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System Identity: What makes us Catholic?
System Identity:
What makes us
Catholic?
What does it mean to us Catholic
to name an education system?
Catholic ed. has a Transcendent
instead of an Imminent foundation
Education from a Faith-in-God
perspective on life
Suggests spiritual values that
should permeate whole system
The system of Catholic education
should serve its faith-based mission
Needs an organization in which
people share a commitment to the
mission; otherwise a bureaucracy
Determined by mission of Jesus
Christ; for the coming of God’s reign
of justice and fullness of life for all –
“on earth as in heaven”
Suggests many life-giving and
universal values to permeate
system; will review some
The heart of Catholic system of
education is the heart of its
agents – their spirituality
Your taking your own faith-
based values and putting them
to work – is key
For Reflection Conversation
What are some of the spiritual/faith-based values that you bring and put to work each day?
Think of some practical ways that they shape what you do and how you do it
A contextual note:
Remaining a God-centered and
faith-based educational system – a
particular challenge now
Cannot take for granted; tempted to
downplay system’s identity –
become a parallel v an alternative
A tension since early Church;
should it sponsor schools of enough
to teach Christian faith?
Began to forge the “Catholic
intellectual tradition” – a
partnership of “faith and reason”
with each needing the other
Education as “a work of salvation”
Monastic to cathedral schools, to
first universities, to modern &
mission education
You continue a 2,000 year legacy
But now challenged!
Enlightenment movement of
Western culture banished “God”
and faith from center of
education; “reason alone”
Challenge intensified by
emergence of “a secular age”
(Charles Taylor)
Three form of secularization:
1) Separation of Church and
State – a wise arrangement
2) Drop off of religious practice
3) Conditions of belief have
changed so as to marginalize
faith or offer alternatives (an
exclusive humanism)
Even Jesus wondered, “when I come again, will there be faith on earth? (Luke 18:8)
Faith (and thus schools) now challenged; sometimes by Church itself
Demands persuasive apologetic –the benefits of Catholic faith and education
Whole system must know the whatand why of education grounded in Catholic faith
For Reflection and
Conversation
Your own sense of current
challenges to Catholic ed?
As a system, how best to meet
the challenges?
The potential and opportunity?
How to maximize possibilities?
Proposal: Catholic education
arises from the deep
structures of Catholic
Christian faith – to permeate
the whole system
From faith in God as revealed
in Jesus - as unconditional
Love and favor for all
From faith in God’s Spirit at
work throughout life & world
To have faith in themselves, in
others, in life – because in God
From faith in Jesus Christ: New
awareness of centrality of Jesus
to Catholic faith – and to its
educators/schools/systems
Core: not Bible, church, laws,
sacraments, dogmas, but “At
the heart we find a Person, the
Person of Jesus of Nazareth,
only Son from the Father”(CCC #426)
Jesus of History, walked roads of Galilee, preaching reign of
God’s love, mercy, compassion, peace and justice
To love God, neighbor, and self –even enemies
Worked miracles to heal sick, feed
hungry, drive out evil
Fulfilled Is 61:1; see Lk 4:16-21
We educate “in that name” (Acts
4:18) –and “for that life” of being a disciple of Jesus (Acts 5:20)
Jesus referred to as Educator and teaching 150 times
Catholic school system should reflect the values of Jesus
If modeled on Jesus the Educator – then:
A system of love and care
“Greatest Commandment” –
God, self, neighbor – with all
mind, heart, and strength.
“New Commandment” to love
as God loves
A system of genuine love?
Forge a Hospitable & Inclusive
Community
• Jesus distinctive for his
outreach (to poor, women,
children) and inclusion of all
A truly “catholic” (katha holos)
system; will include all in
welcome and outreach – nurture
and engage the best gifts of all
Committ of Service to Human Condition
Said he had come not to be served but to serve
Put to death for the values for which he lived
System to serve mission and all its participants
Promote dignity and agency of
all in the system
Treated all with respect; intent
to empower people as agents
instead of dependents - “your
faith has saved you.” Sermon
on Mount to “the crowds” (Mt 7:
28), “you are salt of the earth
light of the world” (Mt 5: 13-14)
Practice Compassion and
Justice
Jesus favored the ones who
needed the favor most – weak,
poor, excluded; least, lost, last
With Reign of God, he rejected
injustices of his day
To all what they need, not just
what they earn (11th hour, Mt 20:1-16)
Reflection/Conversation
Implications of putting values
of Jesus at center of your work
in Catholic school system?
How this might enrich your
daily life?
Some particular Catholic values
An understanding of the person – all made in divine image & likeness; alive by life of God; with innate
goodness confirmed by Incarnation
A positive outlook on life By God’s grace we can be agents of God’s
reign in the world; life as meaningful and worthwhile
An appreciation of Creation –reflects presence of God; to be its
responsible stewards
For Catholic education system
Deep respect for dignity of all
involved; to care for wellbeing of
the whole person
To be a place of growth for all
participants; encouraging their
talents; shaping outlook on life in
positive ways for self & allothers
To practice responsibility to
environment; recycling?
A communality – that we are “made for each other.” Encourages community within school system and for the common good of all
A way of knowing – to think, judge and make decisions as agents of their own knowledge and toward spiritual wisdom for life
A legacy – that teaches traditions of liberal arts, sciences and faith “for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51)
For Catholic education system:
A caring community throughout the
whole system – with its rituals,
celebrations, supports – esp. crises
A way of knowing that encourages
critical thinking (reason, memory,
imagination),judging, and deciding
Encourage education that prepares
people to make a living & have a life
A politics - that promotes justice
for all on every level, with favor
for the least, lost, and last – for
the poor of every kind
A spirituality - that honors and
nurtures the “God-shaped
hollow in the human heart that
nothing else can fill” (Pascal)
For Catholic education system?
• To practice what we preach,
both within and without by way
of justice for all – colleagues too!
Should nurture the spiritual life
and personal formation of all in
the system – regardless of their
“religion”
Reflection & Conversation How might these values and commitments shape your own participation in a Catholic school system?
How will they enrich your life and work as a person?
How to continue your own formation as staff in Catholic education?
Thomas Groome, Boston
College [email protected]
For further reading see
Groome, Will There Be Faith
(Harper 2011) and Educating
for Life (Crossroads, 2003)
God’s grace – ever at high tide
