Religious Presence in Catholic Schools

As a lay teacher in a Catholic School in New York, I believed I had the best job in the world. I got to spend my day with children whom I loved and teach them about God. I couldn’t think of anything better. Well, I left my job to answer God’s call to the consecrated life. After several years of basic formation in religious life and further education, I re-entered the Catholic School, this time as a religious sister.

In many ways I am still the same person. I try to reach each student and often stumble in the effort. In other ways, something beyond my understanding has transpired.

In the document, Consecrated Persons and Their Mission in Schools: Reflections and Guidelines,” the Congregation for Catholic Education states, There is no need for consecrated persons to reserve exclusive tasks for themselves in educational communities. The specificity of the consecrated life lies in its being a sign, a memory and prophecy of the values of the Gospel. Its characteristic is to bring to bear on the world of education their radical witness to the values of the Kingdom! (Cardinal Zeron Grocholewski, Consecrated Persons and Their Mission in Schools: Reflections and Guidelines, n. 20, 2002). L’Osservatore Romano, 27 Nov. 2002.

Aware of my limitations, I have grown keenly aware of being a “sign.” Any positive response I have received has been because of that “sign,” because I am a religious, not because of anything I myself have done.

As a religious, and in my situation, the only religious in the school where I teach, I have found that not only students, but parents and other staff members have certain expectations. As one consecrated to be a “public witness” of the Kingdom and the life of Christ, they have a right to their expectations. It is a call for personal growth as a religious so that I can be of greater service to students, parents, and colleagues. Just as Jesus did for his disciples, so consecrated persons live their self-giving for the benefit of the recipients of their mission: students, in the first place, but also their parents and other educators. This encourages them to live prayer and their daily response to their following of Christ to become an increasingly more suitable instrument for the work that God achieves through them. (Cardinal Zeron Grocholewski, Consecrated Persons and Their Mission in Schools: Reflections and Guidelines, n. 27, 2002). L’Osservatore Romano, Nov. 2002. I have found serving as a religious in a Catholic School to be a tremendous gift and privilege and feel that I have already reaped the “hundredfold” promised by our Lord.

The young people I have had the experience of coming to know have a tremendous longing to know what is right and to do what is right. Often times they are growing up in families where parents themselves are unsure. The media influences are tremendous for young people today and teaching them the truths of the Catholic faith and the call to a moral life is tantamount to asking nothing short of heroic virtue in these young people. Yet, that is what the youth are seeking. As a former religion teacher of primary students and now to junior high students, I am coming to realize that what these souls need most is support. For many, that means extending the education to parents and families. The family centered around our Lord and His teachings as revealed through his Church needs to become a reality for all of these young people. Children look for this from their religious teacher, but if they don’t experience it in the family, the teacher can only bring that child before the Lord in prayer. As a “sign…of the values of the Gospel” the religious teacher can encourage families in the same way she encourages students, to really live all that Christ has asked of us, to make Him the center of our lives, to make His teachings the basis for all our decisions and His life through the sacraments the most sought after part of our lives. Children often receive confusing messages. They come to school with questions to try to sort it out but it is within the family that this sorting and value building essentially occurs. The Congregation for Catholic Education states, The family comes first in being responsible for the education of the children. Consecrated persons appreciate the presence of parents in the educational community and try to establish a true relation of reciprocity with them. Participating bodies, personal meetings and other initiatives are aimed are rendering ever more active insertion of parents in the life of institutions and for making them aware of their educational task. Acknowledgement of this task is more necessary today than it was in the past, due to the many difficulties that families now experience. (Cardinal Zeron Grocholewski, Consecrated Persons and Their Mission in Schools: Reflections and Guidelines, n. 47, 2002). L’Osservatore Romano, 27 Nov. 2002.

As a consecrated person in a Catholic School I often find myself in a position where I can and need to support both the child and his/her family. It is a wonderful place to be and a mutually nourishing relationship.