By Matthew Ruhl, S.J., Pastor - St. Peter Claver Parish - Punta Gorda, Belize
A few months ago, I was asked to be the Chair of the Bishop’s Commission on Education after voicing concern to the General Manager of Catholic Schools, Celia Usher, about the economic future of Catholic primary education in my Parish. The Parish consists of 29 schools, 239 teachers, 4,054 students, and 110 buildings, all suffering from deferred maintenance. Celia listened to me and said, “Well Matt, if you multiply your problems by six (as in six districts in the country), you have my problems.”
“Celia,” I asked, “What’re we gonna do?”
She replied, “Well, I don’t know what you’re gonna do, but I know what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna get you named Chair of the Bishop’s Commission on Education, so my problems become our problems.”
So now I have 112 schools, 1,600 teachers, 32,000 students, and 432 buildings to worry about. Our primary goal is to get Catholic Primary Education on firm financial footing by September of 2026. To do that, we must undertake a five-million-dollar campaign to endow the Catholic School System of Belize. The campaign will be wrapped around The Lighthouse Ride, a coast-to-coast ride across the USA from June to September of 2025.
Our team of volunteers already has me on Instagram and Facebook and will soon launch a website through which contributions can be made. I will be touring the USA at different intervals from now until September of 2026.
In the meantime, we have instituted The Lighthouse Walk. Around every Valentine’s Day, our 32,000 children undertake walks around their village, town, or neighborhood, with the theme ‘Fall in Love with your Catholic School.’ Last Valentine’s Day, our children raised $60,000. Belize2020 is helping out right now with counsel while they consider how they might get more involved.
