August brings back to school and a lot of more activities for so many families around the metroplex! We are all called to participate in our community, and Catholic Social Teaching highlights this through the Call to Family, Community, & Participation tenent.

The family is the foundation of our society. We are called to support family units, and as families we are called to participate in our community. We are a social people, and it is good to get together with each other! It is also important to notice who in our community is struggling. Together, we can serve those in need in our city and our neighborhoods.

CCD’s Educational Services mission focuses on families. Parents and children under the age of five come together to learn how to read and how to parent. We also assist with English lessons, social skills, development screenings, and parenting techniques. We just finished summer camp where students focused on reading skills to prevent the summer slide. Thanks to our partnership with the YMCA, students also completed a swimming safety program!

So many of our families share that the skills they learn in our programs help them to be better parents and better students. Not only do we teach parents and children how to read, but we also talk about WHY it’s important to read. We have a variety of programs that teach on-site both in West and East Dallas, and we have a satellite program that visits three different counties. If you want to learn more about our locations and services, please visit our website at ccdallas.org/education. We’ve also included a graphic here that you can use in your parish communications to share about our services with your parishioners.

We love sharing the love of learning with students young and old, and we invite you to share in this mission! We are always looking for diaper and wipes donations to help our families with their basic needs. We especially need larger sizes and toddler pull-ups. Baby shampoo and baby lotion help the kids we serve come in fresh every day for school. Thank you for any help you can provide!

As we all settle back into the school year, we want to thank the schools who included us in their in-service days! Thank you to All Saints and Christ the King for learning more about CCD and including us in your teacher training, and to JPII for including us in your community fair! We also can’t wait for our Cristo Rey students to serve on our campus again.

If your school wants to learn more about Catholic Social Teaching or CCD, please reach out to Rachel Ridgeway at rridgeway@ccdallas.org. If you are scheduling your parish’s presentations for the year, I would love for you to consider me! Feel free to reach out to dbuschow@cdallas.org.

We hope you have an amazing start to your school year. Until next time!

Learn more about CST

• Examination of Conscience in Light of CST
  • English PDF
  • Spanish PDF
  • Thank you to Our Lady of Angels, St. Marks, and St. Joseph in Waxahachie for inviting us out this month to share more about CCD and serving others! Find out more about presentation options here: Host a talk by Devyn