MEETING WITH CATHOLIC EDUCATORS
ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND
SEPTEMBER 12, 1984
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
This evening in this Basilica dedicated to
Saint John the Baptist I feel very
close to all of you. I feel that I belong very much to Newfoundland.
It is indeed a joy and privilege to join this gathering of
educators, to speak to those who carry out
one of the most important tasks of the Church
and of society. The task of the teacher and the school is indeed a sacred trust conveyed to them by parents and
families. As Catholic educators you
have accepted a special responsibility given by parents. These
parents and families have invested in you their precious confidence. On her part the Church looks upon you as
co-workers, with an important measure of shared responsibility, in helping
to fulfill Christ's mandate transmitted through the Apostles: "Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations ... teaching them to observe all that I have
commanded you" (Mt 28:20).
To you it is given to create the future
and give it direction by offering to your students a
set of values with which to assess their newly discovered knowledge. Few challenges are more exalting and rewarding than
the instruction and guidance of young people, and few more difficult. You are preparing for adulthood and Christian maturity
a generation of Newfoundlanders,
of Canadians, who will build the Church and the society of tomorrow.
As you pursue your professional and spiritual
goals as teachers, or as educational
administrators, you experience the ambiguities and conflicts which characterize our contemporary society.
In the span of a single lifetime,
we have seen enormous changes in social values, in economic circumstances, and
in technological innovation. As educators you must cope with these changes
since they are the daily experience and fare of your students.
At the same time as a teacher and a school
system seek to adapt continually to the new, they must affirm and preserve
the meaning and importance
of perennial truths and values. Educators must be ready to grasp firmly the challenge of providing a kind of education whose curriculum will be inspired more by reflection than by technique,
more by the search for wisdom than the
accumulation of information.
In the same way, the radically different cultural expressions and
activities of our time, especially those which catch the popular attention of young people, demand that educators be open
to new cultural influences and be capable of interpreting them for young
people in the light of the Christian faith and of Christ's universal command of
love.
It has always been difficult to be a Christian, and even more
difficult to be a truly Christian teacher, especially if that teacher is called to bear witness from within a secular
system. Every age presents a new set of problems as well as fresh
opportunities to witness to the redemptive love of Jesus Christ.
You are called to bring professional
competence and a high standard of excellence to your teaching. To influence your students at this juncture of history to grow in faith and in love, you
must be aware of the pressures upon
them and at once respect the natural stages of their growth toward maturity. But your responsibilities make
demands upon you which go far beyond the need for professional skills and competence.
An extremely important aspect of your role is
that you are called to lead the
young to Christ, to inspire them to follow
him, to show them his boundless love and
concern for them, through the example of your own life. Through
you, as through a clear window on a sunny day, students must come to see and
know the richness and the joy of life
lived in accordance with his teaching, in
response to his challenging demands. To teach means not only
to impart what we know, but also to reveal who we are by living what we believe. It is this latter lesson which tends
to last the longest. En masse, the
students of the world are today repeating to their Catholic teachers
those words recorded in the Gospel of Saint John and originally addressed to the Apostle Philip: "We wish to
see Jesus" (Jn 12:21). This is indeed a vital task of the Catholic
teacher: to show Jesus to the young. Saint Paul looked upon his own ministry as
a prolonged travail in forming
Christ in those whom he was
called to serve (cf. Ga 4:19).
As
teachers and educators, you also share in the proclamation of theword in the service of truth. You seek to liberate the mind and spirit of those whom you teach, guiding them to
maturity in faith, knowledge and understanding. By offering your students the truth of Christ you are likewise helping them to experience his
freedom. You are thus engaged in the authentic liberation of this generation of students, to whom Jesus Christ, who calls himself the "Truth", repeats his
Gospel promise: "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed"
(Jn 8:36). You are called to serve
and spread Christ's liberating truth.
Young
people today are buffeted in every direction by loud and competing claims upon their attention and
allegiance. From around the world,
they hear daily messages of conflict and hostility, of greed and injustice, of poverty and despair. Amidst
this social turmoil, young people are eager to find solid
and enduring values which can give meaning and purpose to their lives. They are searching for a firm place - a high
ground - on which to stand. They seek a sense of direction, a goal which will give meaning and purpose to their lives.
The Gospel tells us where the high ground is
to be found. It is beside
our Lord, sharing in his
strength and love, responding eagerly and generously to his challenge to love
and serve him, as he has loved and served us. Who can show young people the way
to that secure place, to that dynamic
and fulfilling life, better than the teachers to whom they look for guidance? No one else will ever be where you
are. No one else will ever have the
opportunity you have to accompany students in the search for truth, to foster in them a
thirst for justice, and an appreciation of the goodness of God, to lead them patiently and lovingly in their journey of
faith.
Young people are hungry today for truth and
justice because they are hungry for God. To
respond to that hunger is the highest calling of the Christian educator. In partnership with the
parents, who bear the primary responsibility for the
education of their children, the teacher is called upon to reflect, in faithful and discerning fashion, God's
presence in the world.
