Rediscovering our Catholic School Identity

Dear Theophilous,

The first week of May every year marks Catholic Education Week across Ontario. It’s a week to both celebrate and reflect on publicly funded Catholic Education throughout the province. It’s a time to celebrate where we have come from and where we are at, and it offers the unique opportunity to reflect on where we are going.

Having grown up in Ontario’s publicly funded Catholic system – I was in the first wave of students to be fully-funded through grade 13 (yes, I am that old), and now with over 20-years experience as a teacher in the same system, I’ve spent more time in Catholic Schools than anywhere else. With a changing perspective from student to teacher, I’ve witnessed our Catholic schools morph into quasi-public schools where it’s at least permissible to talk about God, if not encouraged.

I have to make the confession right up front… I came of age in the post-Vatican II era, where the spirit of Vatican II was alive and well in our Catholic school system (vestiges of which still linger in our corridors). That said, my Catholic adult self was formed during the St. John Paul II era, followed by Benedict XVI, along with the push-back that has come with the Francis effect. Needless to say, I’ve seen and participated in both extremes of the pendulum swing – for good and for bad.

Personally, I think it’s time we rediscover the Catholic identity of schools.

If we are not to be seen as simply public schools with a Cross (and not even a Crucifix) on the wall, where the curriculum, environment and ethos are no different from the school across the street; then we need to return to what makes Catholic schools distinct – essentially, what makes Catholic schools Catholic:

·      Sacraments

·      Prayer

·      Almsgiving

·      Church Teaching

·      Teacher Formation

Sacraments

The Catechism of the Catholic Church plainly states: The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself. (CCC 1324) As such, the Eucharist (and through it, Christ) needs to be the focus of Catholic education.

How can this be done? How can we make the Eucharist the centre of life in our Catholic schools? First we need to do a reality check – Catholic students, for the most part, do not attend Mass on Sunday. Over the years my own informal polling tells me that less than 25% of the students in front of me attend Mass on a regular basis. If we want the Eucharist to be the centre of life in our Catholic schools, then we need to show and teach our kids that it truly is the source and summit of our lives. With Mass usually happening monthly in our Catholic schools, students need to be taught and shown the sacredness of the liturgy. Mass can no longer be seen as Tiny Talent Time; a sing-a-long of songs that have no meaning to the season; a showcase for student musicians, artwork or social-justice initiatives. These are all great things and rightfully need to be celebrated; but they should never overshadow the greatness of the Eucharist.

As a quick addition to this, in the schools where the Eucharist is present in chapel Tabernacles, it should be honoured and venerated. Far too often the chapel is in a dusty corner of the school, even with the door locked, hiding Christ of the students. As if to add insult to injury, some chapels are being used as meeting or storage rooms. If Catholic education truly is to be Christ-centred, then we need to make sure Christ, in the Eucharist, is at the community’s centre.

From this Eucharistic foundation, love of the other sacraments will flow. The other sacrament that our students will come into contact with in our Catholic schools is the sacrament of Reconciliation. Traditionally offered during the penitential seasons of Advent and Lent, this often forgotten yet beautiful sacrament needs to be properly explained and modeled for our students (i.e.: students should see their teachers partaking of the sacrament, not hear what they are confessing). As a sacrament, a conduit of God’s saving Grace, Reconciliation needs to be given the honour it deserves, and shouldn’t be taking place (as unfortunately happens) in a broom closet or storage room.

Prayer

As Christians, St. Paul calls on us to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thess 5:16-18). The idea that we should ‘pray without ceasing’ doesn’t necessarily mean that we need to be on our knees 24/7, but rather that prayer needs to be in integral part of our day and interwoven into everything that we do. For this very reason, at the top of the whiteboard at the front of my classroom I have written the Benedictine motto Ora et Labora – Prayer and Work. I have done this to remind my students of the two oars that are meant to propel us through life.

Our prayer life can, and must take on many different forms: personal and communal; formal and informal. There are all kinds of benefits to be had in having a vibrant prayer life that incorporates these different elements. Sadly, however, the vast majority of our students have never been taught how to pray beyond the rote recital of what I like to call The Big Three of the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.

There is a vast treasure trove of traditional prayers and devotions, that have unfortunately remained a mystery to the average once-a-week Catholic.

Since the Pontificate of St. John Paul II, the Rosary seems to be making a comeback in our Catholic schools. In many parishes there is a Rosary Apostolate that visits the local schools, teaching the Mysteries and walking the students through how to pray this great devotional prayer. I have also been blessed to have a guest introduce my students to the Living Rosary, a multi-sensory prayer that brings the intercession of our Blessed Mother to life.

