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Prelates: Catholic Schools Give Life Training

May 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Irish Bishops’ Conference Issues Pastoral Letter

Irish bishops are defending the role of Catholic schools, noting that the Church’s educational institutions are focused on the development of the whole human person.The bishops’ conference issued a pastoral letter for Pentecost, titled “Vision 08: A Vision for Catholic Education in Ireland.”

Bishop Leo O’Reilly, chair of the Education Commission of the conference, launched the letter at a press conference Monday.

The letter, available also in leaflet format, initially asks the questions: “Why Catholic schools in modern Ireland? What is the special character of such schools? How do they contribute to society and the educational system of which they form such a significant part?”

And against that backdrop, the bishops set forth an “understanding of the nature and purpose of the Catholic school in Ireland today.”

Acknowledging that Catholic schools share many characteristics with public institutions, the bishops nevertheless affirmed that “Catholic schools seek to reflect a distinctive vision of life and a corresponding philosophy of education.”

“This is based on the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” the pastoral letter noted. “The Gospel sees the world in which we live as God’s creation. As human persons, we are made in God’s image and destined for everlasting life with God. Life is a pilgrimage in the footsteps of Jesus, who is ‘the Way, the Truth and the Life.’”

This underlying philosophy brings Catholic schools to focus on educating each student in all of the dimensions of the human person.

The letter explained: “Catholic education aims to help each student to develop his or her full potential as a human being. It will do so by preparing and disposing our pupils for this fullness of life, by enabling them to be people who are fully alive. Education means the development of the whole person.

“An education which makes no room to address the fundamental questions about the meaning of life could not be described as seeking such holistic development. By educating students in their every dimension according to the Gospel, Catholic schools seek to transform not only the individual human lives of our pupils but also, through them, the wider society which they will help to build.”

Reasoning

Like the Church itself, the bishops continued, Catholic educational institutions place high importance on the use of reason.

“Catholic education has always placed a high value on reason, both intellectual and practical,” the prelates wrote. “In continuity with the earliest traditions of the Church, it regards education and the cultivation of intellectual life as precious in themselves. It sees the use of rational thought and scientific analysis as essential to the advancement of technology and human progress.”

“The whole human person [...] is the focus of the Catholic school’s educational endeavor,” the letter continued. “Its mission is to help students to grow in confidence and self-esteem and to develop their humanity. It should lay foundations for life-long growth and hope, freed from ignorance and the other factors which can inhibit human flourishing.

“The promotion of a wide range of co-curricular activities within the school and the local community reflects this focus on the personal development of each pupil.”

Education in a Catholic school, the Irish bishops affirmed, is preparation for life.

“Catholic education is inspired by the Gospel and, as such, respects the freedom and dignity of every human being,” they stated. “It teaches students to recognize the difference between right and wrong in their personal lives and in their relations with others. It tries to develop each one’s capacity to reflect on and respond to the often difficult and complex moral issues which confront us as individuals and as a society.

“It does this in the light of the Gospel and the rich tradition of Catholic principles concerning respect for life, personal fidelity, justice, truthfulness and integrity of conscience.

“A central part of the endeavor of the Catholic school is to inculcate in pupils the qualities of personal integrity and moral courage which are marks of an authentic Christian personality.”

Courtesy Zenit.org


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