Courtesy Photo For Catholic Schools Week, student from Corpus Chrisit School in Wheeling visited reisidents of the Home for Men retirement facility in Wheeling. The children dis a Valentine’s Day activity with the residents.

By Colleen Rowan
Fun activities, service in the community, and school Masses throughout the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston marked the 46th celebration of national Catholic Schools Week Jan. 26-Feb. 1.
It was a time to celebrate all that Catholic schools offer students—academic excellence in a Christ-centered environment.
Service and outreach projects were a huge part of the celebration. St. Michael Parish School’s first- through fourth-graders made blessing bags for the homeless, filled with everyday essentials and snacks. Parkerbsurg Catholic High School students cleaned their church and school, and sorted clothing and packed diapers for the Gabriel Project.
Many of the diocese’s Catholic elementary schools held career day, in which the kids dressed as what they want to be when they grow up. Kids dressed as doctors, nurses, firemen, police officers, priests and more.
Schools Masses were celebrated for all of the Catholic school communities, and the week kicked off with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Mark E. Brennan at Our Lady of Peace Parish in Wheeling. Follwing the Mass, the bishop visited the school where students’ science projects were on display.
“I got to see some of the science exibits that the young people had done, and I was impressed,” Bishop Brennan said. A few days later, he travelled to Clarksburg to visit St. Mary Central Catholic School and Notre Dame High School. He toured the schools and visited with students. “I had a wonderful day with them,” he said. The bishop engaged in discussions on various topics with the high schoolers and visited classes at St. Mary’s. “The value of our Catholic education right before my eyes,” the bishop said of his visit.
The next stop was St. Paul Parish in Weirton, where he celebrated a Catholic Schools Week Mass and then attended a reception at the parish school.
“They had a wonderful program honoring veterans, and there were a number of veterans of our military services there,” he said, adding that the students sang during the program, and “it was very nicely done. I was very impressed with how the principal and her staff organized all this.”
To learn more about the diocese’s Catholic schools, visit wvcatholicschools.org