Teachers and parents must strive for a mature spirituality in
their own lives, a strength and relevance of
faith which can withstand the assault
of conflicting values upon the home and the school. If the teaching of the Gospel is visible in your daily
lives, it will have visible influence
upon the young whom you teach. When young people see their
teachers and parents, whom
they love, as people committed to Jesus Christ, people
whose lives are inspired by that commitment, the meaning and the message of faith is spontaneously communicated to them and the
Good News is announced once again in and to
the world.
The specific goals of Christian education as described by the Second Vatican Council take into account the many
needs of the young. These goals are a constant challenge to you and spell out your lofty work:
"Christian education ... aims above all at ensuring that the baptized ... may grow ever more
conscious of the gift of faith which they have received; that they may learn to adore God the Father in
spirit and in truth (cf. Jn 4:23), especially through liturgical worship; and that they may be prepared to live their
personal lives according to a new nature in justice and holiness of truth (Ep 4:22-24), so that
they may reach perfect maturity,
the measure of the fullness of Christ (Ep 4:13) and make their contribution to
the increase of the Mystical Body" (Gravissimum Educationis, 2).
Here in the Province of Newfoundland and in other Provinces
throughout Canada, your forebears struggled
over the years to have a Catholic educational system where
these ideals for Catholic teachers and principles of Catholic education might best be applied. It is
a precious heritage which has been
confided to you, a heritage which makes a positive and valued contribution not only to the Church
but to society as well.
Catholic schools can provide young people
with insights and spiritual incentives
badly needed in a materialistic and fragmented world. Catholic schools speak of the meaning of life,
of values and of faith that make for a meaningful life. Similarly, since individualism is often alienating, Catholic schools must hand on and reinforce a sense of
community, of social concern and the
acceptance of difference and diversity in pluralistic societies. While professing an institutional
commitment to the word of God as
proclaimed by the Catholic Church,
they must inculcate an attitude of profound respect for the conscience of others and a deep desire for Christian
unity.
While striving for excellence in the areas of
professional and technical
training, Catholic schools must never forget that their ultimate purpose is to prepare young people to take up, in Christian
freedom, their personal and social responsibility for the pilgrimage of all humanity to eternal life.
For these same reasons Catholic schools,
while always committed to intellectual
development, will also heed the Gospel imperative of serving all students and not only those who are the brightest and most
promising. Indeed, in accord with the spirit
of the Gospel, and its option for the poor, they will turn their attention particularly to those most in
need.
All men and women - and all children, have a right
to education. Closely linked
to this right to education is the right of parents, of families, to choose according to their convictions the kind of
education and the model of school which they wish for their children (Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, Art. 26).
Related as well is the no less sacred
right of religious freedom.
In a society such as Canada's, people's freedom to associate and
enter into certain groups or institutional
endeavours with the aim of fulfilling their expectations according to
their own values is a fundamental democratic
right. This right implies that parents have a real possibility to choose, without undue financial burden placed upon them, appropriate schools
and educational systems for their children. Here in Newfoundland I note that
you view education as a partnership between the Church and the Province. Fortunately, in other parts of Canada
similar cooperation between Church
and government exists. I realize that this varies from Province to
Province.
Society is called to provide for and support with public funding
those types of schools that correspond to
the deepest aspirations of its citizens. The role of the modern State is to respond to these expectations within the limits of the common good. A State
thereby promotes harmony, and, in a pluralistic situation such as
Canada, this effectively fosters respect for the wide diversity of this land.
To ignore this diversity and the legitimate claims of the
people within various groups would be to deny a fundamental right to parents.
Governments have the responsibility, therefore, to ensure the
freedom of ecclesial Communions to have appropriate educational services
with all that such a freedom implies: teacher training, buildings, research funding, adequate financing and so forth.
In a pluralistic society it is surely a challenge to provide all citizens with satisfactory educational services.
In dealing with this complex
challenge one must not ignore the centrality of God in the believer's outlook on life. A totally secular school system would not be a way of meeting this challenge. We cannot leave God
at the schoolhouse door.
Dear teachers and parents, the Catholic
school is in your hands. It is a reflection of your convictions. Its very existence depends on you. It is one of those privileged places,
together with the family and the parish community, where our faith is handed on. The Catholic
school is a community
effort, one that
cannot succeed without the cooperation of all concerned - the students, the parents, the teachers, the
principals and pastors. As
parents, you claim a special responsibility and privilege. You are the first witnesses and artisans of the awakening in your
children of the sense of God. You bear the
first responsibility of bringing them to the sacraments of Christian initiation. In this work you are assisted and
helped by the school and the parish.
Our world searches for a new sense of meaning
and coherence. A Catholic school
through the ministry of Catholic teachers is a privileged place for the development and communication of a world-view rooted
in the meaning of Creation and Redemption. You are called, dear educators and parents,
to create those schools which will transmit the values which you would hand on to those who will come after you.
And always remember it is Christ who
says: Go and Teach!