A Vision for Catholic Schools

In response to Jason's question: "Why would kids who are non-Catholic go to a Catholic school?"...

Taken from the LA Archdiocese website: (the BIG picture of what a Catholic school should be)

An Advantage for Life
Jesus Christ is the foundation for our community, the Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. His call to teach is our inspiration; His image the model for our students. In partnership with parents, we prepare our students to become full and active members of the Catholic Church, to serve others, and to make a difference in the world. We commit our schools to provide a quality education so that a Catholic Education is an Advantage for Life.

• BUILD A COMMUNITY OF FAITH - We exist to enrich the Catholic community, and invite everyone to become active disciples of Jesus Christ.
• UNDERSTAND THEIR GIFTS - We encourage all students towards excellence, but most importantly to use their gifts and talents in service to others.
• INTEGRATE THE TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH - We provide a unique opportunity for students to experience the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to bring Catholic beliefs and values into their lives and the world.
• PROMOTE PARISH LIFE - We actively work to enhance the lives of Catholic parish communities.
• FOSTER RESPECT - We teach respect for self and others, qualities that develop into discipline and good behavior.
• LEAD BY EXAMPLE - We are spiritually committed and professionally prepared so that we can lead by example, and also show our special concern for each student.
• APPRECIATE PARENTS - We recognize parents as the primary educators of the students in our care; we encourage their active role in our schools and parishes, and we appreciate their support.
• SHARE GOVERNANCE - We seek community participation from those who share our vision, mission and goals.
• OFFER OUR SCHOOLS - While we exist first for the Catholic community, we open our schools to all children who can benefit and to the extent that resources allow.
• EXPRESS CONCERN FOR OTHERS - We have a special concern for the poor and disenfranchised.
• INVEST WITH CARE - We use our resources wisely to ensure quality, and to be affordable to parents and our Church.
• SEEK FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION - We continue to challenge the Catholic community and others to provide the resources that allow us to continue our work.

©2004 The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles.

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So our non-Catholic families are seeking to provide the best private school opportunity to their kids that they can afford. Here in Watts, the high school dropout rate is about 70%. That means if we had a freshman class of 100, only 30 of them would graduate with a diploma. Many may end up either on the street or struggling through life, earning close to minimum wage for much of their lives. However, because we are who we are with the education, programs and services the school offers, almost all of our graduates are accepted into college and leave Verbum Dei with a corporate resume.

The population of our community is about half Black and half Latino. Some go to church on Sundays, very few attend Mass. But they're here because they need to be. For some of them, it's about survival. Our identity clearly comes from our service to the underserved, and so we accept those who are open to learning about the Catholic faith and are willing to participate in Catholic spiritual formation.

There are definite benefits to a Catholic education and I can understand why people of various faith backgrounds would be attracted to it. I have yet to encounter students who are belligerently opposed to our Catholic beliefs and practices, but honestly because of our very thorough screening process I don't think that will be much of a problem. Everyone is pretty respectful of each other's differences on campus and for me, it's my greatest joy when I have a non-Catholic student ask me to explain why Mass is so important...how one becomes a saint...what purgatory is...not because he's trying to argue but because he REALLY wants to know. What makes me even happier is seeing him think about it, nod to himself and say, "Oh, okay, that makes sense."

I think this is a challenge to us - as it is to all Catholic schools around the world - to preserve the riches found in our religious tradition not only in our parishes but in our schools as well. It is easy to find deficits in the Catholic school system, especially in Religious Education, where many of the graduates don't know what being Catholic really means. As a Catholic educator myself, I ask myself what kind of an education I would want to give my own children someday. Would I send them to a Catholic school? And if I choose to homeschool, would I walk away from the system altogether? Would I ever think about returning to it professionally when my kids are older?

I struggle with my own questions, coming from a very "conservative" parish and working in a somewhat "liberal" environment. I've met people from both extremes and have decided for myself that I want to be able to cross the bridge somehow...to help them remember that Jesus is the one who holds us all together, that there is such thing as an absolute Truth but that it needs to be shared in love. So I love the fact that I'm learning a lot about the different viewpoints in among Catholics. Do I agree with all of them? No...to do so would be impossible since many of them are conflicting. I still follow what is taught from the Vatican and will do so for the rest of my life. What I seek, however, is to try to understand others...to reach out to them as people...because I have learned that you can preach and defend as much as you want but if that heart isn't open to receiving the message, then you've just spit a lot of wasted words into the air.

