In the final few weeks of Lent, leading to Holy Week and the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter, Bishop Frank J. Dewane has been encouraging Catholic school students to refocus their faith lives and finish the Lenten Season strong.
Bishop Dewane has celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for students at seven Diocesan Catholic schools since Ash Wednesday (March 5, 2025), with more to come before Holy Week. His message has been to remind each student how Lent is a Season of sacrifice with its call to pray, to fast, and to give alms.
“How are you doing on that?” Bishop Dewane asked during a Mass on March 24, 2025, for students at St. Ann Catholic School in Naples. “Christ does ask a lot of us, and we need to pray a little more often. Perhaps there will be a little less play time, less watching TV, or less time on your devices. It needs to be a sacrifice to respond to that request of the Lord. In the Old Testament, the sacrifice was to butcher an animal. That is not the kind of sacrifice Jesus wants. We are all called to be part of the People of God, and as such during this Lenten Season to make sacrifices. We do that through those three central aspects of the Lenten Season: to pray, to fast, and to give alms.”
While making any sacrifice can be seen as a burden, Bishop Dewane explained that what the Lord asks is a demonstration of our love for God.
“Christ really asks us to demonstrate those three things (prayer, fasting, almsgiving) by the life we live, by the way we treat those around us, and how it is we give respect to God during this Lenten Season,” Bishop Dewane continued. “It is my prayer that you are all conscious to make a sacrifice at this time of year and that you set about to do that. Are you doing that?”
“YES!” the students said in unison.
The Bishop said he was pleased by their positive response and added that they need to keep up this effort on their own.
“No one else can do it for you,” Bishop Dewane concluded. “You said ‘yes,’ but you have some work to do. We all do, as we continue this Lenten journey, we must be ever more the doers of our faith. Let us practice that for the remainder of the Season.”
Masses celebrated by Bishop Dewane in the past week were at St. Ann Catholic School in Naples, March 24; St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic School in Naples, March 25; and St. Martha Catholic School and St. Mary Academy in Sarasota, March 26. Additional Masses will be celebrated prior to Easter. Earlier Masses were celebrated at Cardinal Mooney Catholic High School in Sarasota, March 5 (Ash Wednesday); St. Charles Borrome o Catholic School in Port Charlotte, March 7; and Incarnation Catholic School in Sarasota, March 13.
When time permitted, Bishop Dewane spoke with eighth grade students while also answering their questions. A group photo was also taken.
