The St. Agnes Diversity week will take place on the week of January 28. It will be St. Agnes Academy’s way to contribute to Catholic Schools Week, whose theme this year is “Catholic Schools Light the Way.” Catholic Schools Week highlights the mission of Catholic schools to provide a faith-based education that supports the whole child academically and spiritually and prepares students for future success. “As a result of the excellent, multifaceted education they are receiving today, our students will ‘light the way’ to a brighter future through their leadership in our communities, government, businesses and families,” said Dr. Karen M. Ristau, president of the National Catholic Educational Association. Diversity Week is a week for celebrating and understanding: we celebrate the many cultures that make St. Agnes a special place to learn and we learn about the meaning of solidarity as we work to make the world a more accepting and loving place. Diversity week is organized by two St. Agnes groups—the student-led Diversity club and the faculty-led Solidarity Committee. The Mother’s club also contributes to Diversity week in a wonderful way by organizing the International Food Festival.

On this year’s Diversity week, we’ll begin each day with prayers spoken in languages other than English so that we can experience our spiritual unity with all the people around the world. We’ll also begin each day with music from around the world. Students will hear also World Music as they pass between classes during the days of the week. On Monday, we’ll begin the week on a special schedule—morning classes and afternoon programming. We’re honored to welcome Archbishop Fiorenza and Rev. Lawson who will speak on the issue of the Civil Rights movement. Prior to the talk students will see the documentary “Come Walk in my Shoes.” On Tuesday at lunch, we’ll have a lunch-time dialogue on peace and healing racism conducted by students in the Peace classes and the Healing Racism classes. On Wednesday, we’ll have Ancestral Dress day. On this day, students and faculty come to school dressed in the clothing of their ancestors or of a culture they admire. In the last ten minutes of seventh period and during what would normally be the homeroom period, we’ll have the Ancestral Dress pageant. On Thursday, we’ll have Solidarity day. It will also be a special schedule with classes in the morning and programming in the afternoon. At noon, we’ll have the International Food Festival. St. Agnes families bring lots of cultural food and we have a feast together. Then we go to the auditorium where we enjoy Performances from Around the World. On Friday, we’re having a special event to carry the idea of Solidarity into the realm of faith. We’re honored to be part of the Anti-Defamation League’s Interfaith Dialogues. We’ll have four speakers. Students will have thought of their questions in advance in their Theology classes so that they can ask thoughtful questions that will help them in their vision of their own faith in relation to others.

We invite the St. Agnes parents to any part or all parts of our Diversity week programming. We especially ask the parents to encourage their daughters to dress in ancestral dress on Wednesday and to bring cultural food on Thursday.

We are pleased at the coordination of Diversity Week with Catholic Schools week because it helps us remember our mission to be Christ in the world. We can choose to ignore who we are and are called to be. We can cover others’ light through failure to acknowledge them as children of God. But, as the prophet Isaiah says, when we embrace the whole human family, then our light shall break forth like dawn. Our participation in working for social justice is a way of standing with, of not turning our backs on our brothers and sisters.

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