3 minute read
A Letter From Our Pastor: Catholic Schools And The Buffet Line
Dear Parishioners,
I remember going to local buffets like Valentino’s or Country Buffet and being amazed at the variety of food. There were so many choices, yet I was going for one meal. It is easy to focus on the things that I like, and eating only those items alone led me to an unbalanced meal. If I would focus on the desserts and ice cream, I would have a month’s worth of sugar and carbohydrates in an hour meal.
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I was preparing to give a talk to Catholic school teachers years ago about the importance of education in a religious school. In preparation for the talk, I read a letter from the Cardinal in charge of the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education. I have read that letter a number of times since he wrote it in 1997. Cardinal Pio Laghi outlines the characteristics of a Catholic school which can be similar to ones intention when entering a buffet line. There are so many options and it is easy to be attracted to some items and lose the focus on the whole meal.
Pio Laghi does not express it so crudely. He states that a Catholic school “sets out to be a school for the human person and of human persons” finding “their fulfilment and unity in Christ” and the greatest danger to education is “the fragmentation of education.” In describing a Catholic school in this way, he is emphasizing a comprehensive education finding its fulfillment in Jesus Christ which keeps our whole life in view.
Returning to the example of a buffet and nutrition, there are many things on the buffet line that are necessary for good health. Our bodies need protein, vitamins, carbohydrates, fat and hydration. Choosing only one of these, which is sometimes done with certain diets, the needs of the whole person are not addressed. Cardinal Laghi states that “material and spiritual needs (of each person), is at the heart of Christ’s teaching” and the “promotion of the human person is the goal of the Catholic school.”
Jesus is first a teacher and called lovingly “Rabbi” by Mary Magdalene. He spent the majority of His time teaching about the Kingdom of God. He addresses the needs to the whole person, the material and spiritual, and He points them to the way to heaven. In our Catholic schools, we imitate the example of Jesus with the material and spiritual comingled in the daily education of the children in our school. Everything we do in the educational process is done while keeping our eyes on the end, the Kingdom of God.
The questions “how?” and “why?” are both addressed and answered in the person Jesus. Our children want to know “how” to read, though the reason “why” we learn to read mysteriously brings us closer to God each day. Reading, solving math equations, and understanding the world in which we live, helps us know the creator of all things. The “why,” which is a philosophical approach to education, gives purpose and meaning to daily endeavors. If this is missing, then education becomes the memorization of facts, and learning skills for a material end, rather than a glorious, eternal reward with the God who loves us.
The first characteristic of a Catholic school described by Pio Laghi is “a place of integral education of the human person through a clear educational project of which Christ is the foundation,” which can be boiled down to entering the buffet line free from distraction to nourish our entire being. So again, this year and every year, our plan for our Catholic school is to keep our students close to Jesus. He is our life and our salvation, in Him we live and move and have our being, and in Him we learn to live the full meaning of life.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Msgr. Robert Tucker, Pastor
