National Catholic Schools week was created by the NCEA, National Catholic Education Association, to celebrate Catholic education in the United States. The theme this year was “Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service”. Each school celebrated with a number of different events including masses, fun activities, and open houses. It was good to see students, families, parishioners and members of the community getting involved. Sylvan was happy to visit and acknowledge many of our Catholic school partners across the Rio Grande Valley.

     The Catholic faith has a long history in the Rio Grande Valley… nearly 500 years! The Spanish Conquistadores introduced Catholicism to our area in 1519. The Diocese of Brownsville was established in 1965 by Pope Paul VI and includes Cameron, Willacy, Hidalgo and Starr Counties. It now consists of more than one million Catholics across 71 parishes and 44 missions. There are 14 Catholic Schools ranging from Brownsville to Rio Grande City.

     Members of the RGV Sylvan team visited San Martin De Porres in Weslaco, St. Joseph in Brownsville, Our Lady Of Sorrows in McAllen and St. Joseph’s in Edinburg. We saw a lot of happy kids and teachers!