Other great prayer traditions can also be added to these standards. Depending on the timing of class, I will teach my students the Angelus, a wonderful meditation on the Annunciation and Conception of Christ. Also, my prayer selection will vary depending on the Liturgical season, with great Advent or Lenten prayers that highlight the sacredness of those seasons. Finally, I will also teach my students the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel to give them courage as they face the trepidations of the 21^st Century.

These communal prayers are all great for the classroom, but our students also need to be taught how to deepen their prayer lives once they walk out our door. For this I have begun the practice of a combined Lectio Divina and Eucharistic Adoration in our school chapel. This has taken some formal teaching so that the kids understand how to formulate their own personal prayer in preparation for the Word of God, and even more work to teach them how to sit silently with Christ. If every you want to see a teenager twitch, force them to sit silently without their phone for even the shortest length of time. Starting off slowly, I will have them sit in silence before the Tabernacle for only 2 or 3 minutes, but by the end of the semester they will be up to 7 to 10 minutes. The students always tell me shutting the world off is the hardest thing they have ever done, but also the most personally rewarding – to the point where they ask me weekly if we’re going to the chapel.

Almsgiving

Catholic Social Teaching seems to be the hallmark of Catholic education, yet you will have noticed that I list it third.

Is Catholic Social Teaching important and in need of being an integral part of the Catholic school system? Yes – but only if done for the right reasons.

In staff meeting after staff meeting the question is always asked… What makes us different from the public school across the road? If the answer is solely based on how much the school has raised for charity or which social causes it promotes – then really the answer is not much. Our public school counterparts are equally good at raising funds for the cause and ensuring that the marginalized are supported and cared for. This is good humanitarianism.

The difference lies in why we do these things in a Catholic school. Our charity (derived from the Latin Caritas or love) is based on the inherent dignity possessed by each and every human because they are made in the image of God. It is this notion that we don’t do good simply for good’s sake, but that we do good for God’s sake, that needs to be the driving force behind the good works done in our Catholic schools.

Once our students come to understand that answering Christ’s call to help those in need is answering Christ himself, we spark a flame of love in their hearts that will hopefully burn for a lifetime.

Church Teaching

In the 21^st Century, this is always the tough one. In many ways being Catholic in today’s society is much like it was in the time of Christ - very counter-cultural. It takes a brave soul to stand out in the crowd and profess a belief in Church teachings, founded on Christ’s words and actions, formed by over 2,000 years of Sacred Tradition.

It is too easy to gloss over or simply ignore the more demanding of Christ’s teaching in the face of everything students and teachers are bombarded with in mainstream media (trust me, I know this, as I’ve been guilty of it myself). Yet, if we truly love our students, we need to present them with the whole of Church teaching in its totality. This said, we do need to recognize the students that are in front of us, addressing issues that are relevant to their lives at this time.

When presenting Church teaching, we need to present it as just that – Church teaching, and not our personal opinion. Also, it is of great importance to ensure that God loves us so much that He has given us the gift of Free-Will, and that Church teaching needs to be used to form our conscience, and that the ultimate judgement of our/their souls lies with God and not their religion teacher.

Teacher Formation

None of what has been mentioned above can happen without proper teacher formation. Unfortunately, it has been my experience that this is the missing link which can cause the whole house of cards to fall down. Often the requisite basic religious education training that is needed to teach in Catholic schools is not much more than a rubber stamp, a hoop to jump through to get a job. Like everything else in today’s world, many young teachers are looking for an option that allows them to get what is needed with the least amount of effort (again, I re-iterate, this goes way beyond teacher formation).

Teachers cannot teach properly if they are uncomfortable with the course material. This is why over the past 22 years I have never darkened the door of the wood shop or a science lab – both myself and my principal know that the results would be disastrous, with a call to 9-1-1 being the best case scenario. Yet, year after year we have teachers from Kindergarten to Grade 12 who are asked to teach the faith with a very rudimentary knowledge of Church teachings. And, as if to add insult to injury, there are a number of non-practicing “Catholic” teachers charged with passing on the faith to our children. In my mind this is tantamount to asking someone who doesn’t speak French to teach French Immersion.

Having spent the better part of the past 40 years in the Catholic school system as both student and teacher, I know that it is far from perfect, but that there are also many bright lights shining in the darkness. It has been a couple of generations of publically funded Catholic education to get us to where we are today, and it will take a couple more for Catholic education to fully develop its identity.

