Catholic schools have a mission of bringing young people into a relationship with Christ and to form them as disciples to share His Good News with others.
That’s what we call evangelization.
Throughout the year, and including during Catholic Schools Week, the St. Louis Review features stories showcasing what makes Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of St. Louis stand out. Students who attend Catholic schools receive a challenging, high-quality academic experience in a supportive environment, with an emphasis on Catholic values. The self-discipline developed by students, along with learning to accept responsibility and to respect others, helps create lifelong learners.
But Catholic education doesn’t exist solely for the academics or even the service components. Ultimately, the focus should be on providing formation of the human person, seeing students grow into the full stature of Christ. A student’s Catholic identity and ethos — the characteristic spirit — is just as important, if not more, than the test scores.
As we begin the process of All Things New, the Archdiocese of St. Louis’ strategic pastoral planning initiative, we are encouraged to rediscover and deepen our understanding of human formation within our Catholic schools. We must examine how we are forming students to become lifelong Catholics, who are learning to go out and share their Catholic faith with others.
Every apostolate of the Church exists to make disciples. In the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1965, it states that every “lay person should learn especially how to perform the mission of Christ and the Church by basing his life on belief in the divine mystery of creation and redemption and by being sensitive to the movement of the Holy Spirit who gives life to the people of God and who urges all to love God the Father as well as the world and men in Him.”
Likewise, “… (F)rom the beginning of their formation the laity should gradually and prudently learn how to view, judge and do all things in the light of faith as well as to develop and improve themselves along with others through doing, thereby entering into active service to the Church (Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, #29).
Parents are called to be first teachers of the faith to their children. Similarly, Catholic educational institutions also have a duty to develop a Catholic sense and apostolic activity in young people.
Catholic schools serve the faith community and society by educating young people to contribute to the common good. These students go on to become active and caring members of the communities, cities and nation in which they live.
But to see the fruits of that, we need to recognize that our Catholic schools must remain rooted in a mission of bringing our young people into a relationship with Christ first and foremost.