Week of August 27, 2003

Education is the best gift anyone can receive. It's a treasure that never loses its value, and it's the richest inheritance parents can leave to their children — even more so if it forms not only the mind, but the spirit and moral character. The Archdiocese of Denver makes a constant effort to offer this kind of education to parents through Catholic schools. Thanks to the generosity of individuals and institutions dedicated to support Catholic education, some 15,000 students now benefit from archdiocesan and private Catholic schools every year.

Over the past decade, the Church has greatly increased her efforts to make Catholic education available to the poor. In the last year (2002-03), the Archdiocese of Denver has invested more than $3 million in Catholic education, and most of this money has assisted schools in needy areas.

The Church is never satisfied with just delivering knowledge through her schools. Good academics are essential, but education doesn't stop there. The goal of Catholic education, as our archdiocesan mission statement makes clear, is to "assist parents in the formation of their children in moral and academic excellence."

As each student develops to the best of his or her abilities, our schools seek to evangelize families and serve the whole Colorado community by encouraging virtue and moral judgment — the keys to civic responsibility. Good education is especially urgent for Hispanics, since in recent decades many have come to the United States without a full grasp of the language, culture and history of this country. Today, Hispanics play an important and growing role in American public life. To fully contribute to the building up of our Colorado communities, Hispanics need the kind of quality education to make their gifts available to others.

Prosperity is more than material success. Obviously, a good education helps young people to make a better living and advance in the world, and that's very important. But real prosperity is more than money. It always involves the peace and happiness that come from moral maturity, personal dignity and service to higher goals. A fully rounded education is the key to enabling Hispanic Americans to "prosper" as a community — not only as an economic presence, but as a moral influence, transmitting their Catholic values and culture to American public life.

In order to achieve this goal, families should never be satisfied with an education that simply accumulates facts and data. Education is a process of forming the whole person, and for Hispanics in a special way, the people we are — both as individual persons and as a community — flows from the deep Catholic sources of our culture.

Catholic education is not only the best option, but also the most natural one for our Hispanic community. This is why our local Church continually looks for ways to help parents financially, from her own resources, in choosing the kind of education they can offer their children. For exactly the same reason, the Church supports laws that give parents the freedom they deserve in choosing where to direct funds from their taxes when deciding the education their children will receive.

I can pledge that the Archdiocese of Denver will continue to do its part. I also urge Hispanic leaders and families to actively support laws that ensure real choice in education, so that spiritual, moral and fully human schooling remains available to our children. I pray always that the Lord and Our Lady of Guadalupe will guide Hispanic parents in their efforts to give the very best gift possible to their children, the same gift my parents worked so hard to give to me — a Catholic education.