They foster the proper friendship between them, since "an authentic formative process can only be initiated through a personal relationship.". Consequently the Holy See's documents pay a great deal of attention to the vocation of teachers and their participation in the Church's evangelizing mission. founded . Indeed, "it depends chiefly on them whether the Catholic school achieves its purpose." by a supernatural . Despite the difficulties sometimes involved, those responsible for hiring teachers must see to it that these criteria are met. For young Catholics, such instruction embraces both teaching the truths of the faith and fostering its practice. 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. Assist at Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation, doing no unnecessary work on those days. I would like to conclude this essay with a suggestion that might help to strengthen the Catholic identity of America's elementary and secondary schools. Catholicism is a "comprehensive way of life" that should animate every aspect of its activities and its curriculum. Catholic schools, then, safeguard the priority of the person, both student and teacher. The pastor must be an advocate of the school and be proactive in speaking to everything that the school has to offer. What is human and visible can bear the divine. As we have seen, the Catholic school would betray its purpose if it failed to found itself on the person of Christ and his teaching: "It derives all the energy necessary for its educational work from him.". Educators and ecclesial authorities should cooperate closely in fostering a school's catholicity. The pastor must be an advocate of the school and be proactive in speaking to everything that the school has to offer. Repeatedly the Holy See's documents emphasize the need for an educational philosophy built on a correct understanding of who the human person is. . The Holy See, through papal interventions and the documents of the Congregation for Catholic Education, recognizes the priceless treasure of Catholic schools as an indispensable instrument of evangelization. Know mission, ministry, and the unique and awesome power of a community infused with faith and values. The theme for Catholic Schools Week is Learn, Serve, Lead, and Succeed, as represented by the logo. During the upcoming school year, we invite you and your child(ren) to . The Church is a holy institution made up of sinners. Task for each mark: It is precisely because of its Catholic identity, which is anything but sectarian, that a school derives the originality that enables it to be a genuine instrument of the Church's evangelizing mission. Task for each mark: Many feel that they can make a difference. If Catholic Online School has given you $5.00 worth of knowledge this year, take a minute to donate. Catholic theology teaches that grace builds on nature. By contrast, veteran teachers provide years of experience and understanding about how to manage their classrooms and get things done in the school… MARK Catholic School 9972 Vale Road Telephone 703-281-9103 Vienna, VA 22181 Fax 703-766-3430 Dear Prospective ST. MARK School Parent: Thank you for your interest in our Kindergarten program. Catholic schools with educators sustained by Gospel witness are places of faith. William Saunders: Christ sanctifies the Church, and in turn, through Him and with Him, the Church is His agent of sanctification. Nothing is further from the position of the Holy See. To achieve this, our Catholic schools must integrate Catholic values and morals into the curriculum to develop the whole person to excel spiritually, intellectually, academically, physically and socially. This book is essential reading for all Catholics concerned about Catholic education. At the same time, they often have a lot to learn about classroom management and the workings of the school system. The first is to foster in our students a love for wisdom and truth. Nevertheless, this conviction, in its very simplicity, can sometimes be overlooked. 1657). While their demands are high, perhaps sometimes even unreasonably so, 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. Those responsible for these schools will, therefore, do everything they can to promote a common spirit of trust and spontaneity." A final indicator of a school's authentic catholicity is the vital witness of its teachers and administrators. 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. Five Essential Marks of Catholic Schools by ARCHBISHOP J. MICHAEL MILLER, CSB A Comparison of 2 Sixth Grade Texts: Ignatius Press – Faith and Life Series: “Following Christ” & William H. Sadlier – Coming to Faith Series: “Coming to Gods Word” T. S. Eliot puts it just right: "Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Fr. Not so with our Catholic schools. The Holy See is, moreover, ever mindful of ensuring the appropriate involvement of parents in Catholic schools: Close cooperation with the family is especially important when treating sensitive issues such as religious, moral, or sexual education, orientation toward a profession, or a choice of one's vocation in life. Steven Virgadamo Articulates 5 Essential Marks of an Authentically Catholic School 1. The code of canon law, canon 793, indicates that parents have the obligation and moral responsibility to educate their children, and that Catholic parents have the duty, based on local circumstances, to provide a Catholic education for their children. If you’ve appreciated, Lay Catholics in Schools: Witnesses to