Mission in Society
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Knowing
The Plan
by Meghan Dorney
Archbishop urges teachers to witness how to live a Christian life
Catholic educators must not only teach their students about God, but must witness to them how to live a Christian life by putting their faith into practice, said Boston Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, keynote speaker at the recent 101st annual National Catholic Educational Association convention.
15,000 people attended
the convention whose theme was "Heritage and Hope: Faithful Past,
Faith-Filled Future."
Archbishop O'Malley thanked convention attendees for their dedication to
educating young people, telling them that their services are "contributing
to a better world." He encouraged them to focus their efforts not only on
teaching academics but also on teaching morality.
Good people
"As educators, we must see our role as trying to prepare people to be good
and virtuous people," the archbishop said. "Catholic education has always
been about that quest - to form the whole person - to help people know about
God's plan for the world and to be a part of that plan.
"Our task is not just to teach people about God but to help them to know God
and his love," Archbishop O'Malley added. Teaching students about their
Catholic faith must be a process of mentoring, he said, where the word of
God is "not expected to be received as mere information," but understood to
have a "deeper meaning" for their lives.
Secular world
Young people today are growing up in a secular world where violence has
become entertainment, marriage is threatened and the sanctity of life is
disregarded, he said. The Gospel messages that Catholic educators must teach
are becoming "increasingly alien" to the views held by the majority of
society, the archbishop said.
An obstacle to truly transmitting the faith to schoolchildren is the lack of
faithful witness by many of their parents and adult role models, said the
archbishop. "A huge area where we are most deficient and which hampers our
attempts to teach the young is that of adult faith formation," he said.
Becoming disciples
The church should look to
the apostolic movements that have arisen since the Second Vatican Council
and have had "great success in communicating a deep spirituality to their
members in the context of small, close-knit communities," Archbishop
O'Malley said.
These movements "energize their people to be evangelizers" who bring the
good news they have received to those around them, he said.
"Catholic education is about making disciples, helping people respond to the
call of holiness by being part of a faith-filled worshipping community
struggling to be faithful to the Gospel," he said.
Catholic educators and other influential adults in the lives of young people
need to be models of Christian living, he said. Students will not learn how
to be faithful, he added, unless they see examples of faith in their own
lives and through the lives of the saints.
"We need to equip our young people to be disciples. They need to know the
truths of our faith, but they need to know how to live those truths,"
Archbishop O'Malley said.
Melting pot
The convention began with a lively procession, which reflected the historic
origins of the United States and the melting pot the country has become.
Musicians, who wore costumes styled after the clothing worn by some of the
first Americans, played Revolutionary tunes on drums and flutes.
Local Catholic school students, teachers and principals followed, carrying
more than a dozen flags representing the different countries from which
students in the Archdiocese of Boston come.
Other speakers at the opening session included Bishop Gregory M. Aymond of
Austin, Texas, NCEA board chairman, and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who
told the crowd how his 12 years of Catholic education had helped him.
"My Catholic education gave me the foundation of who I am today," he said.
"That Catholic education made me a better son to my parents, a better
husband, a better father, a trusted leader and most importantly a devoted
Catholic."
Convention attendees then viewed a video on the history of the NCEA,
featuring photographs of some of the women religious who came to America to
open the first Catholic schools here. The video closed with an excerpt from
a meeting of Catholic educators with President Bush in January. During that
meeting, the president called Catholic education a "gift to the church and a
gift to the nation."
Honors bestowed
Two individuals were honored at the opening session for their contribution
to Catholic schools.
Peter S. Lynch, Boston resident and chairman of the Inner-City Scholarship
Fund, which awards millions of dollars in Catholic school scholarships to
inner-city students, received the Catherine T. McNamee Award. The award is
given to a person or organization that serves ethnically diverse and needy
students.
The C. Albert Koob Award was presented to Sister Joan Curtin, of the Sisters
of the Congregation of Notre Dame, who is director of the catechetical
office in the Archdiocese of New York. The award is given to "an individual
or organization that has made a national contribution to Catholic
education."