Students, educators and parent volunteers hailing from 40 schools throughout the Diocese’s four counties began the event with the recitation of a decade of the Rosary and talk about the Missions in advance of World Mission Sunday, Oct. 21. Schools and parish religious education programs that collected the most money for the Missions were acknowledged. 
Attending schools were represented in a Procession of School Banners leading into the Mass, which was concelebrated by more than 50 priests of the Diocese. 
In his homily,  Bishop O’Connell noted that Catholic schools afford students the freedom to learn and speak about God.  He added, “Catholic schools teach us that everything is a gift from God: our lives, our minds, our souls, our hearts, our emotions, our talents; and every gift has a special purpose also given us by God.  We celebrate our Catholic schools because they are God’s gift, the Church’s gift to us and we, in turn, are God’s gift and hope and blessing to our world!”  
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