Much like ourselves, our personal identity is constantly growing and changing, and so is that of Catholic schools. Much like developing our own personal Catholic identity, our Catholic school identity is not so much about where we are coming from, but where we are going to.

Numbers and the Bread of Life Discourse

Dear Theophilous,

I’m not someone who superstitiously puts a lot of faith in numbers. I don’t play the lottery. I won’t go out of my way to avoid the number 13. I don’t really have a favourite or lucky number (although throughout my entire recreational athletic career I have worn the number 7, that’s due more to the fact that when selecting my first ever hockey jersey I chose the sweater with the captain’s C on the front in a moment of 6-year-old vainglory). It’s just that I feel life is too short to spend my time worrying about how the numbers in my life will affect how my day plays out.

All this being said, I do love finding symmetry and patterns in the world around me; something that usually involves number games. One of my favourite number games is to find numerical links throughout Holy Scripture. A few of which (both obvious and obscure) include:

3

The Holy Trinity

The number of persons involved in Original Sin

The number of times God called Samuel

The number of persons involved in the Transfiguration

The number of angelic visits during the Nativity story

12

Tribes of Isreal

Apostles

Elect for Paradise (12x12=144x1,000=144,000)

40

Years the Israelites wandered in the desert

Days that Elijah spent on his journey

Days Christ spent in the desert

Days between the Resurrection and the Ascension

This list is very incomplete. I’m sure there are biblical scholars that have spent their careers looking at these numbers, interpreting them, commenting on them and sharing the wisdom these numbers impart.

As we work our way through the Bread of Life Discourse (Year B – Weeks 17-21 of Ordinary Time), there is another numerical coincidence that I find interesting, to say the least.

As a highlight of his teaching through the entire Bread of Life Discourse Jesus tells the crowds (and us):

Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever. (Jn 6:53-58)

The Bread of Life Discourse remains as difficult to swallow today as it was in the time of Christ:

Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” (Jn 6:41)

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (Jn 6:52)

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” (Jn 6:60)

Because of this many of his disciples turned back and walked with him no longer. (Jn 6:66)

It was during my meditation on the Bread of Life Discourse a couple of years ago that this last line caught my attention for it’s numeric value, for which I feel it bears repeating, but with a slightly different emphasis:

Because of this many of his disciples turned back and walked with him no longer. (Jn 6:66)

I doubt that it would take much commentary to make the link between the Scripture context and its numeric value. Disciples no longer walking with Christ in a verse numbered 6:66 … a number associated with Satan (the Beast) in the Book of Revelation (cf Rev 13:18). It is Christ who calls us to abide in Him through the Eucharist, His very flesh and blood; and Satan who pulls us away.

More telling is the exchange Jesus has with His Apostles immediately after the other disciples left Him:

“Do you also wish to go away?” (Jn 6:67)

To which Simon Peter replied:

“Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (Jn 6:68)

Through His loving grace the Father has given us the gift of freewill. When Christ calls us to Him in the Eucharist it is for us to decide whether we will fall away and walk with Him no longer, or will we turn to Him because He has the words of eternal life.

Live - Life - Sacrifice



 

Dear Theophilus,

When our parish catechist, Patrick Sullivan, starts the parent information meeting for the sacramental preparation courses (Reconciliation, Eucharist and Confirmation) he always begins with the line: “Children love what their parents love!” Personally, I couldn’t agree more, and this probably explains why my son loves the Montreal Canadiens (even though we live near to Toronto), playing soccer (which he properly calls: football), and why he dotes on his mother. He emulates the love that he sees.

It should have come as no surprise then that this summer at the age of 10 he decided he wanted to write a blog. He would have spent the better part of two months watching daddy frantically pound away at the keyboard, working away on multiple projects. It should also come as no surprise that the focus of Michael’s blog is the Catholic faith.

Mike has called his blog Live– Life – Sacrifice. When I asked him why, he just shrugged his shoulders, said he had never thought about it, but I guess to him, it just sounds right. So far he’s only written two blog posts, both of which plumb the depths of some pretty deep theological questions: the Trinity and Heaven’s existence.

I’m always amazed at how profound this guy’s thought process is. I think sometimes we sell our kids short; they understand way more than we think they do, and their faith has yet to be tarnished by the devils of this earthly world.

Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Mt 18:3)

Please stop by from time to time to see what wisdom this young mind has to share with us, and remember, whether you are a parent, Godparent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, friend or teacher – children are watching you, and Children love what their parents love.

