All schools Mass celebrates Catholic identity, mission, culture of compassion

By Priscilla Greear - Florida Catholic

Photography: CRISTINA CABRERA JARRO | FC

MIAMI | Representatives from 65 schools in the Archdiocese of Miami, from Davie to Key West, descended upon St. Mary Cathedral Jan. 29, 2025 for the third annual All Schools Mass celebrated by Archbishop Thomas Wenski. At the joyful Catholic Schools Week celebration, students drew inspiration to reach for excellence towards virtuous lives of service, integrity and sainthood.

The Office of Catholic Schools reports five consecutive years of growth of over 1,000 students per year, with all but five at capacity or growing. The youngest schools in attendance were La Salle Education Center of Homestead opened in August 2024, Cristo Rey Miami High School in North Miami opened in 2022 and St. Malachy School in Tamarac reopened in 2023.

A delegation arose at 4:15 a.m. to arrive from St. Mary Star of the Sea Basilica School in Key West, which added a high school to their elementary program in 2023. Oliver Balmaceda, a member of the pilot high school class, loves the nurturing yet challenging environment. “The teachers are always there for you if you need help. Someone is always willing to help you and you can always turn to your friends like they’re family. It challenges me more academically which helps me see my boundaries and push beyond them,” he said.

“We’re the lowest Catholic school, not another one at all in the Keys, so it’s nice to see others from around the archdiocese,” Balmaceda added. “One thing that really touched me during Mass was seeing so many Catholic students and teachers being in the one church all together.”

The approximately 10 students from each school also appreciated the prayerful visit to St. Mary Cathedral, which is a pilgrimage site for the Jubilee Year of 2025. Sporting khaki, plaid skirts, dark blazers and loafers, students processed inside with school banners. Outside the cathedral, Patricia Hernandez, principal of St. Agatha School in Miami, said that for Catholic Schools Week students wrote legislators about school choice, participated in service activities like playground beautification and being guardian angels and hosted a Mass for first responders. “A big part of being Catholic is service, and service starts at home, so all children in each class have service projects with their teachers.”

She brought students who lead school prayers including pupils from the Padre Pio and Mother Teresa special education programs. Among students, Lucas Lopez leads prayer with alacrity every Friday, always adding a personal touch like “good afternoon Mustangs.” We’re super proud, he had showed an interest to do school prayer,” said Hernandez. “He keeps me on track to be on time.”

Lucas said cheerfully, “I like that everyone can hear me.”

Religion teacher Ani Luna brought youth from St. Patrick’s School in Miami Beach. “It’s a Jubilee Year. They are able to get their indulgence by coming to Mass. We’re setting up reconciliation and will pray for the intention of the Pope to receive an indulgence so it’s special,” said Luna. “It’s hope and having them understand, participate and just be active members of the Church.”

St. Patrick eighth grader Ivan Cajuste is happy to build his leadership skills as a student council member and set an example “on the straight path.” Compared to public school, “we get to learn more about God and get to understand the faith more and do these activities,” said Cajuste. “It’s cool being a leader of the school.”

St. Brendan High School student Logan Hudson reflected on how the campus ministry fosters a compassionate culture. Catholicism “is a big part of everybody’s personality, being caring and forgiving and doing the stuff the way Jesus would have wanted us to do it so it’s a big help. The people are incredible, the teachers are super welcoming. It’s more like a family. I never really got excited to go to school until a came here,” he said. “It’s super welcoming to people from all types of cultures and even religions too.”

Jim Rigg, superintendent of Catholic schools, welcomed students to Catholic Schools Week, a national celebration of U.S. Catholic schools serving 1.69 million. “We recognize the tremendous efforts of our students, teachers, administrators, staff, volunteers,” he said. “This Mass also celebrates the enduring impact of Catholic education on over 36,000 students and 65 schools in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties. Our schools are doing an outstanding job in preparing leaders for a world that desperately needs them.”

During his homily, Archbishop Wenski advised youth to always speak and live the truth. “We learn that God made us to know him, to love him and to serve him in this life so that we can be happy with him forever in the life to come.”

He compared Catholic schools to good soil described in the Gospel of Mark. “The goal of Catholic education—and what makes Catholic education ‘good news’—is the development of the whole person. In pursuing this integral formation, which aims to prepare our students for life, both this life and the life to come, we want our students to become saints.”

The Prayers of the Faithful were read in different languages by students of schools in Miami. Joshua Tilor of Msgr. Edward Pace High School read in Haitian Creole; Ana Cejas of St. Brendan’s High School, in Italian; Ashnah Petit of Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy High School, in French; Lola Ferrer of Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, in Spanish; and Rachel DeAra of Archbishop Coleman Carroll High School in English. A choir from St. Theresa School in Coral Gables uplifted spirits through enveloping songs like “Angels Among Us.”

The Mass was also a time to celebrate the growth of Catholic schools. In an interview, Rigg noted the impact of the Florida legislature’s expansion of the school voucher program in 2023 to all families in the state, regardless of income level. According to statistics from the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, the number of Catholic school scholarship students in the Archdiocese of Miami has surged from 12,000 in 2023 to 30,707 this year. “Families can take those vouchers and go to other places if they want to, but they’re coming to us because we provide a strong education rooted in Catholic values,” said Rigg. “We’re really blessed over half of our schools are full with waiting lists. Catholic education is in demand in South Florida.”

In the archdiocese, 64 out of 65 Catholic schools participate in the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program (administered through Step Up for Students), which awards approximately $8,000 per student. Hernandez said that St. Agatha School enrollment has increased about 4 percent from last year. The voucher expansion “has benefitted parents, allowing them to afford our schools. They still sacrifice and pay some but it’s a huge benefit,” she said, adding that it also helps teachers enroll their children.

Nationally, the Southeast has the highest enrollment increase since the 2019-20 school year of 3.6 percent, reports the National Catholic Education Association. This is in contrast to the national decline of 14 percent since 2013-14, which has more recently stabilized.

Donald Edwards, associate superintendent of schools, has worked 52 years in Catholic education and appreciates the “good problem” of demand exceeding capacity, noting how other regions face school closures and consolidation. Edwards, who grew up in Tennessee during segregation, including in Catholic schools and churches, reflected on the catholicity of the Mass. “We celebrated our rich diversity in the Mass. A bishop from Haiti was here,” he said. “It was the gathering of representatives from all 65 Catholic schools in the archdiocese in the presence of the archbishop to celebrate what we’re all about as Catholics, the Eucharistic feast, during Catholic Schools Week. What made it special is a gathering together as a community of Catholic school teachers, students, administrators to celebrate who we are and whose we are as a community of Catholic schools.”