The Holy See's Teaching On Catholic Schools

Catholic schools are an enormous heritage and an indispensable instrument in carrying out the Church's mission in the third Christian millennium.
Ensuring their genuinely Catholic identity is the Church's greatest challenge.
Catholic schools have generously served the needs of the "socially and economically disadvantaged" and have given "special attention to those who are weakest."
The Church offers her educational service to "those who are poor in the goods of this world or who are deprived of the assistance and affection of a family or who are strangers to the gift of faith."
The theme is "the Holy See's teaching on Catholic education,"
Major concerns can be found in the Vatican documents published since Vatican II's landmark Decree on Christian education Gravissimum Educationis.
Documents:
- Gravissimum Educationis.
- 1983 Code of Canon Law in its section on schools.
- The Catholic School (1977).
- Lay Catholics in Schools: Witnesses to Faith (1982).
- The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School (1988).
- The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium (1997).
- Consecrated Persons and their Mission in Schools: Reflections and Guidelines (2002).

I. Parental and State Responsibilities

Parents are the first educators of their children.
Parents have the original, primary and inalienable right to educate them in conformity with the family's moral and religious convictions.
Elementary education is "an extension of parental education; it is extended and cooperative home schooling."
Schools are extensions of the home.
Parents, not schools, not the State, and not the Church, have the primary moral responsibility of educating children to adulthood.
The principle of subsidiarity must always govern relations between families and the Church and State in this regard.
Subsidiarity complements paternal and maternal love.
All other participants in the process of education are only able to carry out their responsibilities in the name of the parents, with their consent and, to a certain degree, with their authorization.
Families and those to whom they entrust a share in their educational responsibilities must enjoy true liberty about how their children are to be educated.
A State monopoly of education is not permissible, and that only a pluralism of school systems will respect the fundamental right and the freedom of individuals.
The Catholic Church upholds "the principle of a plurality of school systems in order to safeguard her objectives."
The public power, which has the obligation to protect and defend the rights of citizens, must see to it, in its concern for distributive justice, that public subsidies are paid out in such a way that parents are truly free to choose according to their conscience the schools they want for their children."
The State to provide public subsidies arises because of the contribution which Catholic schools make to society.
Most countries with substantial Christian majorities provide such assistance:
- Australia, Canada, England, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Scotland, Ireland
The United States, Mexico, and Italy are exceptions in not providing any assistance.
The refusal to provide public economic support to non-public schools that need assistance and that render a service to civil society is to be considered an injustice."

II. The Church, Evangelization and Education

The Church has the right and the obligation to proclaim the Gospel to all nations $(cf. Mt 28:20)$ .
To fulfill the mandate she has received from her divine founder of proclaiming the mystery of salvation to all men and of restoring all things in Christ, Holy Mother the Church must be concerned with the whole of man's life, even the secular part of it insofar as it has a bearing on his heavenly calling.
The duty of educating is an ecclesial responsibility.
The Church is bound as a mother to give to these children of hers an education by which their whole life can be imbued with the spirit of Christ."
Parents do not surrender their children to the Church but share a common undertaking.
The principal, but not only, help which the Church offers families is by establishing Catholic schools which ensure the integral formation of children.
Catholic schools participate in the Church's evangelizing mission, of bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
They are places of evangelization for the young.
As truly ecclesial institutions, they are "the privileged environment in which Christian education is carried out."
Catholic schools also have a missionary thrust.
Our schools must be integrated within the organic pastoral activity of the parish, diocesan and universal Church.
The Catholic school should play a vital role in the pastoral activity of the diocese. It is a pastoral instrument of the Church for her mission of evangelization.
The bishop's leadership is pivotal in lending support and guidance to Catholic schools.

III. Five Essential "Marks" of Catholic Schools

Certain characteristics must be present if a school is to be considered Catholic.
Like the "marks" of the Church proclaimed in the Creed, so, too, does it identity the principal features of a school qua Catholic.
It is of utmost importance that the Church's institutions be genuinely Catholic: Catholic in their self-understanding and Catholic in their identity.
All those who share in the apostolates of such institutions, including those who are not of the faith, should show a sincere and respectful appreciation of that mission which is their inspiration and ultimate raison d'être."
It is precisely because of its Catholic identity, which is anything but sectarian, that a school derives the originality enabling it to be a genuine instrument of the Church's apostolic mission.

