “just people” who do what God asks of us.  That is what justice means: doing what is true and right and compassionate because that is what God asks of us through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Catholic schools exist to teach us that.  They bring the “Good News” of Jesus into the classroom so that we can bring the “Good News” of Jesus outside the classroom into the world in which we live.  We learn many things in Catholic schools --- some of the same things that every student in every school learns: math and science, English and history, foreign languages and computer skills, art and music, phys ed and good sportsmanship, health and good citizenship --- but we learn something else.  In a Catholic school we learn about God and the Church, we  learn what it means to have faith and to share faith; we learn faith values and those things that make us good people, loving people, grateful people, compassionate, generous people throughout our lives.  Yes, we learn what every other kid learns but we learn it in a different way and for a different reason.  We have the freedom, the religious freedom, cherished by our founding Fathers when they founded our great nation, to believe in God and to speak about those things that God asks of us which are the reason God created us, the reason we were baptized and confirmed in the Catholic Church, the reason we go to Mass and receive Communion, the reason we confess our sins when we fail and make mistakes, the reason we are different and why those differences make us stronger in life.  Catholic schools teach us why bullying is wrong, why we should not lie or cheat or steal or hurt one another, why we should share the good things we have with those less fortunate than ourselves.  Catholic schools teach us that everything is a gift from God: our lives, our minds, our souls, our hearts, our emotions; and every gift has a special purpose also given us by God.  We celebrate our Catholic schools because they are God’s gift, the Church’s gift to us and we, in turn, are God’s gift and hope and blessing to our world!

The Scripture readings proclaimed at the March 19, 2012 Catholic Schools Mass were:

First Reading: 2 Sm 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16

Second Reading: Rom 4:13, 16-18, 22

Gospel: Mt 1:16. 18-21, 24a