montag
13-08-2007, 12:33 PM
In debates over the nature of Catholic schools, the issue of their identity and how we measure their success in terms of that identity are fundamental. I concur fully with the argument that we need to be more energetic in re-presenting our tradition and more unapologetic in proclaiming the gospel.
A school that is Catholic in name only serves no one's interests. We should insist that students leave our schools religiously literate, even as we accept that faith is a gift which our students are free to accept or reject. But we should be careful not to step back from an appreciation of the impact of our schools in a wider sense. Catholic identity is not a narrow thing, and our schools represent the church's most significant engagement with modern society.
In the Jesuit tradition of education, reaching back nearly five centuries, there has always been an expansive understanding of the enterprise. It is about faith and the individual, faith and learning, faith and culture, faith and justice.
The federal Defence Minister, Brendan Nelson, has written of his education: "[The Jesuits] … taught me that four values underwrite a successful life. Commitment. You should consistently apply yourself to that in which you believe. Conscience. Continually ask yourself, 'What is the right thing to do?' Compassion. Always try to share another person's pain, to place your self in their shoes. Finally, you will need courage - to have a brave heart." No doubt some of Dr Nelson's teachers would question aspects of the path he has followed in living out these values, though this would be true of all of us.
Yet Dr Nelson's words are not a bad summary of our hopes for our students. I would add the virtue of faith, a faith in the God who is our origin and goal, faith in a God who walks with us in Jesus, and faith in ourselves as the artwork of God.
To speak of our hopes for the graduate of a Jesuit education is not to think of an assembly line of graduates. When we look, for example, at some of the graduates of Jesuit education in politics, to keep to the Nelson theme, they are a varied lot - Charles de Gaulle in France, Bill Clinton in the US, Pierre Trudeau in Canada, Fidel Castro in Cuba, Abdul Kalam in India, and so on. There is no mould here. Castro's revolution closed his old school and yet he kept contact with some of his Jesuit teachers. Old boys who go into politics, like all of us, do not always live out the ideals we propose, and certainly there would be many political arguments between them. But can we not discern a common thread in their sense of commitment, of the common good, of involvement beyond one's self?
Similarly, Jesuit education values the imagination, creativity and the mind. Thus Jesuits can value and be proud of old scholars such as Voltaire and Descartes, James Joyce and Cervantes, even when their conclusions strongly differ from beliefs we hold precious. Most of these figures acknowledged the value of their education and maintained relations with individual Jesuits long after their schooling. If God is to be found in all things, as Jesuit spirituality would maintain, then we can be proud of the contributions made by thinkers, scientists and even politicians, who in part were shaped by their education.
Some of our students, even a majority of them, will come to hold views and beliefs quite different from those that I hold most dear as a Catholic and as a Jesuit. Does this mean our schools have failed? If these students are committed and true to what they believe, if they are men or women for others and have brave hearts, if they remain open to spiritual questions, then I would judge our mission here a success. Christian faith involves trust in God's spirit at work in all and through all. Archbishop Oscar Romero wrote of "a future not our own", from the perspective of teacher, parent or priest: "We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development."
In their pastoral letter on Catholic education the bishops of NSW and ACT resist the temptation to "downsize our school system to a scale at which we can choose students and staff who readily embrace the mission of a Catholic school". In so doing I believe that they have retained a commitment to engage with our world, a key element in the Catholic tradition.
Father Chris Middleton is principal of St Aloysius' College in Milsons Point.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/we-jesuits-value-brave-hearts-and-true-believers/2007/08/12/1186857342388.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
A school that is Catholic in name only serves no one's interests. We should insist that students leave our schools religiously literate, even as we accept that faith is a gift which our students are free to accept or reject. But we should be careful not to step back from an appreciation of the impact of our schools in a wider sense. Catholic identity is not a narrow thing, and our schools represent the church's most significant engagement with modern society.
In the Jesuit tradition of education, reaching back nearly five centuries, there has always been an expansive understanding of the enterprise. It is about faith and the individual, faith and learning, faith and culture, faith and justice.
The federal Defence Minister, Brendan Nelson, has written of his education: "[The Jesuits] … taught me that four values underwrite a successful life. Commitment. You should consistently apply yourself to that in which you believe. Conscience. Continually ask yourself, 'What is the right thing to do?' Compassion. Always try to share another person's pain, to place your self in their shoes. Finally, you will need courage - to have a brave heart." No doubt some of Dr Nelson's teachers would question aspects of the path he has followed in living out these values, though this would be true of all of us.
Yet Dr Nelson's words are not a bad summary of our hopes for our students. I would add the virtue of faith, a faith in the God who is our origin and goal, faith in a God who walks with us in Jesus, and faith in ourselves as the artwork of God.
To speak of our hopes for the graduate of a Jesuit education is not to think of an assembly line of graduates. When we look, for example, at some of the graduates of Jesuit education in politics, to keep to the Nelson theme, they are a varied lot - Charles de Gaulle in France, Bill Clinton in the US, Pierre Trudeau in Canada, Fidel Castro in Cuba, Abdul Kalam in India, and so on. There is no mould here. Castro's revolution closed his old school and yet he kept contact with some of his Jesuit teachers. Old boys who go into politics, like all of us, do not always live out the ideals we propose, and certainly there would be many political arguments between them. But can we not discern a common thread in their sense of commitment, of the common good, of involvement beyond one's self?
Similarly, Jesuit education values the imagination, creativity and the mind. Thus Jesuits can value and be proud of old scholars such as Voltaire and Descartes, James Joyce and Cervantes, even when their conclusions strongly differ from beliefs we hold precious. Most of these figures acknowledged the value of their education and maintained relations with individual Jesuits long after their schooling. If God is to be found in all things, as Jesuit spirituality would maintain, then we can be proud of the contributions made by thinkers, scientists and even politicians, who in part were shaped by their education.
Some of our students, even a majority of them, will come to hold views and beliefs quite different from those that I hold most dear as a Catholic and as a Jesuit. Does this mean our schools have failed? If these students are committed and true to what they believe, if they are men or women for others and have brave hearts, if they remain open to spiritual questions, then I would judge our mission here a success. Christian faith involves trust in God's spirit at work in all and through all. Archbishop Oscar Romero wrote of "a future not our own", from the perspective of teacher, parent or priest: "We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development."
In their pastoral letter on Catholic education the bishops of NSW and ACT resist the temptation to "downsize our school system to a scale at which we can choose students and staff who readily embrace the mission of a Catholic school". In so doing I believe that they have retained a commitment to engage with our world, a key element in the Catholic tradition.
Father Chris Middleton is principal of St Aloysius' College in Milsons Point.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/we-jesuits-value-brave-hearts-and-true-believers/2007/08/12/1186857342388.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1