1. Inspired by a Supernatural Vision

The Church builds her educational philosophy is the conviction that it is a process which forms the whole child, especially with his or her eyes fixed on the vision of God.
The specific purpose of a Catholic education is the formation of boys and girls who will be good citizens of this world, enriching society with the leaven of the Gospel, but who will also be citizens of the world to come.
Catholic schools have a straightforward goal: to foster the growth of good Catholic human beings who love God and neighbor and thus fulfill their destiny of becoming saints.
If we fail to keep in mind this high supernatural vision, all our talk about Catholic schools will be no more than "a gong booming or a cymbal clashing" $(I Cor 13:1)$ .

2. Founded on a Christian Anthropology

Emphasis on the supernatural destiny of students, on their holiness, brings with it a profound appreciation of the need to perfect children in all their dimensions as images of God $(cf. Gen 1:26-27)$ .
Grace builds on nature.
All those involved in Catholic education have a sound understanding of the human person.
Those who establish, teach in and direct a Catholic school must draw on a sound anthropology that addresses the requirements of both natural and supernatural perfection.
For Catholic schools to achieve their goal of forming children, all those involved – parents, teachers, staff, administrators and trustees – must clearly understand who the human person is.
The Catholic educator must consciously inspire his or her activity with the Christian concept of the person, in communion with the Magisterium of the Church.
It is a concept which includes a defense of human rights, but also attributes to the human person the dignity of a child of God; it attributes the fullest liberty, freed from sin itself by Christ, the most exalted destiny, which is the definitive and total possession of God himself, through love. It establishes the strictest possible relationship of solidarity among all persons; through mutual love and an ecclesial community. It calls for the fullest development of all that is human, because we have been made masters of the world by its Creator. Finally, it proposes Christ, Incarnate Son of God and perfect Man, as both model and means; to imitate him, is, for all men and women, the inexhaustible source of personal and communal perfection.
It is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear."
A Catholic school must be founded on Jesus Christ the Redeemer who, through his Incarnation, is united with each student.
Christ is not an after-thought or an add-on to Catholic educational philosophy but the center and fulcrum of the entire enterprise, the light enlightening every pupil who comes into our schools $(cf. Jn 1:9)$ .
The Catholic school is committed thus to the development of the whole man, since in Christ, the perfect man, all human values find their fulfilment and unity. Herein lies the specifically Catholic character of the school. Its duty to cultivate human values in their own legitimate right in accordance with its particular mission to serve all men has its origin in the figure of Christ. He is the one who ennobles man, gives meaning to human life, and is the model which the Catholic school offers to its pupils.
The Gospel of Christ and his very person are, therefore, to inspire and guide the Catholic school in its every dimension: its philosophy of education, its curriculum, community life, its selection of teachers, and even its physical environment.
Catholic education is above all a question of communicating Christ, of helping to form Christ in the lives of others."
Christ is the "one foundation" of Catholic schools
A sound anthropology enables Catholic educators to recognize Christ as the standard and measure of a school's catholicity, "the foundation of the whole educational enterprise in a Catholic school," and the principles of the Gospel as guiding educational norms.

