The Purpose of our Education Provision
By admitting that we are Catholic school, it means, we can part of the church. We therefore form part of the saving mission of the Church, especially for education in the faith (The Catholic School, 1977, Article 9). The obligation that we have is to foster in her children a full awareness of their rebirth to a new life (The Catholic School, 1977). Moreover, in the document of Catholic School in the Third Millennium, she affirms “….”The person of each individual human being, in his or her material and spiritual needs, is at the heart of Christ’s teaching: this is why the promotion of the human person is the goal of the Catholic school” (Article 9).
To shed more light to this, we turn to GRAVISSIMUM EDUCATIONIS. In this document, the Church declares “A Christian education does not merely strive for the maturing of a human person as just now described, but has as its principal purpose this goal: that the baptized, while they are gradually introduced the knowledge of the mystery of salvation, become ever more aware of the gift of Faith they have received, and that they learn in addition how to worship God the Father in spirit and truth (cf. John 4:23) especially in liturgical action, and be conformed in their personal lives according to the new man created in justice and holiness of truth (Eph. 4:22-24); also that they develop into perfect manhood, to the mature measure of the fullness of Christ (cf. Eph. 4:13) and strive for the growth of the Mystical Body; moreover, that aware of their calling, they learn not only how to bear witness to the hope that is in them (cf. Peter 3:15) but also how to help in the Christian formation of the world that takes place when natural powers viewed in the full consideration of man redeemed by Christ contribute to the good of the whole society.(9) Wherefore this sacred synod recalls to pastors of souls their most serious obligation to see to it that all the faithful, but especially the youth who are the hope of the Church, enjoy this Christian education.(10)” (Article 2)
As clearly stated above, our school mission is not only to provide education to form the whole person but also to orient our students to the knowledge of salvation on which the fullness of human being is based upon. It is in this principal purpose that our obligation should be based, in other words, if our mission as such is ever carried out, this is the sole aim we need to pursue and find our fulfillment.
Teachers as Coordinators in Faith
This very purpose of our education provision should be understood first by any Catholic educators in Thailand so that it can be expressed in our Catholic school. This broad philosophical stance requires Catholic Educators to combine sound knowledge and skills with an overall personal development rooted in Christian values. Such an education involves a high level of inter-personal transaction between staff and pupils. Pope John Paul II has spelt out key implications of this for staff who work in Catholic schools:
“The Church looks upon you as co-workers with an important measure of shared responsibility… To you it is given to create the future and give it direction by offering to your students a set of values with which to assess their newly discovered knowledge… (the changing times) demand that educators be open to new cultural influences and interpret them for young pupils in the light of Christian faith. You are called to bring professional competence and a high standard of excellence to your teaching… But your responsibilities make demands on you that go far beyond the need for professional skills and competence… Through you, as through a clear window on a sunny day, students must come to see and know the richness and joy of life lived in accordance with Christ’s teaching, in response to his challenging demands. To teach means not only to impart what we know, but also to reveal who we are by living what we believe. It is this latter lesson which tends to last the longest.”(Address to Catholic Educators, September 12, 1984)
Pope John Paul II clarified this further when he spoke on Catholic Education in Melbourne:
“I welcome you into that chosen group called by the Church to educating young Catholics in the faith. In a very special way, you share in the Church’s mission of proclaiming the good news of salvation. Not all of you may be teaching catechetics, but if you are on the staff of a Catholic school, it is expected, and it is of the utmost importance, that you should support the whole of the church’s teaching and bear witness to it in your daily lives… Certainly your work demands professionalism, but it also demands something more. Your professionalism as teachers involves tasks that are linked to your Baptism and to your own commitment in faith… No matter what subject you teach, it is part of your responsibilities to lead your pupils more fully into the mystery of Christ and the living tradition of the Church… The parish primary school, where younger children receive their early lessons in the faith, remains a cornerstone …
St Columba’s College Principles of Catholic Education of the pastoral care of Australian Catholic People. Here the Community of Faith hands on the timely message of Jesus Christ to its youngest members… More difficult challenges face the Catholic secondary school. Here students must be helped to achieve that integration of faith and authentic culture which is necessary for believers in today’s world. But they must also be helped to recognise and reject false cultural values which are contrary to the Gospel.”(Address on Catholic Education, November 26, 1986)
The statements of the late Pope mentioned above enhance highly the mission of our education dedicated to the young. They need to be oriented to the new formation in which faith and authentic culture meet appropriately. This can be done only when the Catholic Educators accept the philosophy of Catholic education as their guiding principles for their functioning. Whilst it is accountable to the society for the provision of quality education to young citizens, it is also accountable to the Church community for providing this within the context of the Gospel and its value as expressed in Catholic doctrine. Catholic educators therefore will not attach too much importance to the test scores of their students only but also to facilitate Gospel values in their schools’ context through their teachers.
Faith Education integrated with Culture
To carry out our educative mission appropriately, the Church understands truly well the importance of culture. She suggests us to apply wisely the application of culture to cultivate Gospel values in our young learners. She asserts the Catholic school has as its aim the critical communication of human culture and the total formation of the individual, it works towards this goal guided by its Christian vision of reality “through which our cultural heritage acquires its special place in the total vocational life of man” (Article 36). She also proposes to us to apply teaching as a significant tool to integrate faith with culture. She asserts “In helping pupils to achieve through the medium of its teaching an integration of faith and culture, the Catholic school sets out with a deep awareness of the value of knowledge as such (The Catholic School, Article 38).
In the same document, she further points out to us the importance of subjects. They should be considered as a means to accommodate students into the development of their personality. She states “Individual subjects must be taught according to their own particular methods. It would be wrong to consider subjects as mere adjuncts to faith or as a useful means of teaching apologetics. They enable the pupil to assimilate skills, knowledge, intellectual methods and moral and social attitudes, all of which help to develop his personality and lead him to take his place as an active member of the community of man (Articles 39). Further still, She wishes to see our school to systematically and critically transmit culture in connection with living faith. She posits “The specific mission of the school, then, is a critical, systematic transmission of culture in the light of faith and the bringing forth of the power of Christian virtue by the integration of culture with faith and of faith with living (Article 49).
Finally the church provides us a sharp and clear conclusion on our school mission should be run. She concludes “ The various school subjects do not present only knowledge to be attained, but also values to be acquired and truths to be discovered. All of which demands an atmosphere characterized by the search for truth, in which competent, convinced and coherent educators, teachers of learning and of life, may be a reflection, albeit imperfect but still vivid, of the one Teacher. In this perspective, in the Christian educational project all subjects collaborate, each with its own specific content, to the formation of mature personalities” (The catholic School on the Third Millennium, Article 14).
To conclude the Catholic school does not exist for itself. It owns its existence on the mission of the church that is to evangelize. The existence of catholic is therefore is to inform and educate the whole student, who is an integrated human person, in the teaching, “the mind” of the Catholic Church, thus preparing men and women with a profoundly Catholic Vision of life. Catholic school therefore finds its true justification in the mission of the Church. This justification finds its meaning on an educational philosophy in which faith, culture and life are brought into harmony. Through it, the Catholic school evangelizes, educates, and contributes to the formation of a healthy and morally sound life-style among its students. Only by doing this will the Catholic school fulfill its vital mission and has the right to pursue its existence.