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July 31, 2026Dear Friends in Christ,
As August arrives, we mark back-to-school season, and our pastoral attention turns to the important ministry of forming our young people in wisdom and holiness. The Diocese of Tucson is blessed with nearly 7,000 students who attend our 23 Catholic schools in cities, towns, and rural places. As they prepare for a new academic year, join me in asking God’s blessing upon our students, school administrators, teachers & support staff, and our pastors who serve faithfully in this ministry of God’s mystical presence.
That’s just what Catholic schools are – places of God’s mystical presence. Because in each academic subject, God reveals Himself and His creation to the student. This is why rather than forming technicians, Catholic schools are all about forming thinkers. A technician is someone who masters the particulars of math, science, literature, languages, history, the arts, and extracurriculars for the express purpose of being successful in the world. But forming thinkers is much different. A thinker is someone who masters each academic subject for the express purpose of encountering God, which makes our schools Catholic.
When our students learn math, for example, the solutions or answers to the math problems are not so much something that they achieve on their own. Rather, when a student arrives at the answer or the solution of the math problem, he or she cooperates with God who, through the student’s academic effort, reveals the solution to the student – a solution that God has known forever. Six times eight has always equaled 48. But our students, somewhere around the second or third grade, experience a profound encounter with God when they discover that 6 x 8 equals 48. This moment of discovery is a window into the mind of God, and the academic enterprise becomes something more for our students –a mystical encounter with God.
Our Catholic schools remain a great treasure in this diocese. Join me in praying for a successful and safe academic year for each school community where our young people will encounter God in their studies and extracurricular activities. In addition to praying for our schools, I ask that we join in supporting the ministry of Catholic education as one of the essential ministries of the entire diocese. If your parish is not blessed with a Catholic school, I ask that you consider the nearest Catholic school as part of your ministry and part of your stewardship. Our Catholic school students are our future doctors who will care for us when we grow older. They will be our financial experts helping us to retire well. They will be our business owners, retail salespeople, service industry experts, first responders, administrative professionals, and experts in so many other fields. More profoundly, maybe your next priest or consecrated sister or nun might be in one of our Catholic schools today. And maybe a future bishop of the Diocese of Tucson is one of our Catholic school students. Let us be ever faithful and ever supportive of our Catholic schools where God reveals His mystical presence in the academic enterprise. God bless our Catholic schools!
With kind regards in Christ Jesus,