Catholic Schools – Normal Lives, Called to Holiness’ Catholic schools across Ireland will celebrate Catholic Schools Week 2026 from 18–24 January under the theme ‘Catholic Schools – Normal Lives, Called to Holiness’, inviting pupils, families and school communities to reflect on how holiness is lived through ordinary daily life. Inspired by the words of Pope Francis on Saint Carlo Acutis, the theme emphasises that holiness is not reserved for a select few, but is a universal calling.  “Holiness does not mean performing extraordinary things, but doing ordinary things with love and faith,” Pope Francis said, reflecting on the young Italian whose life of friendship, study and digital creativity was rooted in a deep love of the Eucharist. In his message, Archbishop Eamon Martin said, “Pope Leo described recently our Catholic schools as being like stars in the constellation of all of the schools and universities that are out there.   And that’s a real challenge for all of us as we approach Catholic schools week.  How can our schools be like stars for others to look at and to gaze at?  There is something extraordinary about the stars and yet at the same time there is something very ordinary and normal about them.  Everyone in our Catholic schools can be a star, can be someone who leads others to the light, away from the darkness of sin and the awful things that are out there.  We are all called to be stars in the nighttime for other young people.  That is what Pope Francis once said.  But we are all called to do so as we are, as normal everyday people,  and we can do that through doing normal things extraordinarily well.  We can do that by being a good friend to others, by being forgiving or showing compassion and love and generosity to someone who needs our help or by being a good person in our families and in our homes, being good to our parents, our grandparents.” Catholic Schools Week draws on the words of Pope Leo XIV, who recently affirmed that “the saints show us that holiness is not about escape from the world, but deep engagement with it in the Spirit of Christ.”