And also remember to:

Live – Life – Sacrifice

Daily Examination of Conscience

Dear Theophilus, 

During the summer months I like to catch-up on my reading list (and blog posts), getting to the books that have been piling up on my bedside table since Christmas. Having more time in the morning to devote to reading helps, but I also like to choose one or two lighter titles to help move things along. One thing I try not to do is sacrifice quality for quantity. That’s why I was happy to come across The Bad Catholic’s Guide to Wine, Whisky and Song. 

As the title suggests, this book takes the reader on a journey through the relationship Catholicism has had throughout history with alcohol, weaving in the odd recipe and drinking song for good measure. What I wasn’t expecting when I picked up John Zmirak and Denise Matychowiak’s book was how true it stayed to the orthodoxy of Catholic teaching. Subtitled From Apocalypse to Zinfandel, there’s a whole lot that The Bad Catholic’s Guide covers, way more than just one blog post (perhaps that’s why it’s a book). As my post title suggests, I want to delve a little more deeply into one of the ideas I found there. 

A few times scattered throughout The Bad Castholic’s Guide Zmirak refers to the Dominican monastic order. He talks about their devotion to prayer, their work ethic and the marvelous wines and liquors these devout monks have gifted to us. The one aspect of Dominican life that intrigued me, however, was the daily examination of conscience. At the end of each day, Dominicans are called to reflect on their daily experience, how they glorified God and how they sinned against Him. 

The more I thought about it, the more I came to realize what a wonderful idea a daily examination of conscience is. Since reading Matthew Kelly’s Rediscover Catholicism and returning to a more frequent practice of the sacrament of Reconciliation (though never as frequent as I should), I’ve discovered how much more in tune I am with my own shortcomings, with my tendencies to sin, and I try to make a much more concerted effort to avoid what brings me to sin (you can read about my ongoing struggle here). If examining my conscience and getting to Confession every couple of months helps me to sin less, I figure that examining my conscience daily will help me even more in my quest to be perfect as my Holy Father is perfect. (cf Mt 5:48) 

When approaching the Sacrament of Confession, a thorough examination of conscience is needed (Youcat 232, CCC 1450-1460). To be done properly, the examination should be done in prayerful silence since we need to reflect on our thoughts and actions over a longer period of time. Your examination of conscience can never be exhaustive, but you must approach the confessions of your sins with a contrite heart and the resolve to sin no more. 

Although a daily examination of conscience looks at a shorter period of time, it needs to be just as thorough as though we were preparing to celebrate the sacrament. Each night, as I end my day I try to honestly answer these questions, asking God’s forgiveness for where I’ve fallen short: 

• What have I done to glorify God?
• What have I done to attack the glory of God?
• What have I done that I know is a sin?
• Did I have any thoughts that could have lead me to sin?
• Have I done or said anything that is hurtful to others?
• Have I seen someone in need and not stopped to help?
• What have I done to witness to God’s will?
• How have I helped others grow closer to Christ? 

The list is not exhaustive, and the order and answers change from day to day. What I do find, is that by going through this daily examination of conscience, I resolve to be a better person tomorrow; and when I wake in the morning, I pray to God for the grace and strength to be that better person.

Making Prayer Personal



Dear Theophilus, 

Our God is a living God. 

If we cannot or do not believe in the Resurrection, then our belief in Christ is not only in vain (cf 1 Cor 15:1-2), but outright heretical. For if Jesus did not rise from the dead then he is not the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. 

As Christians we are called to have an intimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ. But how can we build up this relationship so that it is vibrant, joyful and life-giving? 

The answer is quite simple, the key to having a vibrant relationship with God is the same as our relationships with others: good communication. Where our human communication can take on many forms (conversations, e-mail or text), we communicate with God through prayer. 

Prayer is turning the heart toward God. When a person prays, he enters into a living relationship with God. (Youcat 469; CCC 2558-2565) 

The notion of entering a relationship with God through prayer opens up a whole intimate and personal dimension. Just like there is a personal dimension in all of our human communications (yes, there’s even business letters have a level of personal investment), there is a personal element in how we communicate with God.  

We need to make prayer personal. 

I’m not stating that there needs to be a dramatic shift from a public prayer life to a predominantly private prayer life. Rather, what I am saying is that there is a need to develop a deep personal investment in our prayer life as a whole. There must be a balance found between both public and private prayer life, each feeding off of and into the other, and both stoking the deep, personal and intimate relationship that we have with God. 

The question arises then of how do we do this? How do we make prayer personal? Especially when it’s our private prayer that seems deeply intimate (our nighttime prayers and personal supplications before God), while our public prayer seems dry and remote (usually responding by rote at Mass). It won’t be easy and will take some effort, but like all things in this life, when we put in the effort to deepen our relationship with God, the rewards will be exponential. 

