Back to School in the Diocese. Supporting Generations of Faith filled students

Your Support Can Transform a Student’s Future

Next weekend, September 12 and 13, parishes throughout the Diocese will take up a special second collection to support FACE, the Foundation to Advance Catholic Education. The collection provides scholarships for students attending Catholic schools across our Diocese.

Since its founding in 1991 as the St. Mary’s Education Fund, FACE has distributed more than $22 million in scholarship assistance to thousands of students. Each year, the Foundation awards approximately $1 million to more than 1,000 students throughout Southeastern Massachusetts.

Catholic schools provide families an option as they decide their children’s education. Providing more than an excellent education, they are faith-filled communities where students are known, valued, and encouraged to grow academically and spiritually while developing their God-given potential. FACE helps ensure that families experiencing financial need can provide this opportunity for their children.

Please prayerfully consider supporting the special collection this weekend. Every gift, regardless of size, helps open the door to a Catholic education and makes a meaningful difference in a student’s life.

Back to School, Renewed in Faith and Hope

As our Catholic schools begin a new academic year, we are reminded that education is about far more than achievement alone. Pope Francis once shared, “There is no need for educational models that are mere ‘achievement factories’ without a cultural plan that enables the formation of people capable of helping the world turn over a new leaf by eradicating inequality, endemic poverty and exclusion.”

More recently, on the occasion of the release of Drawing New Maps of Hope, Pope Leo XIV said, “I call upon all educational institutions to inaugurate a new season that speaks to the hearts of the younger generations, reuniting knowledge and meaning, competence and responsibility, faith and life.”

USCCB Prayer for Students

These reflections offer different perspectives on the value of Catholic education, a value we witness each day here in the Diocese of Fall River. Our Catholic schools offer families the choice of an education that forms the whole person: mind, body, and spirit. Students are challenged academically while growing in faith, discovering their God-given gifts, and learning to use those gifts in service to others.

As classes resume, I offer my prayers and best wishes to our students, families, teachers, administrators, and staff. May the year ahead be filled with learning, growth, and renewed hope.

Celebrating Faith Around the Diocese

As summer concludes, I’m grateful for a busy  schedule that gave me opportunities to meet with many priests and our lay faithful. 

This past weekend I celebrated Mass for the Feast of the Holy Ghost at St. Mary’s Cathedral. This beautiful celebration brought the faithful together in prayer and gratitude, reminding us of the Holy Spirit’s abiding presence in our lives and throughout the Church.

As we gathered, I was reminded that the Holy Spirit continues to guide, renew, and unite us. When we open our hearts to the Spirit, we receive the wisdom and courage to live our faith more fully and to share Christ’s love with others.

I was also grateful to recently celebrate Mass with two parish communities on Cape Cod: Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Osterville and Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville. During these Masses, I formally installed Father Christopher Hughes as pastor of both parishes.

Installing a pastor is a meaningful moment in the life of a parish. A pastor is called to walk alongside his people, celebrate the Sacraments, proclaim the Gospel, and guide the community with faith, compassion, and love. It was wonderful to witness the warm welcome Father Hughes received from both parish communities, which he has served as parochial administrator for the past year.

Sincerely,

+Bishop da Cunha