Normally Catholic schools would celebrate Catholic Education Week with in-person activities, but the pandemic forced Moose Jaw’s separate school division to change how it recognized this faith-related week.
Catholic divisions throughout Saskatchewan celebrated Catholic Education Week from May 17 to 24, using the coronavirus-enforced online learning environment to develop the theme of Igniting Hope. Divisions created materials that schools could share with students, families and communities on platforms such as video conferences, social media, emails and websites. Some materials included daily prayers and reflections, as well as suggested social media posts.
The Archdiocese of Regina, in conjunction with the four Catholic school divisions in southern Saskatchewan, live-streamed a World Catholic Education Day liturgy on May 21, with Archbishop Donald Bolen leading the service.
The subthemes for this year’s Catholic Education Week were: Our Hope is in Christ, The Hope Within Us, The Hope Among Us, Hope for the World, and A Future of Hope.
Trustees with Holy Trinity Roman Catholic School Division in Moose Jaw discussed the week during their recent board meeting.
Catholic Education Week went well, even though the pandemic has made life more challenging in how schools celebrate this period, education director Sean Chase told the Express. The silver lining, though, was the division collaborated more with the archdiocese and co-planned a “robust list of activities” that teachers, students and families could undertake at home.
The division’s educational consultants also developed resources that teachers could use while working with students online.
Chase had the honour to participate in the archdiocese’s live-streamed liturgy on May 21.
“We were incredibly, incredibly pleased by the number of views that were demonstrated either live or with people tuning in afterwards (with 1,839 views) … ,” he said. “Again, that idea of bringing the four school division together for something where we would typically be addressing that individually was quite powerful.”
After the service, Chase, the other three education directors, and the archbishop discussed how this was something they could replicate in the future regardless of the pandemic. They noted there was a good feeling of unity across the archdiocese, while colleagues who watched online from other parts of the province also provided positive compliments.
“Despite the challenges,” he added, “I would quantify it as a very successful week.”
The next board of education for Holy Trinity is Monday, June 15.
