Something remarkable is happening in the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio.
Catholic schools there are experiencing what Bishop Earl K. Fernandes describes as “phenomenal growth,” with schools nearing capacity, a new elementary school preparing to open, and plans underway for a new Catholic high school, according to Vatican News.
For Catholics concerned about the future of the Church, the story is about far more than enrollment numbers.
It is a reminder of what is at stake when Catholics take seriously the responsibility to form the next generation.
“The opportunity to educate and to form the hearts, minds, and souls of our young people is tremendous,” Bishop Fernandes told Vatican News. “We want to bring everyone the joy of the Gospel and to accompany young people on their journey of faith.”
Those words should resonate far beyond Ohio. Every child is being formed. The question is: Who is doing the forming?
Today, young people spend countless hours surrounded by screens, social media, entertainment, algorithms, artificial intelligence, and a culture that increasingly presents a vision of the human person separated from God.
Catholics cannot surrender that formative space.
Bishop Fernandes addressed that challenge in his pastoral letter, “Catholic Education: An Act of Hope,” released at the beginning of the new school year. According to Vatican News, he emphasized that bishops, pastors, principals, teachers, and families share responsibility for evangelizing young people, while parents remain “the first educators of their children in the ways of faith.”
“Indeed, we are co-responsible for the evangelization of our young people,” he said.
That responsibility belongs to the entire Church.
Catholic Education Is Missionary Work
The growth of Catholic schools in Columbus demonstrates that families still hunger for education rooted in something deeper than academic achievement.
Catholic education exists not simply to produce successful students, but to help form human beings who understand who they are, why they were created, and where their ultimate destiny lies.
At the center of that formation must be Jesus Christ.
“Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life,” Bishop Fernandes told Vatican News. “We cannot impose Him, but we must propose Christ and all the newness that He brings.”
He described Catholic education as “the best defense of the human person against the secularization and against the technocratic paradigm that is dominating society today.”
But there is another reality Catholics must confront.
Millions of children around the world will never walk through the doors of a traditional Catholic school.
Some families cannot afford Catholic tuition. Others live hundreds of miles from the nearest Catholic school. Still others live in countries and communities where Catholic educational resources are scarce.
The Church therefore faces both a challenge and an extraordinary opportunity.
The Catholic classroom can now go global.
Catholic Online School Is Bringing the Classroom to the World
Your Catholic Voice Foundation has spent years building an answer to this challenge through Catholic Online School.
Today, Catholic Online School has surpassed 2.2 million student enrollments across 193 countries, with more than 10,000 Catholic video lessons available to learners.
And access is free.
A child does not have to live near a Catholic school.
A parent does not have to purchase an expensive curriculum.
A catechist does not have to build every lesson from scratch.
A family does not even have to live in the United States.
Where the internet can reach, Catholic education can reach.
That makes digital Catholic education one of the great missionary opportunities of our time.
Bishop Fernandes’ call to form the “hearts, minds, and souls” of young people reflects the same urgency behind the work of Your Catholic Voice Foundation.
The mission is simple: use the tools of this generation to teach the timeless truths of the Catholic Faith.
Building the New Catholic Classroom
Catholic Online School is only one part of that effort.
Through Your Catholic Voice Foundation’s growing Catholic Mission, children and families can encounter Christ through Journey with the Messiah, discover models of holiness through Journey with the Saints, explore the story and message of Our Lady of Guadalupe, study Scripture and Catholic teaching, learn the prayers of the Church, and access thousands of educational resources for students, parents, teachers, and catechists.
Together, these initiatives are helping create something previous generations of Catholics could scarcely have imagined: a Catholic formation infrastructure capable of reaching people across borders and oceans.
Previous generations sacrificed to build parish schools, convents, universities, seminaries, and religious education programs because they understood a fundamental truth.
The Faith must be handed on.
Our generation has exactly the same responsibility.
The tools have simply changed.
A Generation Is Being Formed Without Us
The growth occurring in Columbus should give Catholics hope.
It should also inspire action.
If families are filling Catholic schools, that tells us something important: Catholic formation still matters. Parents still want it. Children still need it. And the Church still has something the world cannot give them.
But the mission cannot end with the children fortunate enough to have a Catholic school nearby.
There are millions more waiting.
Your Catholic Voice Foundation is working to ensure that geography, income, and circumstance do not prevent a child from encountering Jesus Christ and learning the Catholic Faith.
That work depends upon Catholics who believe forming the next generation is worth investing in.
Donations help Catholic Online School and the broader Catholic Mission continue creating lessons, producing Catholic educational resources, developing new faith-formation projects, expanding global access, and keeping these resources available without cost to families around the world.
Behind 2.2 million enrollments are individual students.
Behind 193 countries are individual families.
Behind every lesson is an opportunity for someone to discover Christ.
Bishop Fernandes told Vatican News that the answer to life’s problems ultimately lies in Jesus Christ, “who is the same yesterday, today and forever.”
That is the Christ we must give to the next generation.
We already have the technology.
We have the lessons.
We have the resources.
We have millions of students walking through the doors of a Catholic classroom without walls.
Now we need Catholics willing to help keep those doors open.
They may never know your name.
But because of you, they can know His.
Educate the Child. Rebuild the Church.
