Faith, fun resound as Archbishop Lori, school leaders open Catholic Schools Week in Archdiocese of Baltimore

For the first school day of Catholic School Week, Archbishop William E. Lori, Superintendent Donna Hargens and Chancellor Gregory A. Farno found themselves back in school Jan. 27, joining children at three elementary schools for a day filled with faith and fun.

Archbishop William E. Lori calls on a student during a Jan. 27 Catholic Schools Week visit at St. Augustine School in Elkridge. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

The first stop was Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ellicott City, one of five schools recognized as a blue-ribbon school. Via technology, the school body was able to say the rosary virtually with three of the other blue-ribbon winners – St. John the Evangelist in Severna Park, St. Joseph School of Cockeysville and Immaculate Conception School in Towson. Led by the archbishop, each school took a turn reciting a decade with Our Lady of Perpetual Help starting and ending the prayer.

“There is a connection between these five schools to the Blessed Mother,” Hargens told the OLPH students gathered in the gymnasium. “There are five decades. Doesn’t it all make sense to pray the rosary in honor of the Blessed Mary?”

She then presented OLPH Principal Jonathan Pressimone with a rosary blessed by the archbishop.

Students then challenged the archbishop to a game of “Are you smarter than an Archbishop?” With the help of Hargens, Farno and Father James Bors, Archbishop Lori’s team squeaked out a victory, answering questions ranging from “What do you call the bishop’s hat?” to “Who is the Kansas City Chiefs tight end’s girlfriend?”

“You couldn’t not know that,” the archbishop quipped afterward, of the Chiefs’ question, though the students won that question with the answer of Taylor Swift.

School Sister of Notre Dame Irene Pryle, principal of Our Lady of Hope-St. Luke School in Dundalk, shows some of the new technology provided by The Ripken Foundation for the robotics lab to Gregory A. Farno, Archdiocese of Baltimore chancellor of education, during a Jan. 27 Catholic Schools Week visit. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

From there it was off to St. Augustine School in Elkridge, where the team found themselves assisting students with service projects by making sandwiches, decorating bags and filling care packages to be delivered to My Brother’s Keeper, a nonprofit that offers a wide variety of services to those in need in West Baltimore. Father Bors showed off his artistic skills by drawing a submarine on his bag, explaining to the students near him how he worked on one while serving in the Navy. At his table, Farno started an assembly line making bologna sandwiches.

“You may not ever meet them or see them, but they will know the sandwiches came from you and that means a lot,” the archbishop told the students. “I am happy to be here.”

Archbishop William E. Lori decorates a care-package bag with students as part of a Catholic Schools Week service project Jan. 27 at St. Augustine School in Elkridge. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

After enjoying lunch with former teachers and principals of Our Lady of Hope/St. Luke School in Dundalk, the group, led by the school’s principal School Sister of Notre Dame Irene Pryle, visited students in their classrooms, talking and praying with students.

“I’ve worked hard this morning,” Archbishop Lori said. “Just to be with the students in our great schools. Just to see firsthand their joy and enthusiasm and all the ways they are growing, especially in their faith. I am always impressed by the quality of our leadership and the quality of our teachers.”

Special activities are planned at all the schools throughout the week, ranging from Masses held with auxiliary bishops Adam Parker or Bruce Lewandowski, C.Ss.R., to themed-days, service projects and pizza lunches.

“The staff by Friday is exhausted, there is so much going on,” Hargens said.

Email Katie V. Jones at kjones@CatholicReview.org

To view more images from Catholic Schools Week throughout the Archdiocese of Baltimore, click through the slideshow below.