3. Animated by Communion and Community

That the Catholic school is an educational community "is one of the most enriching developments for the contemporary school."
The declaration Gravissimum Educationis notes an important advance in the way a Catholic school is thought of: the transition from the school as an institution to the school as a community.
The community dimension is primarily a theological concept rather than a sociological category.
The school is a community of persons and, even more to the point, "a genuine community of faith."
Three particular ways in which the Holy See would like to see the development of the school as a community:
- The teamwork or collaboration among all those involved.
- The interaction of students with teachers
- The school's physical environment.
Elementary schools "should try to create a community school climate that reproduces, as far as possible, the warm and intimate atmosphere of family life. Those responsible for these schools will, therefore, do everything they can to promote a common spirit of trust and spontaneity."
Teachers, Religious and lay, together with parents and trustees, should work together as a team for the school's common good and their right to be involved in its responsibilities.
The Holy See is ever careful to foster the appropriate involvement of parents in Catholic schools.
Teachers and administrators must often encourage parental participation.
Theirs is a partnership directed not just to dealing with academic problems but to planning and evaluating the effectiveness of the school's mission.
A Catholic philosophy of education has always paid special attention to the interpersonal relations within the educational community of the school, especially those between teachers and students.
During childhood and adolescence a student needs to experience personal relations with outstanding educators, and what is taught has greater influence on the student's formation when placed in a context of personal involvement, genuine reciprocity, coherence of attitudes, lifestyle and day to day behavior."
Direct and personal contact between teachers and students is a hallmark of Catholic schools.
A learning atmosphere which encourages the befriending of students is far removed from the caricature of the remote disciplinarian so cherished by the media.
A personal relationship is always a dialogue rather than a monologue, and the teacher must be convinced that the enrichment in the relationship is mutual. But the mission must never be lost sight of: the educator can never forget that students need a companion and guide during their period of growth; they need help from others in order to overcome doubts and disorientation. Also, rapport with the students ought to be a prudent combination of familiarity and distance; and this must be adapted to the need of each individual student. Familiarity will make a personal relationship easier, but a certain distance is also needed: students need to learn how to express their own personality without being pre-conditioned; they need to be freed from inhibitions in the responsible exercise of their freedom."
Catholic schools, then, safeguard the priority of the person, both student and teacher; they foster the proper friendship between them since "an authentic formative process can only be initiated through a personal relationship."
The school ought to have "some of the amenities which can create a pleasant and family atmosphere." This includes an adequate physical plant and equipment.
It is especially important that this "school-home" be immediately recognizable as Catholic.
The Incarnation, which emphasizes the bodily coming of God's Son into the world, leaves its seal on every aspect of Christian life.
The very fact of the Incarnation tells us that the created world is the means chosen by God through which he communicates his life to us.
What is human and visible can bear the divine.
Catholic schools should try to suffuse their environment with this delight in the sacramental.
They should express physically and visibly the external signs of Catholic culture through images, signs, symbols, icons and other objects of traditional devotion.
A chapel, classroom crucifixes and statues, signage, celebrations and other sacramental reminders of Catholic ecclesial life, including good art which is not explicitly religious in its subject matter, should be evident.

4. Imbued with a Catholic Worldview

Catholicism should permeate not just the class period of catechism or religious education, or the school's pastoral activities, but the entire curriculum.
The Vatican documents speak of "an integral education, an education which responds to all the needs of the human person."
The Church establishes schools: because they are a privileged place which fosters the formation of the whole person.
An integral education aims to develop gradually every capability of every student: their intellectual, physical, psychological, moral and religious dimensions. It is "intentionally directed to the growth of the whole person."
Catholic schooling must be constantly inspired and guided by the Gospel.
The Catholic school would betray its purpose if it failed to take as its touchstone the person of Christ and his Gospel: "It derives all the energy necessary for its educational work from him."
The Catholic school is Catholic even apart from such programs and projects.
It is Catholic because it undertakes to educate the whole person, addressing the requirements of his or her natural and supernatural perfection.
It is integral and Catholic because it provides an education in the intellectual and moral virtues, because it prepares for a fully human life at the service of others and for the life of the world to come.
Instruction should be authentically Catholic in content and methodology across the entire program of studies.
Catholicism has a particular "take" on reality that should animate its schools. It is a "comprehensive way of life" to be enshrined in the school's curriculum.
The Holy See does provide certain principles and guidelines which inspire the content of the curriculum if it is to deliver on its promise of offering students an integral education.

4.1 Search for Wisdom and Truth

In an age of information overload, Catholic schools must be especially attentive to the delicate balance between human experience and understanding.
Knowledge and understanding are far more than the accumulation of information.
Catholic schools do far more than convey information to passive students. They aspire to teach wisdom, habituating their students "to desire learning so much that he or she will delight in becoming a self-learner."
The human has the capacity to come to the knowledge of truth.
Catholic teachers share a specific conviction about truth: that they can pursue, and, to a limited but real extent, attain and communicate it to others.
Catholic schools take up the daunting task of freeing boys and girls from the insidious consequences of what Benedict XVI recently called the "dictatorship of relativism" – a dictatorship which cripples all genuine education.
Catholic educators are to have in themselves and develop in others a passion for truth which defeats moral and cultural relativism. They are to Educate "in the truth."
The greatest challenge to Catholic education in the United States today, and the greatest contribution that authentically Catholic education can make to American culture, is to restore to that culture the conviction that human beings can grasp the truth of things, and in grasping that truth can know their duties to God, to themselves and their neighbors.
If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free $(Jn 8:32)$ .
The contemporary world urgently needs the service of educational institutions which uphold and teach that truth is "that fundamental value without which freedom, justice and human dignity are extinguished" $(Veritatis Splendor, 4)$ .
Education is about discovering truth both in its natural and supernatural dimensions.
The school considers human knowledge as a truth to be discovered. In the measure in which subjects are taught by someone who knowingly and without restraint seeks the truth, they are to that extent Christian. Discovery and awareness of truth leads man to the discovery of Truth itself."
Catholic schools conform to required curricula, but they implement their programs within an overall religious perspective.
This perspective includes criteria such as "confidence in our ability to attain truth, at least in a limited way – a confidence based not on feeling but on faith . . . [and] the ability to make judgments about what is true and what is false."
Convictions about truth are at home in authentically Catholic schools.

