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This week we celebrate the mission of Catholic schools and their cherished legacy. We also recommit ourselves to assuring their future because they are critical to the life of the Church. Catholics schools are privileged places for young people to encounter Jesus Christ through Catholic faith, Catholic culture, and the Catholic intellectual tradition on a daily basis as they learn and grow and develop. Because Catholic schools are called to be, as Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, of Vancouver states, “inspired by a supernatural vision, founded on Christian anthropology, animated by communion and community, imbued with a Catholic worldview throughout the curriculum, and sustained by Gospel witness,“ they are the ideal and obvious institutions to help address a growing problem facing the Catholic Church.

As I write this message to you, I am in Baltimore, Maryland, for the plenary assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. I can tell you I came prepared to work with my fellow bishops to move aggressively forward in dealing with the abuse issues that are confronting our Church right now, and will continue to do so.

In a statement here in part, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone praised the courage and sanctity of St. Oscar Romero and urged Christians to imitate his witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “In his final homily, at the hospital chapel Mass where he was mortally shot March 24, 1980, Archbishop Romero said, ‘… one must not love oneself so much as to avoid getting involved in the risks of life that history demands of us.’”

In my letter to you of August 17, 2018, I explained that I would consult the Presbyteral Council of the Archdiocese and my Cabinet in order to determine how I would designate an act of reparation be conducted in the Archdiocese for the horrendous crimes of clerical sexual abuse. Since then, revelations have continued to unfold – especially with the publication of stories from the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report – which speak to the depth of the evil that occurred.

Last Sunday [Aug. 29, 2018] witnessed what many are calling a “bombshell” in the Church: the publication of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s “Testimony,” alleging corruption and coverup at all levels of the Church based on his long and extensive personal knowledge.

The Catholic Church in the United States traditionally observes Catechetical Sunday each year on the third Sunday of September. This year, on September 16, as the Church calls forth and commissions catechists, the theme for reflection and action will be “Enlisting Witnesses for Jesus Christ.” It will be a joyful occasion to celebrate our participation in the mission of Jesus Christ to teach and call everyone to fullness of life in him.

I recently received a letter from a young Catholic husband and father in which he observed: “Peers of mine who are converts or reverts have specifically cited teachings like ‘Humanae Vitae,’ ‘Familiaris Consortio,’ and ‘Veritatis Splendor’ as beacons that set the church apart from the world and other faiths.” What he suggests might seem counterintuitive, but it is borne out by experience: The church does not grow by going along with the world, but by confidently proclaiming the truth about the human person revealed by Christ.

Catholic Schools Week provides an annual opportunity to remember and appreciate anew the contribution of Catholic schools in the United States. This remarkable school system stands apart from public and other private school systems, and is a source of great pride for the Church. It is fitting for us to recognize and remember the vision and sacrifice of the countless women and men who helped Catholic schools take root in this country and flourish to this day.

In 2003, the Catholic bishops of the United States and Mexico issued a historic binational pastoral letter on immigration, “Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope.” The title takes its inspiration from St. Paul, who, in the second chapter of his letter to the Ephesians, states: “. . . you are strangers and aliens no longer. No, you are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God.”

In a Thanksgiving week filled with public actions, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone wrote an opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle and then joined activists to fill a U.S. immigration courtroom in solidarity with Hugo Mejia, who was seeking bond while fighting a deportation order.

At this significant moment in world history, as we mark the 100th anniversary of the apparitions at Fatima, understandably, much attention has been given to this supernatural phenomenon.

Marin Catholic High School students delivered bottled water, Catholic Charities fed first responders and Marin County parishes organized to provide shelter and spiritual care, as organizations and individuals throughout the Archdiocese of San Francisco responded with aid and comfort to those affected by the devastating Wine Country wildfires.

Catholic, Episcopal, Buddhist, Jewish and Muslim faith leaders in San Francisco led a crowd of about 75 in a street corner prayer service outside the UPS facility in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill district on June 19, six days after three UPS employees were killed in a workplace shooting.

Easter is the high point of the church year, the culmination of the saving mysteries that Jesus has embodied.

In continuing commemoration of St. John Paul II’s establishment in 1982 of World Day of the Sick as well as their own ministry to those not well and their caregivers, the Western Association of the Order of Malta is facilitating a Mass Feb. 11 at 11 a.m. at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gough Street at Geary Boulevard, San Francisco.

In the United States many boys and girls enjoy basketball. No parent is surprised that when a child gets home from school and has done his homework, he wants to go out and shoot baskets in the backyard or the playground with his friend.

PHILADELPHIA – Akyra Murray, who just recently graduated from West Catholic Preparatory High School, was the youngest victim of the Orlando nightclub shooting June 12.

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone joined in prayer with the family of 26-year-old Hector Salvador Dec. 9 at 16th and Hoff streets in the Mission District in San Francisco.

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone ritually opened the main entrance to St. Mary’s Cathedral as a symbolic Holy Door, and 500 faithful who had gathered in the plaza for the ceremony filed into the church Dec. 13 for an Advent Sunday vespers service to inaugurate the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy in the archdiocese.

The recent visit of Pope Francis to our country was a moment of tremendous grace for all of us, and I think we all still feel deep gratitude to our Holy Father for his pastoral outreach to us here in the United States, and especially his understanding of the very many struggles that families are dealing with these days, and the challenges that people of faith face in living a life of wholehearted devotion to Jesus and of integrity with his teachings.