Superintendent of Catholic Schools Eileen McLaughlin speaks at the Dec. 4 press conference announcing the expansion of the Boston Family Days program to include all school-aged children in the city of Boston. Pilot photo/Wes Cipolla
BOSTON -- "You live in the Athens of America, and you spend your weekends at the mall."
Eileen McLaughlin, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Boston, remembers her high school teacher chiding her and her classmates for not taking advantage of the many cultural opportunities in their city. His words stuck with McLaughlin for the rest of her life.
After three months of collaboration between the Archdiocese of Boston Catholic Schools Office, the City of Boston, Boston Public Schools, and a host of other educational institutions, the thousands of students in Boston's Catholic schools will have more places than the mall to spend their weekends.
In February, the City of Boston launched BPS Sundays, a program giving each Boston Public Schools student and up to three guests free access to the Boston Children's Museum, Franklin Park Zoo, Institute of Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Science, and New England Aquarium on the first and second Sunday of each month. Starting on Jan. 5, 2025, the program, now known as Boston Family Days, will be expanded for the next two years and be open to all school-aged children who reside in Boston. Each child and up to two guests will have free access to those institutions, as well as the Museum of African American History, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on the first and second Sunday of the month. The new program was announced by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu at a press conference held at the Museum of Science on Dec. 4.
"I am so proud to be part of a city that prioritizes this type of cultural education for all of our students," McLaughlin said in her remarks.
She said that the program will help Boston's Catholic school students to "become citizens of the world" and continue their education outside of the classroom. McLaughlin is a lifelong resident of Brighton, and her sons, who both attend Catholic schools, regularly visit Boston's museums and cultural institutions.
"The program that we envisioned and that leaders advocated for, and that benefactors saw value in and supported, and that all of the other people figured out the logistics of how to make this happen, will now stick in the same way that it did for me as an adolescent," she said.
In her remarks, Mayor Wu thanked all of the school leaders and organizations who partnered with the city, including McLaughlin.
"From the very beginning, our goal here was to try to maximize access for everyone in the city, but we needed to start very carefully to see what was possible," she said. "And so after all these many months of understanding, measuring, tweaking, and working with our institutions, we are so excited today to be able to finally open the doors for more of our families and include more of the amazing spaces that make Boston a hub of culture, curiosity, and learning, and invite in all of the young people and families who power our city and bring it to life."
Catholic Schools Office Associate Superintendent of Government Programs Mary Goslin told The Pilot that since BPS Sundays began, the archdiocese hoped that it would be expanded to Catholic school students. When the city reached out to the archdiocese to make it happen, she said, it was "tremendous."
"We are absolutely delighted," she said. "We are grateful to Mayor Wu and are always looking to be inclusive, and we know that our families are going to take full advantage and reap the benefits of this additional learning and social environment."