Catholic Schools Week: United in Faith and Community

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

Catholic Schools Week in the United States begins this Sunday on Jan. 26. For seven days, we acknowledge and thank those dedicated to the work and success of the 15 Catholic School systems here in our diocese. 

We have been celebrating Catholic Schools since 1974 and the great treasure they are for our church.  I am so grateful to the students, teachers, staff, administrators, board members, benefactors and faithful who work together to make our schools the standard for high quality, faith-based education.

For 2025, our theme is “United in Faith and Community.” This theme encompasses the values taught in our diocesan Catholic schools. We are helping students to become future servant leaders, faith-filled disciples and involved citizens.

Each school has planned events and activities to celebrate their parishes, communities, students, nation, vocations, families, faculty, staff and volunteers. Catholic Schools Week is a time when our schools share their good news with their communities, and there are so many wonderful things happening. (See our Catholic Schools Week preview coverage here for your school’s highlights for the week.)  

Each year, I travel with Superintendent Patty Lansink and her staff during Catholic Schools Week to visit different schools and interact with the students, faculty and parents. I often have the great privilege of celebrating Mass with them. We rotate where we travel but know that all our schools are in my thoughts and prayers, especially during this special week.

This year we will visit Sheldon St. Patrick School, and I will celebrate Mass with all of the students in the Bishop Heelan School system. I will also travel to Denison St. Rose of Lima School and Pocahontas Catholic School.

I look forward to being present and see firsthand the fruits of Catholic education—school buildings, both new and old, their hallways filled with artwork and signs of the faith taught there. Also, teachers who truly care and nurture the students they serve, classrooms, science labs and gymnasiums, where cutting-edge education is provided.

I am so thankful for the parents who give us the privilege of providing a Catholic education to their sons and daughters. We are proud to assist parents in the faith development of their child as well as provide academic excellence.

I am most grateful to my parents for ensuring that my nine siblings and I all received a Catholic education.  They sacrificed so much for us. That is still true for many of our diocesan school parents today.

Asking for the intercession of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. Thomas Aquinas this Catholic Schools Week, I pray that the Lord give you peace.

P.S.:   May your favorite team win the Super Bowl!

Your brother in Christ,
Most Rev. Walker Nickless
Bishop, Diocese of Sioux City