Today marks the end of term two for our parish primary schools. As always the term has been busy and our staff and children have been engaged in many learning activities. During the last term I have been working with our Principals and Religious Education Leaders on the vision and mission for our Catholic school communities. It is fair to say that over recent decades Catholic schools have been undergoing a cultural transformation. In Australia Catholic schools were established in the face of state authorities, in the late nineteenth century, who had legislated for education that would be free, compulsory and secular. At that time the Australian Catholic Bishops decided that Catholic schools would be run along confessional lines, meaning that they would be established for Catholics, by Catholics in order to ensure that education included knowledge and practice of the Catholic faith. In many ways those Catholic schools of the late nineteenth, and the first part of the twentieth century were incredibly successful and many of us benefited from the immense dedication and sacrifice of hundreds of religious and, later on, lay teachers.
The Catholic school of today is in need of a renewed mission. The state government still pursues the ideal of free, compulsory and secular when it comes to education. Alongside the state, Catholic schools have become part of the education landscape in Australia. But we are no longer simply offering education for Catholics, by Catholics with the predominant view of enhancing knowledge and practice of the Catholic faith. Australia is a much more pluralist country now, than it was two hundred years ago, when Catholic education was first established. The last Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) census data gave us an insight into the growing diversity in our country. The single biggest growth was in those who claim no identification with any religious group. They amounted to thirty percent of the population. Christianity dropped a further five percent to make up just over fifty percent of the population as opposed to ninety percent of the population when Catholic schools were first established. This diversity also exists within our Catholic schools, not only around them. Even a cursory glance at the response by Catholics to the Plenary Council question ‘what does God want of the Church in Australia’ will also reveal a diversity of views among Catholics themselves.
So what is, or could be, the mission of the Catholic school in the twenty-first century? The Catholic school of today should be a place where all feel welcome. It needs a welcoming group of committed Catholic believers who are willing to share their faith and become hosts for all those who desire to be there. The Catholic school can become the ‘host tradition’ for all who are seeking a way of putting their life together and having some meaning and purpose to their life. The Catholic school has the task of assisting every student and staff member in the school to answer the question – what do I believe? And where do I stand in the world? What is the meaning framework around which I live, or want to live my life? The Catholic school should support every member of the community to ask and answer these questions. And the Catholic school should present and witness to the Catholic tradition as a way of answering that question. All should be invited, not coerced or indoctrinated, to consider their own life stance in light of the Catholic tradition to which they will be exposed at the Catholic school.
What skills might this require of Catholic educators? They will need to be guides and mentors. They will need the skills of dialogue, and a sensitivity to the subtle diversity of world views around them. They will need to delve into the depths of the Catholic tradition, and also to acknowledge the areas of the tradition that may need renewal and purification.
Just like our world today the Catholic school is a complex network of relationships, worldviews and life stances. To be a host to such diversity is a real challenge. Perhaps the person of Jesus who offered hospitality to all he encountered in the gospel could once more be the inspiration for a renewed vision and mission for Catholic schools today. Happy holidays everyone.
19 Brenbeal Street, Balwyn VIC 3103
Telephone: 03 9816 9291
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours:
Tue - Fri 9:00am – 5:00pm
David Rush says:
Thanks to Fr Brendan for his thoughtful observations and noting the importance of planning for the future in the current environment.
In this environment I have to say how impressed( and how much I have enjoyed ) with RE given to grandchildren at Avila and at Our Ladys Wattle Park though I am not sure that my enthusiasm is shared with the youngsters. Why could this be the case? Not sure.
But in partial response I read speech delivered recently by Greg Sheridan at Notre Dame in Sydney. He has an excitement in telling the christian story. “The greatest story ever told ” Perhaps with that sort of message, certainly inculcated in Christmas and Easter, a new spirit of interest might be generated in our children!