As a result of my current course work, I have been asked to develop responses to several arguments against Catholic schools. Leading up to the Ontario provincial election in October 2007, some of the arguments against Catholic schools were:
Injustice
Historical anomaly
Cost
Discriminatory
The UN ruling
The separation of Church and State
As I ponder these comments, my other readings, my faith, and my role as a Catholic Principal, there is not a doubt in my mind and heart that Catholic schools are still very relevant in Ontario in the 21st century.
As I frame my responses, I am struck by an article by Father James T. Mulligan. His comments allude to three large but critically important contextual considerations and challenges which affect every Catholic school board in Ontario and consequently every Catholic school principal.
Context # 1 - Paradigm Shift
According to Father Mulligan, a major shift has taken place in the way a significant segment of the non-Catholic Ontario public now perceives the privilege of Catholic education. We must demonstrate clearly and effectively how our Catholic schools contribute richly to the intellectual, social, cultural and ethical life of the province of Ontario.
Context #2 - Economic and Social Brokenness
In the face of poverty and a so-called jobless recovery, Catholic schools are challenged, in collaboration with their staffs, to make the ideal of a preferential option for the poor a reality in each school.
Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI have lamented about moral relativism and excessive individualism. Father Mulligan states that we need to help our students, in age appropriate ways, to recognize these moral vacuums and then present to them the gospel alternative.
Context #3 - A Fragile Church
The clergy abuse that has surfaced over the last 25 years and more recently highlighted in the churches of Antigonish, Ireland and Cornwall has wounded the credibility of the church. This does not help our work and ministry as Catholic educators.
Father Mulligan alludes to the tension between the small "c" Catholics and large "C" Catholics. The latter participate in the Sunday Eucharist and the sacramental life of the church and try to live out the Gospel. The former are baptized but are loosely affiliated with the Eucharist and participation in the life and teaching of the church. Our challenge is for everyone affiliated with Catholic schools (students, parents, teachers and administrators) to make it our mission to achieve a critical mass of large "C" Catholic educators.
Any comments or views you would like to share would be appreciated. Please remember that mid-term reports will be distributed this Friday, November 19th to your children.
Mr. DeSantis,
ReplyDeleteI'd like to add to the list a fourth crucial 'contextual consideration': recognition of and respect for the Catholic teacher.I take very seriously the personal role-modeling and professionalism of the classroom teacher. I believe it's with the teacher that large "C" Catholic education begins.
I had the privilege of teaching in Welland, in the 80s, at Notre Dame College school where Father Mulligan was not just the Provincial for the Holy Cross teaching order but a classroom teacher himself. We actually taught in adjoining portables one semester. Father Mulligan was an educator with a passion for his teaching subject,the classroom and kids. I remember him as an elegant, articulate spokesperson for a type of Catholicism I grew up and see sadly missing today in our schools. He is also someone who doesn't mince words: unafraid at times to chide teachers & administrators for their sloppiness, unprofessionalism and arrogance. SomethingI've seen him do not a few times.
When I left the Welland Separate system for Halton the disparities between teaching style, environment and commitment to teaching excellence could not have been more glaring to me. I missed the large "C" Catholic component in education as was exemplified in the teaching practice of this remarkable priest and in that of many others with whom I had the privilege of beginning my teaching career.
Ours is a small "c" Catholic system, and one cause of this small "c" teaching milieu (among others) I'd like to refer to lies in the area of staff-administration relations. Ours is a profession where the work of the classroom teacher must be seen as primary and where teachers get recognition finally for experience, academic excellence and commitment to Catholic principles. It begins with the Catholic teacher and the classroom: everything else stems from that.The teacher is a living "profession of faith" and must set the standard for academic and Catholic integrity.
Mr. C.DiDiodato (St.Thomas Aquinas Secondary, Oakville)
This morning I asked my daughter, why do you think catholic education is important?
ReplyDeleteShe told me that she thought catholic education was important “because practicing my faith everyday brings me closer to my faith”. This does not mean she does not argue about the human constructs of the church, its strengths and its failings. Nor does she accept the views of some of the teachers and their interpretation of what is Catholic. For her, these things are and should be debatable. But by having the opportunity to practice her faith daily, in school, in a faith based educational community, she is learning the strengths and the acceptance and love of Jesus Christ.
All that I struggled to put into words she easily put together in one sentence: “It brings me closer to my faith”. I am a product of primarily a public school education. I began the practice of my faith as an adult. I was a small “c” catholic, until my 30’s’. I did not have the backbone of a family that practiced their faith or experienced the renewal that attending mass provides. I did not understand the peace that was part of being with our Lord, nor the power of prayer, nor the caring community that is built when we practice our faith together. It was not part of my day until I struggled to make it a part of my day. But my daughter knows and understands all of this at 17. She gets it…what has taken me over 50 years to understand…she knows from her daily practice at school and our weekly attendance at church.
Her Catholicism is a part of her and an essential part of her strength. Would she understand this with such certainty without catholic education? I don’t think so. The gifts of love, tolerance, acceptance,service and prayer that are an integrated part of Catholic education and faith based initiatives has helped to build a young woman who lives in an age of sexism, consumerism and narcissism. She lives in a time where public and private lives collide on the internet and the social pressures have caused record numbers of our youth to suffer from depression and anxiety. But, I believe that her experience in the catholic school system has assisted her in navigating through that world, not without incident, but with compassion and faith.
If we relinquish the right to Catholic education for our youth we release them into a world that cares little for the content of their character and views them as a measurable commodity. The sound of the secular world continues to grow stronger and it is increasingly invasive in our lives. We will continue suffer the results of its voracious and relentless call to greed and ‘me’ first, and rob them of the gift of faith, and the strength that comes with it.
If ever there were a time when catholic education would be under fire, it is now and perhaps never has it been more required to balance and provide strength to a generation that needs a reason to believe, to have faith, and to know the love of God in their daily life.