4.2 Faith, Culture and Life

The faithful should be engaged in transforming culture in light of the Gospel.
Schools prepare students to relate the Catholic faith to their particular culture and to live that faith in practice.
From the nature of the Catholic school also stems one of the most significant elements of its educational project: the synthesis of culture and faith. The endeavor to interweave reason and faith, which has become the heart of individual subjects, makes for unity, articulation and coordination, bringing forth within what is learnt in a school a Christian vision of the world, of life, of culture and of history. Schools form students within their own culture for which they teach an appreciation of its positive elements and strive to help them foster the further inculturation of the Gospel in their own situation. Yet they must also, when appropriate according to the students' age, be critical and evaluative. It is the Catholic faith which provides Catholic educators with the essential principles for critique and evaluation. Faith and culture are intimately related, and students should be led, in ways suitable to their level of intellectual development, to grasp the importance of this relationship. "We must always remember that, while faith is not to be identified with any one culture and is independent of all cultures, it must inspire every culture."
The educational philosophy guiding a Catholic school also seeks to be a place where "faith, culture and life are brought into harmony."
Central to the Catholic school is its mission of holiness, of saint making.
Mindful of redemption in Christ, the Catholic school aims at forming in its pupils those particular virtues that will enable them to live a new life in Christ and help them to play faithfully their part in building up the kingdom of God. It strives to develop virtue "by the integration of culture with faith and of faith with living."
The Catholic school tries to create within its walls a climate in which the pupil's faith will gradually mature and enable him to assume the responsibility placed on him by Baptism."
Providing solid religious instruction.
Education in the faith is a part of the finality of a Catholic school."
For young Catholics, such instruction embraces both knowledge of the faith and fostering its practice.
A Catholic school's distinctiveness rests solely on the shoulders of its religious education program.
Such a position fosters the misunderstanding that faith and life are divorced, that religion is a merely private affair with neither a specific content nor moral obligations.

5. Sustained by the Witness of Teaching

Teachers play in ensuring a school's Catholic identity.
Them lies the primary responsibility for creating a unique Christian school climate, as individuals and as a community.
It depends chiefly on them whether the Catholic school achieves its purpose."
Those involved in Catholic schools, with very few exceptions, should be practicing Catholics committed to the Church and living her sacramental life.
Principals, pastors, trustees and parents share, therefore, in the serious duty of hiring teachers who meet the standards of doctrine and integrity of life essential to maintaining and advancing a school's Catholic identity.
We need teachers with a clear and precise understanding of the specific nature and role of Catholic education.
The careful hiring of men and women who enthusiastically endorse a Catholic ethos is, I would maintain, the primary way to foster a school's catholicity.
Catholic education is strengthened by its "martyrs."
Those of us who are, or have been, teachers know all about that.
As well as fostering a Catholic view across throughout the curriculum, even in so-called secular subjects, "if students in Catholic schools are to gain a genuine experience of the Church, the example of teachers and others responsible for their formation is crucial: the witness of adults in the school community is a vital part of the school's identity."
Children will pick up far more by example than by masterful pedagogical techniques, especially in the practice of Christian virtues.
Educators at every level in the Church are expected to be models for their students by bearing transparent witness to the Gospel.
If boys and girls are to experience the splendor of the Church, the Christian example of teachers and others responsible for their formation is crucial.
Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses."
What teachers do and how they act are more significant than what they say – inside and outside the classroom. That's how the Church evangelizes.
The more completely an educator can give concrete witness to the model of the ideal person [Christ] that is being presented to the students, the more this ideal will be believed and imitated."
If teachers fail to model fidelity to the truth and virtuous behavior, then even the best of curricula cannot successfully embody a Catholic school's distinctive ethos.

Conclusion

The Holy See, through its documents and interventions, whether of the Pope or of other Vatican offices, sees in Catholic schools an enormous heritage and an indispensable instrument in carrying out the Church's mission in the third Christian millennium.
Ensuring their genuinely Catholic identity is the Church's greatest challenge.
Complementing the irreplaceable role of parents in ensuring the education of their children, such schools, which should be available to all, build up the community of believers, evangelize culture and serve the common good of society.
Promoting authentically Catholic schools, especially for those of limited economic means.