But there is good news! The Catholic Church as the "expert in humanity" (c.f. Pope Paul) is also the expert in education. St. John Bosco as a true radical, dedicated his life to teaching young boys in 19th century Italy. Love of Christ and love of these boys motivated him. This was putting the Church's words into action.
In our day too, Pope Benedict has called for a renewal of Catholic education, I've tried to identify a few key points:
- Education is integral to the mission of the Church to proclaim the Good News...
- It involves the entire Christian community and motivates each generation of Christian educators to ensure that the power of God’s truth permeates every dimension of the institutions they serve.
- Christ’s Good News is set to work, guiding both teacher and student towards the objective truth...
- ... particularly disturbing, is the reduction of the precious and delicate area of education in sexuality to management of ‘risk’, bereft of any reference to the beauty of conjugal love.
- ...charity calls the educator to recognize that the profound responsibility to lead the young to truth is nothing less than an act of love.
- ...the dignity of education lies in fostering the true perfection and happiness of those to be educated.
- To all of you I say: bear witness to hope. Nourish your witness with prayer. Account for the hope that characterizes your lives (cf. 1 Pet 3:15) by living the truth which you propose to your students.
No comments:
Post a Comment