Jan. 28, 2013

Nationally Televised Mass to Mark Catholic Schools Week

The Catholic University of America (CUA) and Dominican House of Studies, in association with the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA), will celebrate National Catholic Schools Week at the annual University Mass in honor of St. Thomas Aquinas, which will be broadcast live on EWTN.

The Mass on Tuesday, Jan. 29, at 12:10 p.m. will be held in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Crypt Church.

The annual University Mass traditionally has been celebrated by a Dominican priest. This year's celebrant and homilist will be Prior Provincial Very Rev. Brian Martin Mulcahy, O.P.

Catholic University invited the NCEA to join in this year's Mass. Students from Archbishop Carroll High School and St. Anthony Catholic School, both near the CUA campus, will participate.

"Two years ago we began the practice of inviting the National Catholic Educational Association, which comprises Catholic elementary and high schools throughout the country, to tune into our Mass of the Holy Spirit that is broadcast nationwide by EWTN," said Catholic University President John Garvey. "We thought it was a wonderful way for all of us to open the new academic year.

"When we were able to secure EWTN's agreement, for the first time, to televise the Mass of St. Thomas Aquinas that The Catholic University of America annually hosts with the Dominican House of Studies, it was natural to include NCEA once again. And it was fortuitous that this Mass on the feast of the patron saint of Catholic schools is being celebrated during National Catholic Schools Week," said Garvey.

"While our 6,841 Catholic schools all across the country will be marking Catholic Schools Week with many local school and diocesan events, this national liturgy will serve as a powerful reminder of the ties that bind us together as Christ-centered places of learning," said Karen Ristau, NCEA president. "In this digital age, it is exciting to think that our Catholic school students from across the country can be brought together to celebrate the Mass of St. Thomas Aquinas."

National Catholic Schools Week, founded in 1974, is a joint project of NCEA and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.