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Chapter 5 Catholic Schools
Gospel-centered education remains priority
Monique Malavet does a writing exercise during a 2017 class at All Saints Academy in Corning.
Catholic education has been a priority for local Catholics since the earliest days of the diocese. Bishop Bernard J. McQuaid was a
proponent of Catholic education even before becoming the Diocese of Rochester’s founding bishop in 1868.
And just days after his installation, Bishop McQuaid announced a plan to provide Catholic schools for the children of his new diocese. Recognizing that public schools could not provide the complete education Catholic parents of the era wanted for their children, he established a system of schools intended to
provide “as good a secular education as can be obtained in the public schools, and a Christian education besides.”
Catholic schools in the Diocese of Rochester still adhere to that mission of offering high- quality education rooted in the Gospel and the teachings of the Catholic Church. A number of diverse strategies are being used to carry out this mission today. Students regularly participate in school Masses and daily prayer, and religion classes are a core element of the schools’ curriculum.
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