Today the Church celebrates the memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, a saint better known by her worldly name, Edith Stein. She was a renowned philosopher of the last century as well as an avowed atheist who, though culturally born Jewish, found her way into the bosom of the Catholic Church, and eventually, into a cloistered Carmelite monastery. She died in the gas chambers at Auschwitz on Aug. 9, 1942. For some of you, the question might arise: “What does this saint’s life have to do with me teaching in a Catholic school?”
I would suggest that it actually has a great deal to do with it. Edith Stein found Christ by seeking the truth. Her thirst for truth allowed her to be open to wherever that search led her. She was a teacher who desired to seek and find. That desire led her to the Truth himself, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Catholic education, as an arm of the Church’s evangelizing mission, is also concerned with seeking truth, the truth about who God is, and the truth about who we are. As such, Catholic education has the mandate from Christ of proclaiming the Gospel to all nations (Mt. 28:20), and each one of you is tasked with participating in that mandate.
The Church teaches that parents are the first educators of their children. This is affirmed in the baptismal rite and is reaffirmed time and again throughout Church teaching. At the same time, we know that most parents share their educational responsibility with others, especially educators. Catholic parents have the responsibility of handing on the faith to their children and, in a very particular way, the Catholic school has the responsibility of aiding parents in this task.
It is for this reason that the Church considers the school as an extension of the home. We are called, therefore, to offer assistance to parents in helping them fulfill their primary obligation and even remind them when necessary of the awesome responsibility entrusted to them by the Creator.
For those who have not previously served in a Catholic school, I think it is helpful to have a clear understanding of what the Church asks of you as educators. The Church considers the role of teacher in her schools as a ministerial one.
First, what is the Church’s understanding of a Catholic school? The Holy See answers this question in the following way: a Catholic school should be inspired by a supernatural vision, founded on Christian anthropology, animated by communion and community, imbued with a Catholic worldview throughout its curriculum, and sustained by Gospel witness.
It is for this reason that the most important task for a Catholic school is to maintain and continually strengthen its Catholic identity. This task is far more than offering a few prayers during the day and offering the celebration of Mass on occasion. While these things are good and necessary, they can often become Catholic window dressing for an otherwise secular culture. Our ultimate goal as Catholic educators is to help, as the Baltimore Catechism pointed out, the children entrusted to our care to love and serve the Lord in this life so that they can live with Him forever in heaven.
Our treasure is not in this life, but in the life to come. This explains what is meant by a Catholic school having a supernatural vision.
When discussing the importance of a Christian anthropology, the Church’s magisterium affirms time and again that the philosophy that guides Catholic education must be built on a correct understanding of who the human person is.
A Catholic school does not exist as simply a factory of learning to create the future titans of industry. Our task is not simply to prepare our students for college – although, this is certainly a noble endeavor.
Our primary task is to help our students get to heaven. Your task then as an educator in the Catholic school is, first and foremost, to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ and give witness to His presence in your life. Christ is the teacher in the Catholic school par excellence. Christ has to be lived in the religion class and the science lab; at the cheerleading practice and on the football field; in the English literature class and in advanced calculus.
When I am celebrating infant baptism, I often remind the parents and godparents that they have been entrusted with a saint. Whether the little one grows into the saint that God created him or her to be depends on the adults in his or her life and the witness that the child is given as he or she grows and develops. As you begin teaching in our Catholic schools, you too are being entrusted with saints (even on days when they don’t act like it). I pray that your own holiness will be a shining witness to all of your students and that when they see you, they will be able to see the face of the Lord Himself. God bless you!
Father John Putnam is pastor of St. Mark Church in Huntersville. This is adapted from a homily he gave for new diocesan school teachers at an Aug. 9 Mass in the St. Mark School Chapel in Huntersville. It is based on the work by Archbishop J. Michael Miller, “The Holy See’s Teaching on Catholic Schools” (Manchester, NH: Sophia Press, 2006).