Faith, Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium, The Current Situation of America's Catholic Schools, The Shepherd and the Rock: Origins, Development, and Mission of the Papacy. . This concern ensures that the student is seen as a person whose intellectual growth is harmonized with spiritual, religious, emotional, and social growth. The bishop's particular responsibilities include ensuring that teachers are sound in their doctrine and outstanding in their integrity of life. Impart the story of This conviction about the nature of truth is too important for Catholics to be confused about. The Holy See's Teaching on Catholic Schools, ch. Discovery and awareness of truth leads man to the discovery of Truth itself. . Marks of the Church A chart that students are asked to fill in with at least two examples of ways the Church models the four marks of the Church, and at least two examples of ways they model the four marks of the Church. Being founded on Christian anthropology means there must be an emphasis on the supernatural destiny of students to perfect, in them, all images of God to prepare them to enter heaven. A Catholic school should be: inspired . In The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium, the Congregation for Catholic Education commented: From the nature of the Catholic school also stems one of the most significant elements of its educational project: the synthesis between culture and faith. If a Catholic school is to deliver on its promise to provide students with an integral education, it must foster love for wisdom and truth, and must integrate faith, culture, and life. In an article titled, “Five Essential Marks of Catholic Schools,” Archbishop J. Michael Miller quotes Michael J. Guerra, former president of the National Catholic Educational Association, who once remarked, "The first and most important task for Catholic schools is to maintain and continually strengthen their Catholic identity" (2006). In an ad limina address to a group of American bishops, Pope John Paul II pinpointed the importance of having a correct grasp of truth if the Catholic Church's educational efforts are to bear fruit: 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. It is especially important that this "school-home" be immediately recognizable as Catholic: From the first moment that a student sets foot in a Catholic school, he or she ought to have the impression of entering a new environment, one illumined by the light of faith, and having its own unique characteristics. What steps is it taking to foster its catholicity? On June 29, 1975, Pope Paul VI ordained him a priest, and on November 23, 2003 Pope John Paul II appointed him titular Archbishop of Vertara, Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education and Vice President of the Pontifical Work of Priestly Vocations. Nowhere is this more important than the blending of roles that parents and teachers must do to ensure our schools are places of faith. Teachers, both religious and lay, together with parents and school-board members, are to work as a team for the school's common good. The inspiration of Jesus must be translated from the ideal into the real. This goes beyond the personal relationships of those involved. Here are five marks that all the best Catholic schools share and what you should look for when you find one for your kids. If Catholic educators, parents, and others who dedicate themselves to this apostolate fail to keep in mind a high supernatural vision, all their talk about Catholic schools will be no more than "a gong booming or a cymbal clashing" (1 Cor. 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. 4. To fulfill their responsibility of speaking about the Father, educators in Catholic schools, with very few exceptions, should be practicing Catholics who are committed to the Church and living her sacramental life. Courses in our schools are taught using the Gospel values of dignity and respect to ensure the best possible learning environment for each child. Most importantly, the Christian life is a call to intimate communion (see Jn 17:21). Mass should be celebrated regularly, with the students and teachers participating appropriately. 3 - Five Essential Marks of Catholic Schools, An Anthology of Catholic Teaching on Education. St. Mark Catholic School strives for academic excellence by instilling in each student Christian values, confidence, and a desire to be effective leaders of tomorrow. As their children grow, most parents share the responsibility to educate their sons and daughters with teachers and schools. Here we need to understand the difference between communion and community. Catholic schools inspired by a supernatural vision are places of faith. The second principle is that students should learn to transform culture through the Gospel. As "experts in communion" because of their experience in community life, religious foster those "human and spiritual bonds that promote the mutual exchange of gifts" with all others involved in the school. imbued with a Catholic worldview throughout its curriculum. . . Educators, administrators, parents, and bishops guide the school to make choices that promote "overcoming individualistic self-promotion, solidarity instead of competition, assisting the weak instead of marginalization, responsible participation instead of indifference.". Because of this complementarity of the natural and the supernatural, Catholic educators should have a sound understanding of the human person that addresses the requirements of both the natural and the supernatural