I spent part of this past Columbus Day weekend attending a reunion at my old grade school, St. Michael’s in Flushing, NY. I was from the class of ’71 but the reunion was open to all alumni from any year.

The event was actually organized by my sister Mary Ann Oliva who serves as a teacher’s assistant at the school. It was a great success both in terms of attendance and in providing a reminder of the value of Catholic Schools to our communities.

While the new documentary film Waiting for Superman makes the case for charter schools to provide American parents with educational choice, as New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan noted in a recent column, Catholic schools have been successfully offering such choice for generations.

And certainly this weekend’s event at St. Michael’s offered living testimony to that success — as former students returned to reminisce about their experiences at the school, catch up with old classmates and reflect on where life had taken them.

For those who attended, the memories of St. Michael’s were mostly positive. The lessons learned at the school — both academic and spiritual — were lessons that carried them (us) successfully through life.

Because for all the stories of crazy nuns (and there were a few who seemed a bit nutty), there were more than enough memories of good and compassionate sisters and teachers to balance things out. The bottom line is that when you left St. Michael’s you left knowing how to read and write. You knew how to add, subtract, multiply and divide. You knew history and science. You learned.

You also learned about the Catholic faith and the ideals of tolerance and kindness toward others.

And that tradition continues today — demonstrated as well-mannered and simply nice current students assisted in an outdoor barbecue on Saturday.

It’s also good to see how a school that was founded in 1851 continues to improve and provide its diverse students with the technological equipment suited to a generation that will live their lives in the 21st century.

The Catholic Church and Catholic education has taken its lumps in the media over the past several years — much of it warranted, particularly regarding its terrible handling of clergy sex abuse cases.

But it’s important to remember the other side — that the more-than-overwhelming majority of children who have gone through Catholic education were not sexually abused. And that, as adults, many (perhaps most) recall their years in Catholic school fondly (albeit with a healthy sense of humor). 

I hope that Catholics (and Church officials) continue to support Catholic schools with prayers and financial support. Even in hard economic times, closing them is not an idea whose time has come. In fact, they’re more important than ever. In an age of increasingly pervasive media (i.e. music, movies and videos on telephones), Catholic schools provide an important counterbalance to messages that can often be hostile to faith, hyper-materialistic and/or degrading. They are an important foundation for the formation of the next generation of Catholics.

So, to the classmates that I had the good pleasure to catch up with last week, it was great seeing you. God bless you and God bless St. Michael’s.

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The search for Steven Mayer of Great Neck goes on. Some 2000 volunteers reportedly turned out to help in the search on Sunday — in itself giving hope to his distraught family. Let’s continue to pray for his safe return and for his family.

  
                      Steven Mayer, 65, of Great Neck