Phoenix, Ariz., Mar 16, 2017 / 05:04 am
The Catholic school can be a missionary force to bring Christ to the world, the Bishop of Phoenix has said in a new apostolic letter.
"A mark of a truly Catholic school is the fruit that is borne in the lives of its graduates," Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix said. "That fruit is to be shown in the missionary activity of its graduates, called and sent by Jesus to be salt and light in the culture around them, knowing that people and cultures die without Christ."
The bishop's apostolic letter "Evangelizing through Catholic Schools" was dated March 3, the feast day of the Catholic educator St. Katharine Drexel.
His letter said Catholic schools should be "a place of encounter with Jesus Christ" that can impart a Catholic worldview through the curriculum, help students achieve true freedom, and send them out as "missionary disciples to transform the culture."