perfection of the children entrusted to their care. Moreover, they are measurable benchmarks, forming the backbone and inspiring the mission of every Catholic school. This vigilance includes even schools established or directed by members of religious institutes. With them lies the primary responsibility for creating a Christian school climate, as individuals and as a community. Hypocrisy turns off today's students. For example, if teachers and administrators demonstrate the individualistic and competitive ethic that now marks so much public education, they will fail to inspire students with the values of solidarity and community, even if they praise those values verbally. Christ is the Teacher in Catholic schools. The specific purpose of a Catholic education is the formation of boys and girls who will be good citizens of this world, loving God and neighbor and enriching society with the leaven of the gospel, and who will also be citizens of the world to come, thus fulfilling their destiny to become saints. Familiarity will make a personal relationship easier, but a certain distance is also needed. A Catholic school should be: inspired . The Church believes that Catholic education, when inspired by a supernatural vision, develops the whole student helping him or her to fulfill their destiny to become saints. Know teaching, learning, and best practices. on Christian anthropology. He offered the following five benchmarks of a Catholic education as the essence of Vatican teaching on education. More than a master who teaches, a Catholic educator is a person who gives testimony by his or her life. Non-Catholic students are required to actively participate in religion classes, religious celebrations, and liturgies while attending St. Mark. These benchmarks help to answer the critical question: Is this a Catholic school according to the mind of the Church? They are to help one another in carrying out the task to which they are mutually committed. 2. If you donate just $5.00, or whatever you can, Catholic Online School could keep thriving for years. The Congregation for Catholic Education has written that "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.". Authorstevevirgadamo. 3 in The Holy See's Teaching on Catholic Schools (Atlanta: Sophia Institute Press, 2006): 17-63. Inspired by a Supernatural Vision Catholic education is all about providing young men and women with a solid foundation to help them become good citizens of the communities and the world. The Most Reverend J. Michael Miller, CSB, was born in Ottawa, Canada, on July 9, 1946. Marks of the Church A chart that students are asked to fill in with at least two examples of ways the Church models the four marks of the Church, and at least two examples of ways they model the four marks of the Church. Five Essential Marks of Catholic schools. One; Holy; Catholic; Apostolic; Precepts of the Church. The Holy See shares the solicitude of the American bishops about employing teachers with a clear understanding of and commitment to Catholic education. With so many colleges coming under fire for being Catholic in name only, the question becomes, what makes a school Catholic in the eyes of the Church? It is not a question of convenience, but a partnership based on faith. "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." It is he who, through his Incarnation, is united with each student. The Catholic philosophy of education has always paid special attention to the quality of interpersonal relations in the school community, especially those between teachers and students. When such a policy is ignored, it is inevitable that children will absorb, even if they are not explicitly taught, a soft indifferentism that will sustain neither their practice of the faith nor their ability to imbue society with Christian values. The next mark of the Church is holy. Students must have displayed successful academic growth and appropriate behavior in previous school experiences. Now, more than in the past, teachers and administrators must often encourage parental participation in the school's mission and life. It is Catholic because it prepares for a fully human life at the service of others and for the life of the world to come. Inspired by a supernatural vision; Founded on Christian anthropology; Animated by communion and community; Imbued with a Catholic worldview throughout its curriculum; Sustained by Gospel witness . • The Catholic school climate, mission, and purpose positively impact student achievement and attendance. Edmonton Catholic Schools provides quality education surrounded by the love and faith of Jesus Christ. Catholic schools are obligated to evangelize simply because that is the core and mission of the Catholic Church, according to Thomas Burnford, president and CEO of the NCEA. Catholic families serve that goal by being schools of love where we learn how to love God and each other with our whole hearts, minds, souls and strength (see Lk 10:27; Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. Know and love children and can inspire faculty and families with their passion and sense of purpose. Based on numbers, Catholic schools in America have been in a state of decline over the past half-century. . Catholicism shares some beliefs with other Christian practices, but essential Catholic beliefs include the following: The Bible is the inspired, error-free, and revealed word of God. The Holy See’s Teaching on Catholic Schools Archbishop J. Michael Miller, C.S.B., 2005 . 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