At this point I’d like to put forward the very non-scientific argument that the overwhelming majority of practicing Catholics (i.e.: those who attend Mass on a regular basis, beyond Easter, Christmas and family celebrations) only have a public prayer life. They attend Mass on Sunday and leave feeling they’ve met their end of the bargain in their relationship with God. My experience is that many of these people don’t have a very strong private prayer life, and thus feel that their relationship with God is lacking somewhat. Often these very same people will ask me how they can engage their children in the Mass, to which I reply with some rhetorical questions (I make sure they understand I don’t want or need to hear their answer, I just want them to reflect on the questions): What is their prayer life like at home? Do they incorporate prayer in their daily routine? Do they make a habit of frequenting the sacraments (Eucharist and Reconciliation)? 

As for those who don’t go to Mass regularly (or at all) many will argue that they don’t need to go to have a relationship with God; that they can communicate with God any time they see fit or need Him. Here I would argue that most of these people don’t even have this personal relationship with God that they claim to have, mostly because they see themselves as the centre of this relationship and not Christ. 

Again the question comes up: How do we make prayer personal? How can we get our public prayer to the next level and enrich our private prayer so as to deepen our relationship with God?

For myself, it started with going beyond the rote responses at Mass. It took a concerted effort to concentrate on what was being said and sung and seeing how it related to me in my life at that particular moment. It was done in baby steps. I didn’t take on the whole Mass all at once. I began with closing my eyes and focusing on the words of the Gospel. Once I had mastered concentrating on the Gospel, I added the readings. Soon I was able to make the connections between the Old Testament and New Testament readings. Over the years I’ve been doing this I’ve slowly added a new part of the Mass to concentrate on with the others, to the point where I spend most of the Mass contemplating on what is happening and being said. 

The Mass, a very public prayer, has also become a very personal prayer. 

Since I’ve been doing this, my private prayer life has also grown. With the natural ebb and flow of any personal relationship (with my relationship with God this is all due to my own failings), I have added new aspects to my prayer life. Some of these are traditional rote prayers: daily Rosary or prayers before every meal; while others are more fluid in nature: personal supplications or a daily examination of conscience. 

What I have found is that by making prayer personal, my relationship with God has grown deeper and strengthened my resolve in Christ.

The Quintessential Question of our Faith



Dear Theophilus,

In this past week’s Gospel reading (Lk 9:18-24), Christ asks the quintessential question of our faith:

“Who do you say that I am?” (Lk 9:20)

Our entire faith hinges on how we answer this very pointed question.

If, like Peter, we answer: “The Christ of God.” (Lk 0:20), then everything else should fall neatly into place. There can be no further questioning of our faith. There certainly should be no further questioning of what we believe in or how we act morally and theologically.

Christ is asking us to either accept him for all that he is, or to reject him.

It’s on this question that the arguments of our Christian brethren that feel they can pick and choose Christ’s teachings that are relevant to them begin to fall apart. For, if they cannot accept all that Christ teaches, then how can they consider him to be The Christ of God?

How can we not consider the Eucharist to be the source and summit of our faith when Christ told us “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (Jn 6:51) if he is not The Christ of God?

If Jesus is truly The Christ of God, then how can we not consider the teaching of the Catholic Church to be divinely inspired when, appearing to the disciples after the Resurrection, Jesus said to them “’Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them, (Jn 20:21-22) a commissioning that continues to this day in the conferring of the sacrament of priesthood. A priesthood in the Catholic Church commissioned when Christ said: “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” (Mt. 16:18)

The teachings simply fall into place once we truly understand what it means to answer Christ’s question like Peter did at his institution as the fist Pope: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Mt. 16:16)

The list of what becomes indisputable when we answer this question, Who do you say that I am? is too lengthy to discuss in a blog post, there are 2865 paragraphs in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It’s all there, and if Jesus is The Christ of God, then each of those paragraphs makes perfect sense.

As Fr. Robert Barron puts it so well (as he always does) in his Catholicism Series, if we do not answer like Peter, then there is very little to differentiate Christianity from the other world religions. If Jesus is not The Christ of God, then he is little more than a prophet, like Elijah or Mohammed, who have had (or claimed to have had) a revelation from God. If Jesus is not The Messiah, the Son of the living God, then he is little more than a new Buddha who has fond another path towards enlightenment. If Jesus is not The Christ of God, then could he be the next incarnation of Vishnu, come to teach us how to attain Moksha?

This is the quintessential question of our faith. How you answer it forms the core of what you believe and compels you how to act on those beliefs. So,…

Who do you say that He is?