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Learn more about your Calgary Catholic School District Board of Trustees!
Publicly Funded Catholic Education
by Shannon Cook, Chair, CCSD Board of Trustees
For over 150 years, Alberta has been privileged to benefit from publicly funded Catholic education and is one of only three provinces in Canada that retains this blessing. Approximately 1/3 of students in Alberta attend Catholic schools. Publicly funded Catholic schools provide an environment where faith, values, and education meet to nurture the Catholic identity and spiritual growth of the children we serve. It is important that we work together to enhance and protect publicly funded Catholic education in Alberta. The Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) is the third largest school district in Alberta, serving approximately 63,000 students in 118 schools in Calgary, Airdrie, Cochrane, Chestermere, and Rocky View County. Our goal is to educate and empower students through our mission and vision of “Living and Learning in our Catholic Faith, so that students, centred in Christ, realize their full potential.” As such, we support GrACE (Grateful Advocates of Catholic Education), a province-wide organization, which advocates for strengthening publicly funded Catholic education. The annual GrACE Summit provides the opportunity for all partners in Catholic education – school, home, and parish – to gather and find renewed inspiration of the spirit of Catholic education. The summit is an opportunity to share insights, best practices, and challenges faced within the realm of Catholic education.
Calgary Catholic Education Foundation
Our school district is fortunate to be supported by the Calgary Catholic Education Foundation (CCEF), since 2009. The CCEF is a registered charity whose mission is to enrich the educational experience of students within the CCSD through classroom and school grants. Catholic Education Sunday is an opportunity for the CCEF to engage the broader Catholic community in supporting Catholic education through a special collection at all parishes that weekend.
Catholic Education Week
In Alberta, Catholic Education Week has historically been celebrated in May and Catholic Education Sunday in November. This year, the Bishops of Alberta and Northwest Territories, in unity with the Alberta Catholic School Trustees’ Association (ACSTA), the Council of Catholic School Superintendents of Alberta (CCSSA), and GrACE, decided to celebrate these two important events in a unified way across the province. It was felt that moving recognition of these events to October would be a positive way to ensure that the provincial theme helped enliven and enrich the entire school year for students in Catholic schools. Catholic Education Week provides an opportunity to celebrate and reflect with gratitude on the countless blessings to be found within the Catholic educational community. On Catholic Education Sunday, Catholic dioceses across the province recognize and celebrate the precious gift of Catholic education. This year’s Catholic Education Week will take place October 19 to 25, 2024. A committee of representatives from the ACSTA, GrACE, and Catholic school jurisdictions has been preparing prayers, activities, and resources to assist us in living out this year’s theme which is, “Testify! Share the Reason for your Hope.”
