Saturday, December 01, 2007
Golly...
...a Bishop seems to have spoken out about the reality of Catholic schools, and the tragic fact that in many cases they are simply not teaching the Catholic Faith. Look at this link, which is a detailed report from the Diocese of Lancaster, called Fit for Mission. It is a rallying-call to restore Catholic schools as places of faith and commitment to the fullness of the Church's mission, right down to things like having crucifixes prominently in central locations, use of the Catechism as the foundation of RE, emphasis on weekly adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, regular confession, the Rosary, and more...it is all inspiring and encouraging. The only bleak bit comes in discussing implementation...oh dear...discussions...conferences...a Plan...and all, presumably, in the hands of the same bureaucracy that has helped to produce the mess that we have now. But if the Bishops stands firm and brings in some good people to help, he will go down in history as having done a great and decent thing in bringing about long overdue change and offering hope to new generations of the Catholic young.
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3 comments:
Thank God. In my parish we are told from the pulpit of the necessity of frequent confession, and exhorted to pray for vocations. These are just two examples of the sort of things that are needed, yet missing in so many places. Small wonder we set parish records for confessions and have two young men in the seminary, and a third in the seminary who is from another parish, yet traveled weekly to serve Mass at our altar.
We have a mandated set of RE textbooks in the archdiocese in which I live and they are duly purchased by the children each year but often the teachers just copy the chapter headings and teach what they wish to teach.
It saddens me to read about the 'state' of Catholic education (which usually tends to lean toward the negative) when I know of at least six Catholic schools in our local area that are working wholeheartedly toward a united Catholic front, with sound, solid Catholic teaching; where the local priests work hand-in-hand with the schools to maintain a Catholic ethos and true Catholic teaching.
Can the blame for 'lax standards' in Catholic schools not be placed fairly and squarely on the shoulders of management in the schools that are Catholic in name only? (Management being the head, deputy head, senoir leadership team and governing body) who, after all is said and done, set the standards? Dare I ask the question:- Are these leaders committed Catholics themselves?
At St Joseph's New Malden,Surrey, a new endeavour of Fr. Peter's, called ACE (Association for Catholics in Education)took root on the 17th of October 2007. Following along the lines of already established Nurses and Dr's Guilds, ACE intends to encourage all involved in Catholic Education (teachers, heads, govenors, TA's, ancillary staff) to come together at least once a term to network, listen to insightful and inspiring speakers and gain strength and encouragement from their Catholic colleagues in the spirit of Christ Jesus.
John Lydon form St. Mary's College/University was the first speaker and he addressed a number of challenges we are facing in Catholic education at present.(amongst other relevant and interesting topics.)
He left us with much food for thought!
Within this framework of support and recognition,Catholics in education can find answers to questions, discuss issues of mutual interest and find a space in a busy term to connect with like-minded collegues that care about the importance of Catholic education.
Way to go Fr. Peter!
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