Values

The Dominican Order is based on four pillars: study, prayer, community, and service. Overbrook Catholic School, owned and operated by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, was established on those same four guiding pillars.

Study
Overbrook Catholic School maintains a high standard of academic excellence, preparing students for higher levels of education while acknowledging and providing for individual learning. The faculty and staff made up of Sisters and lay teachers, provide an atmosphere in which children can grow to their fullest potential as they aim to find the truth in every subject.

Students’ lives are further enriched through a comprehensive fine arts program and a versatile physical education program. These classes develop a positive self-concept, which helps students recognize every person is created by God and has unique gifts and talents.

Prayer
As a Catholic school, we pray Christ permeates through the students’ entire day and is the source of their strength, the goal of their actions, and the center of their lives. Students are taught the worth of each individual as one made in the image and likeness of God. This dignity of life focus is developed by fostering a deep prayer life and by participating in the liturgy and Holy Sacraments. Students study religion through prayer and scripture. School-wide Mass is held each Friday morning.

Community
Overbrook Catholic School places great value on the virtues of relationship and community. God did not intend for man to travel on a journey alone, but to experience life together as a community that seeks the common good and has concern for those in need. Teachers prepare students for the duties of good citizenship through the development of character and leadership. An emphasis is placed on community through our Mass and Book Buddy program and throughout the year with our many family activities and events.

Service
Friendship with God invites us into friendship and communion with our neighbor, urging us to communicate His goodness and love to the world through service. In the words of Saint Catherine of Siena, “when we see ourselves loved so indescribably much by God, we run after love, loving God and whatever God loves most . . . And because we see that the Creator loves His human creatures most of all, we love them, too; and the service we cannot do for God we do for other people for love of Him (from the “Letters” #301 in Vol. III)." As students at Overbrook Catholic School grow, they also learn to step outside themselves and love the Lord by loving others.