{"id":95545,"date":"2026-01-24T12:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T12:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/95545\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T12:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T12:27:09","slug":"diocese-of-allentown-catholic-schools-prepare-for-celebratory-week-to-close-out-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/95545\/","title":{"rendered":"Diocese of Allentown Catholic Schools prepare for celebratory week to close out January"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 33 Catholic schools in the Diocese of Allentown will be on display starting Sunday, as they observe Catholic Schools Week with open houses and service projects.<\/p>\n

All schools will celebrate Mass on Wednesday to observe the 65th anniversary of the diocese\u2019s founding.<\/p>\n

Catholic Schools Week, the annual nationwide celebration of parochial schools, comes as the Allenton Diocese sees continued strong enrollment in its schools; the last five years of enrollment data show the pre-K through 12th grade population growing from 9,074 to 9,174. The diocese\u2019s campuses are spread across Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton and Schuylkill counties.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile enrollment has stabilized since the rise seen during the pandemic, our recognition for academic achievement continues to grow. Notably, eighth-grade proficiency rates in reading and math within the Diocese of Allentown surpass the Pennsylvania state average by 14%,\u201d Cara Meskill, the director of enrollment for the diocese\u2019s Office of Education, said in an email.<\/p>\n

Other highlights from the diocese include $82 million in scholarships earned by 2025 graduates and $10 million granted in tuition assistance, Meskill said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am profoundly grateful for the vital role our schools play in the life of our local Church. They are not merely institutions of academic learning, but vibrant centers of evangelization and formation, where young people are nurtured in faith, guided in virtue, and prepared for a life of service and integrity. Our Catholic schools are a gift to the Church and our society,\u201d Bishop Alfred Schlert said in an email statement.<\/p>\n

A full schedule of open houses and other events can be found at adschools.org<\/a>. Here\u2019s a sampling of happenings at Lehigh Valley campuses:<\/p>\n

Holy Family School<\/p>\n

17 N. Convent Ave., Nazareth<\/p>\n

The week will feature events such as schoolwide Bingo on Monday and a Wacky Olympics on Wednesday. On Thursday, the alumni committee will present a $2,500 donation to cover half the cost of the Lego Spike Prime robotics and engineering program. The Open House originally scheduled for Sunday has been moved to March 15 due to weather.<\/p>\n

St. Elizabeth Regional School<\/p>\n

433 Pershing Blvd., Whitehall Township<\/p>\n

St. Elizabeth\u2019s open house has been moved to 11 a.m. Feb. 1. Those who wish to support the school through food can reserve a spot at the spaghetti dinner Saturday or mention St. Elizabeth\u2019s at the Macarthur Road Chick-Fil-A in Whitehall 5-8 p.m. Tuesday. The school will also be collecting cans of soup for the local Soup Kitchen \u2014 it requests anything but tomato.<\/p>\n

St. Jane Frances de Chantal School<\/p>\n

1900 Washington Blvd., Easton<\/p>\n

An open house featuring a Scholastic Book Fair has been moved to Feb. 1. The week prior, students will enjoy events ranging from a laser light show to a dance marathon. A school-wide food drive will benefit the Easton Area Catholic Food Pantry.<\/p>\n

St. Joseph the Worker School<\/p>\n

1858 Applewood Drive, South Whitehall Township<\/p>\n

The week\u2019s entertainment begins with a Community Heroes Parade on Monday and wraps with a Knights of Columbus free throw contest and pep rally Friday. Families can learn more about the school\u2019s two-year preschool program, which starts next year, at the open house noon to 2 p.m. on Feb. 1.<\/p>\n

Allentown Central Catholic High School<\/p>\n

301 N. Fourth St., Allentown<\/p>\n

Partner elementary schools will receive treats during the high school\u2019s week-long outreach visits. A pep rally open to parents concludes the school week at 1:30 p.m. Friday, while the school\u2019s open house will be 2-4 p.m. Feb. 1.<\/p>\n

Bethlehem Catholic High School<\/p>\n

2133 Madison Ave., Bethlehem<\/p>\n

Career development will be a focus as the high school hosts its first annual career fair and hosts alumna Madelyn Dundon, who will discuss the film industry following a showing of her movie \u201cHazel\u2019s Heart.\u201d The Class of 2016 graduate is a three-time Freddy Award winner. The entire school will be on display 2-4 p.m. Feb. 1 for an open house.<\/p>\n

Notre Dame High School<\/p>\n

3417 Church Road, Bethlehem Township<\/p>\n

An open house, 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, will kick off the week. Faculty and staff from partner elementary schools will travel to the high school Wednesday for a brunch, and community outreach will continue Thursday as Notre Dame students collect essential items such as toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo and socks for Safe Harbor and Allentown Mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 33 Catholic schools in the Diocese of Allentown will be on display starting Sunday, as they observe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[119,153,155,154,227,433,182,139,28,432],"class_list":["post-95545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-allentown","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-education","tag-lehigh-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}