Southern Tier celebrates Catholic Schools Week

The Catholic Schools Week tour continued as Bishop Michael W. Fisher and members of the Catholic Schools department traveled to Dunkirk and Olean to talk to students and share the Good News.

Bishop Fisher celebrated Mass at Northern Chautauqua Catholic School on Jan. 30, with Father Robert Owczarzak, pastor of the The Lord’s Vineyard Family of Parishes; Father Joseph Walter, senior parochial vicar for the family of parishes, and Father Daniel Walsh joining him at the altar.

“Today, we continue our journey though Catholic Schools Week, and the readings (Matthew 5:14-16), as they talk about not hiding our light under a basket, they speak to us very clearly about our vocation, about how we live out our call to follow the Lord as disciples more closely,” Bishop Fisher said.

The school choir took that day’s Gospel reading to heart by singing “This Little Light of Mine.”

The bishop thanked the teachers and administrators who dedicate so much to their class and school.

“This is not a job to you, and I can understand that. … I realize this is a vocation for you; that this is part of your love for your church, your God, and these young ones who are entrusted to you,” he said.

Following Mass, the students presented Bishop Fisher with a spiritual bouquet – prayers that the class will offer up for the bishop. The bishop promised to put them in his private chapel and, in turn, pray for the students. 

“Know that I am praying for you,” he told them.

While visiting the classrooms, fourth graders asked how much time the bishop spends each day in prayer. It’s about two hours a day over six periods, along with a Mass. “It’s an important thing that we do,” he told the kids. Other questions included “Do you know where the Garden of Eden is?” “What year was Jesus born?” and “Did God create Godzilla?”

If those questions weren’t tough enough, at Southern Tier Catholic School in Olean, Stella and Brooke, students from fourth and sixth grade, grilled the bishop on Church Law, the role of an auxiliary bishop, and the importance of the Synod on Synodality. They also wanted to know his episcopal motto. 

“Faithfulness in love,” the bishop told them. “I want to be faithful to what God calls me to, and I also want to do it in love, the love of God.”

Southern Tier Catholic School has a small student body, but a big heart. 

“Southern Tier has been in the community for many years. We have always been a smaller school. The atmosphere is family-like. We only have 22 students right now. We’re here to stay though,” said Principal Brittany Nichols.

The school has a Montessori program for 3 and 4 year olds, along with the kindergarten through eighth grade program. 

“We offer small class sizes, more one-on-one attention with the students and individualizing their needs,” Nichols said.

The small size offers a family atmosphere. “Everybody knows each other. We’re not just friends, we are family,” Nichols said.  

Due to the small classes, kindergarten and first grade are combined, as are second and third, and fourth and sixth.