Tuesday, January 4, 2022

 

Memorial of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, religious

(I John 4:7-10; Mark 6:34-44)

Early on, Catholics in the United States recognized the need for parochial schools.  The Church was established here at roughly the same time as universal education and the “Great Awakening.”  The latter was a period of evangelical revival in the nineteenth century.  Being a minority, many Catholic children would have been enfolded into Protestantism had they attended public schools.  Educated in Catholic schools, however, they maintained their faith.  As a result, the Church in America prospered. 

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton began the first free Catholic school in the United States.  She also founded a congregation that staffed many others as well as orphanages.  St. Elizabeth died at a young forty-six years of age.  However, her legacy of inexpensive, quality Catholic education still lives.  It may be said that the American Catholic Church was built on the backs of women like Elizabeth Ann Seton.

In today’s gospel Jesus feeds five thousand with a few loaves of bread and some fish.  This miracle primarily foreshadows the Eucharist.  It can also be seen as representative of Catholic education.  With meager resources but the virtues of many women like Elizabeth Ann Seton, Catholic schools have fed millions of children.  Because of their efforts, generations of children learned about salvation through reception of Jesus Christ in the sacraments.

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