Deus Caritas Est

What has Catholic education offered YOU? For me, the answer is "not much." As part of the entire generation or three deprived of the depth, breadth and beauty of the Catholic faith, so often absent in so-called Catholic schools, I can't say much in favor of a private Catholic education.

Few, if any schools I've come across really teach what they're charged with teaching--the CATHOLIC faith. I'm not saying that there are no schools that accomplish this, only that among Catholic schools this is ironically counter-cultural.

My hope was rekindled a few years ago when I discovered Ss. Peter and Paul in Wilmington CA, a truly Catholic school that's part of a truly Catholic parish. Years ago, Father Peter Irving made this a reality by renovating buildings and renewing hearts.

Today, the beautiful and historical church includes a perpetual adoration chapel, a large, authoritative Catholic bookstore, and a "staff" of Norbertine fathers.

The school is fortunate enough to have it's own Norbertine chaplain who makes regular visits to classrooms and offers on-campus confession to the K-8 students and staff three times a week. The priests also offer school-wide masses every Friday and holy day, with rosaries, May crownings and other devotions filling the time from one mass to the next.

Ss. Peter and Paul offers an excellent curriculum and caring, faithful teachers who know what they're doing. Sometimes it makes me wish I was a Catholic school kid again...that is, at a real Catholic school. If you're tired of the rest and Wilmington CA isn't too far away, check out Ss. Peter and Paul Elementary and Jr. High.