Schools Convocation Mass
Feast of Pope St. Pius X
Nativity Parish, Timonium
August 21, 2025
“To Restore All Things in Christ”
It is always a pleasure to gather with you, fellow educators, for our annual Catholic Schools Convocation. We are grateful to Father Michael White and the staff here at the Church of the Nativity for their hospitality. Father White, please accept our heartfelt thanks! And with special joy and enthusiasm, we welcome Sr. Patricia McCarron, the new Superintendent of Catholic Schools. Sister Patricia, please accept our warm congratulations and an even warmer welcome from us, your co-workers in the Lord!
We are gathered in convocation on the Feast of Pope St. Pius X. As you know, he served as our Holy Father from August 4th,1903 until his death on August 20th, 1914, and he was canonized by Pope Pius XII on May 29th, 1954. He took as his motto the words of St. Paul: “to restore all things in Christ.”
Anticipating the year ahead with hearts full of hope, what can we learn from this humble and holy pontiff, a pope who lived, as do we, in tumultuous times for both Church and society? How does he adjust our sites and bring our eyes of faith and hope into focus as we look towards a new academic year, replete with opportunities and challenges? Let me offer three points for reflection.
Love of Young People
First, we might recall that Pope Pius X decreed that young people, upon reaching the age of reason, should be allowed to receive their First Holy Communion. It is because of Pope St. Pius X that most of us received our First Holy Communion in the first or second grade. Prior to that, most received First Communion in the seventh or eighth grade. Back in 1957, when I received my First Communion, that change was still talked about as something relatively new; today, of course, it is standard practice.
So, we might still ask why Pope Pius X made this change. I think it was because he loved young people and had confidence in them; indeed, he saw the hope of eternal life shine on them. For that reason, he did not want to delay their union with Christ in the Eucharist, nor did he want to hinder them from participating fully in the liturgy. By the same token, Pope Pius X began the liturgical reform that we associate with the Second Vatican Council. It was he who coined the phrase, “active participation”, because he hoped people of all ages would share in the riches of the liturgy.
If we would be true pilgrims of hope, we, as Catholic educations, must follow the example of Pope Pius X. An essential part of the love and care we have for our students is to instill in them a love of the Church’s worship and a desire to receive Holy Communion regularly. We do this both by our teaching and by the witness of our lives. By our own faithful participation in the Mass, especially Sunday Mass, we bear witness to the centrality and the reality of the Eucharist to young people and to their parents. A recent study concluded that 9 out of 10 cradle Catholics abandon the faith. I don’t know how accurate that study is but it underlines for you and for me the urgency of helping young people to share in the Lord’s life and love through the Sacraments. It is true, of course, that sacramental preparation is done in parishes, but our schools play in indispensable role helping children and their parents to make the Mass and the Sacraments an integral part of their lives. So, no matter what subject you teach or what role you play in your schools, please continue to be those faithful, hope-filled witnesses who lead children and parents alike to seek and find the Lord in the Church’s sacramental life.
Sound Doctrine
Second, St. Pius X is also remembered for his love of the Catholic Faith, and for his desire to share that faith with the young. During his papal audiences, he would gather children around him and talk with them about things that interested them. Once he had their attention, he taught them the Faith. So too he mandated the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine for every parish again, because he loved young people & wanted them to be formed in the faith.
This underlines our role as Catholic educators, not only to prepare young people to receive the sacraments, but more broadly to evangelize and catechize the children entrusted to our care as well as their parents. In his day, Pope Pius fought against interpretations of the faith that undermined its truth and reality. Today such challenges remain, but in a new form. Many if not most of the young people we serve live “on-line”. They can often be subject to deception and confusion about what is real and unreal, about what is true and what is false, now even more so with the advent of AI. Their dignity and worth can undermined by on-line bullying. More than we know, on social media many young people are robbed of hope for the future and of a sense of direction in life. As pilgrims of hope, we must bear witness to the truth and reality of God’s love, helping young people to find in Christ Jesus the answer to their questions, the Source of their dignity, and the One who loves them like no other. Thank you for being those faithful witnesses young people need in their lives!
The Challenge of Love
Third, following Christ as members of his Church and as Catholic educators is by no means ‘the path of least resistance’; it requires all the love you can give. In the Gospel, Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” In the year ahead, you will hear the Lord asking many times, “Do you love me?” On that day when you’re dealing with an intractable disciplinary problem, hear the Lord asking, “Do you love me enough to bear this patiently?” When a lesson plan falls apart or there are needless interruptions, hear the Lord asking, “Do you love me enough to keep going?” When a parent makes an impossible demand, hear the Lord asking “Do you love me enough to carry this Cross alongside of me?” Thank you for loving the Lord in the midst of your daily challenges!
For pilgrims of hope are also pilgrims of love, pilgrims whose hearts are set on the world to come because they are already inflamed with a love that never fails. May the year ahead be filled with hope and joy as you bear witness to the Lord and to the Church’s faith in our schools. May we, as pilgrims of hope, strive “to restore all things in Christ” for the glory of God, for the good of the Church, and for the salvation of the children and young people whom we are privileged to serve in the Lord’s Name!