Educating Together in Catholic Schools

VATICAN CITY, NOV 20, 2007 (VIS) - Today in the Holy See Press Office, the presentation took place of a document published by the Congregation for Catholic Education, entitled: "Educating Together in Catholic Schools. A Shared Mission between Consecrated Persons and the Lay Faithful." Participating in the press conference were Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski and Msgr. Angelo Vincenzo Zani, respectively prefect and under-secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, and Roberto Zappala, rector of the high schools of the Gonzaga Institute in Milan, Italy. In his talk, Cardinal Grocholewski expressed the view that globalization "favors meeting and exchange between peoples, but it can also produce dangerous cultural homologies, a sort of cultural colonialism."

The cardinal went on to note that "a profound malady is affecting the educational world, especially in the West." Professors "feel a lack of motivation and have to witness the frustration of their educational duties. Among the worrying signs are the increase of violence in schools and among adolescents, and the difficulties faced by families which, it as well to recall, have the prime responsibility for the education of their children" and must play "an active part in the school community."

Msgr. Zani provided a number of statistics illustrating the presence of Catholic schools in various areas of the globe. "In the world today," he said, "there are some 250,000 Catholic educational institutes frequented by slightly fewer than 42 million pupils, distributed over the continents as follows: ten million in Africa, twelve million in the Americas, ten million in Asia, nine million in Europe, and 800,000 in Oceania. Teachers in Catholic schools number around three and a half million." Msgr. Zani continued: "Catholic schools operate in all geographical areas, including those in which religious liberty does not exist or that are socially and economically disadvantaged," and have "an amazing capacity to respond to emergencies and to formative needs." To illustrate this point, Msgr. Zani quoted the examples of Lebanon, where "the program of Catholic schools has as its principal aim that of leading young people to dialogue and collaboration between Muslims and Christians," and of Bosnia where, "in the midst of the Balkans war, the archdiocese of Sarajevo founded three schools called 'Schools for Europe,' ... to welcome Serbs, Croats and Muslims."

"Special mention must be made," he continued, "of countries in Central and Eastern Europe. There the collapse of communism unblocked a situation which had persisted for many years, enabling a rediscovery of the value of the individual and of freedom, also in the formative process. In many of those countries educational laws have been greatly revised and now also include recognition and economic support for Catholic schools."

Professor Zappala indicated that the document, 26 pages long and published in English, French, Spanish and Italian, "wishes to contribute to reflections on three fundamental aspects concerning the collaboration between lay faithful and consecrated people in Catholic schools."

To this end, the professor explained, the text of the document is divided into three sections. The first section, "communion in the mission of education, ... focuses on the theological and anthropological roots of communion." In the second section, "a journey of formation for educating together," it is made clear that "to educate in communion and for communion a specific formation is necessary;" thus this section considers the aspects of professional formation, theological and spiritual formation, and communion for education. As for the third section, "communion for opening oneself towards others," Professor Zappala quoted from the document, saying: "Educating in communion and for communion means directing students to grow authentically as persons who 'gradually learn to open themselves up to life as it is, and to create in themselves a definite attitude to life' that will help them to open their views and their hearts to the world that surrounds them, able to see things critically, with a sense of responsibility and a desire for constructive commitment."

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