I realize that this entry may not be completely addressing the question. Just had a lot on my mind lately, so you're getting some of that right now. But I'm glad you asked what you did, Jason, because it's helping me appreciate what's happening here and what kind of potential for dialogue and faith sharing we can have at our school.

Catholics are to be "leaven in the world". That's what my professor said yesterday. Immersed in the world but affecting it instead of being affected by it. Non-Catholic Christians are expected to be no different. If Catholic schools provide the environment that fosters that kind of growth where both groups are working side by side, then I think we're making strides in the breakdown of age-old prejudices that have separated us as brothers and sisters in Christ.

There is yet much to be said (and still learned) about this subject. You may have your own thoughts on it as well. Feel free to share, by all means...

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PERSONAL NOTES...

Taken from the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia (on EDUCATION)

The Catholic position may be outlined as follows:

• Intellectual education must not be separated from moral and religious education. To impart knowledge or to develop mental efficiency without building up moral character is not only contrary to psychological law, which requires that all the faculties should be trained but is also fatal both to the individual and to society. No amount of intellectual attainment or culture can serve as a substitute for virtue; on the contrary, the more thorough intellectual education becomes, the greater is the need for sound moral training.
• Religion should be an essential part of education; it should form not merely an adjunct to instruction in other subjects, but the centre about which these are grouped and the spirit by which they are permeated. the study of nature without any reference to God, or of human ideal with no mention of Jesus Christ, or of human legislation without Divine law is at best a one-sided education. The fact that religious truth finds no place in the curriculum is, of itself, and apart from any open negation of that truth, sufficient to warp the pupil's mind in such a way and to such an extent that he will feel little concern in his school-days or later for religion in any form; and this result is the more likely to ensue when the curriculum is made to include everything that is worth knowing except the one subject which is of chief importance.
• Sound moral instruction is impossible apart from religious education. The child may be drilled in certain desirable habits, such as neatness, courtesy, and punctuality; he may be imbued with a spirit of honour, industry, and truthfulness -- and none of this should be neglected; but if these duties towards self and neighbour are sacred, the duty towards God is immeasurably, more sacred. When it is faithfully performed, it includes and raises to a higher plane the discharge of every other obligation. Training in religion, moreover, furnishes the best motives for conduct and the noblest ideals for imitation, while it sets before the mind an adequate sanction in the holiness and justice of God. Religious education, it should be noted, is more than instruction in the dogmas of faith or the precepts of the Divine law; it is essentially a practical training in the exercises of religion, such as prayer, attendance at Divine worship, and reception of the sacraments. By these means conscience is purified, the will to do right is strengthened, and the mind is fortified to resist those temptations which, especially in the period of adolescence, threaten the gravest danger to the moral life.
• An education which unites the intellectual, moral and religious elements is the best safeguard for the home, since it places on a secure basis the various relations which the family implies. It also ensures the performance of social duties by inculcating a spirit of self-sacrifice, of obedience to law, and of Chrisitian love for the fellow-man. The most effectual preparation for the citizenship is that schooling in virtue which habituates a man to decide, to act, to oppose a movement or to further it, not with a view to personal gain nor simply in deference to public opinion, but in accordance with the standards of right that are fixed by the law of God. The welfare of the State, therefore demands that the child be trained in the practice of virtue and religion no less than in the pursuit of knowledge.
• Far from lessening the need of moral and religious training, the advance in educational methods rather emphasizes that need. Many of the so-called improvements in teaching are of passsing importance, and some are at variance with the laws of the mind. Upon their relative worth the Church does not pronounce, nor does she commit herself to any particular method provided the essentials of Christian education are secured, the Church welcomes whatever the sciences may contribute toward rendering the work of the school more efficient.
• Catholic parents are bound in conscience to provide for the education of their children, either at home or in schools of the right sort. As the bodily life of the child must be cared for, so, for still graver reasons, must the mental and moral faculties be developed. Parents, therefore, cannot take an attitude of indifference toward this essential duty nor transfer it wholly to others. They are responsible for those earliest impressions which the child receives passively, before he exercises any conscious selective imitation; and as the intellectual powers develop, the parents example is the lesson that sinks most deeply into the child's mind. They are also obliged to instruct the child according to his capacity, in the truths of religion and in the practice of religious duties, thus co-operating with the work of the Church and the school. The virtues, especially of obedience, self-control, and purity, can nowhere be inculcated so thoroughly as in the home; and without such moral education by the parents, the task of forming upright men and women and worthy citizens is difficult, and if not impossible.