“Europe is suffering from a deforestation of its Christian memory”, in the view of Mgr Donal McKeown, Catholic bishop of Derry in Ireland. He was talking at a conference entitled ‘The Catholic school in a missionary Church’, organised by Discern, the Archdiocese’s institute for research on the signs of the times.
In other words, although Christianity has profoundly moulded the history and culture of almost all European peoples, present-day Europe is living in large measure as though its Christian past never existed and the gospel had not fashioned its values.
Jesus was himself a teacher: some tenets of his teaching were rejected. The Church he founded is, among other things, a teaching Church, its message, not surprisingly, being also frequently opposed. In the Western world, only what is tangible and immediate seems to be of supreme value.
The Church in Europe is therefore of necessity a missionary Church. Mission involves hope and exploration. Moving into uncharted waters may instil fear, but the future is ahead, we cannot simply look back.
Catholic schools nowadays share in the missionary thrust of the Church. Schools meet a sector of the population which does not go to church to worship. Catholic schools therefore provide, in actual fact, the most significant and prolonged contact with the Church that some students and their parents have or are ever likely to have.
For that reason, Catholic schools cannot limit themselves to scholastic excellence. They must aim to offer formation and transformation at the same time. They must be an agent of that metanoia (or inner change) that should be typical of the life of every Christian, seconding God’s grace in bringing about in students a profound change so that they are empowered to produce improved conditions for the poor, the needy and those unjustly treated.
McKeown used an interesting image about the Christian faith to be passed on in a Catholic school: a lens through which to look at the world.
Despite the difficulties that presently beset the Catholic Church, its schools in Europe, the bishop stressed, continue to attract children from all social backgrounds, and all faiths and none.
Catholic schools cannot limit themselves to scholastic excellence. They must aim to offer formation at the same time
He suggested that the resilience of Catholic schools lies in that they embrace sense and imagination, they convey a positive realism, they believe that the faith becomes concrete in visible signs (like bread and wine in the Eucharist) and social solidarity. Further elements of Catholic schools’ strength are the prominent role they assign to community (as against contemporary individualism), the clear appreciation of reason (a God-given reality) and wonder at God’s creation (including the environment, but going beyond it).
Society is presently afflicted by shyness about affirming what is right, since in contemporary culture every opinion goes. The Catholic school must speak the truth respectfully but clearly about God, human beings, life and fundamental human institutions like marriage.
Although in Malta most children attending Church schools come from Catholic families, even here one can discern the trend towards a post-Christian society where not all parents practise the faith.
Catholic schools can fulfil their mission by speaking the truth and by helping students be transformed into ‘persons-for-God’, gradually becoming ‘persons-for-others and with-others’, through hands-on experiences. Voluntary work in Malta and/or abroad, for instance, will help students grow in disinterested generosity and develop into agents of future change in society.
McKeown’s high ideal for the Catholic school is clearly hope-filled. Is it unrealistic? Difficulties clearly exist. Catholic schools work under constraints – for instance they must fit into the framework established by educational authorities and labour law. Besides, schools may rightly be teaching certain moral tenets of the Catholic faith not shared by the students’ parents, so that children receive double messages, for instance regarding the appropriate approach to refugees.
These difficulties should not, however, detract from the very positive elements in McKeown’s talk, a veritable inspiration for Catholic schools within the increasingly challenging mission of the Church in Malta.
Fr Robert Soler is a member of the Society of Jesus.