The Rosary

The Rosary is the most highly recommended prayer in the Catholic Church, second only to the liturgy (MC 54)¹.

Pope St Paul VI even went as far as to say that the rosary is the compendium of the Gospel.
As we pray the rosary with our fingers counting the beads, we meditate on the life of Christ,
from his incarnation, his suffering, death, and glorious Resurrection. Our head and heart,
soul and body therefore participate in the Rosary.

Pope St John Paul II would tell us that the rosary is marvelous in its simplicity and marvelous
in its depth. The Rosary is not about merely meditating on the mysteries of Christ which may
seem distant and unrelatable, but placing our very selves in the mysteries. Regardless of our
circumstances or condition, we can find ourselves somewhere in them.

In the Annunciation, Mary receives good news through an angel, perhaps we find ourselves
as heralds of good news to students or to parents; in the Visitation, we discover Jesus in our
colleagues, students, or friends as Elizabeth discovered Him in Mary; in the Nativity, Christ
is born in our lives; in the Presentation, we present ourselves and our students to God; in the
Finding of Christ, we find Christ teaching and studying in our students. The parallels between
our lives and the mysteries of the Rosary are endless, yet it is so simple to pray it.

“Our heart can enclose in these decades of the Rosary all the facts that make up the
life of the individual, the family, the nation, the Church, and mankind. Personal matters and
those of one’s neighbor, and particularly of those who are closest to us, who are dearest to
us.” (Pope St John Paul II)

Some may find the rosary repetitive and boring. Some may even argue against repetitive
prayer, saying that Jesus was against repetitive prayer. Jesus was against meaningless and
mindless repetition, but the rosary is meaningful repetition.

In fact, repetition is a part of our ordinary lives. Our basic human functions are repetitions.
We do the same things everyday – we breath in and out repeatedly, our heart beats in the
same way throughout our life. We repeat our calendar each year – we go through the same
events, liturgical seasons and the same celebrations, but if we enter deeply into each event,
they don’t just remain as mere events, they become memorable experiences.

So how can all repetition be meaningless? Thus, if we find the Rosary boring, we may be
not entering fully into the Rosary. We are just repeating words instead of meditating on the
life of Christ through the eyes of Mary. Perhaps we can begin to think of each bead as the
heartbeat of Jesus, and our goal would be that our heart would beat in unison with His.

Mary’s role

Why do we call Mary our mother? Because Christ gave her to us at the cross. As any mother
would do, she would watch over us, pray, and intercede for us. She is in no way divine, but
she has a very special place given to us by Christ. If we love Christ, we would love his mother.

Praying the ‘Hail Mary’ is to repeat the words of the Angel Gabriel, to give due honour to the
mother of Christ and our mother. When we offer our petitions to Mother Mary, we are saying
to her ‘Mother, will you please pray for me? Nobody knows your Son like you do.’ She
delightedly acts like the mother she is because God in His power and omniscience delights
to have it so.

Someone may pose the question, ‘should you be praying to people who are no longer on
earth?’ As Catholics, we ought to answer with a resounding ‘Yes’, because we believe in the
Communion of Saints and the Mystical Body of Christ. The Body of Christ cannot be divided.

The fact that our loved ones have gone before us, that we have the saints as our older brothers
and sisters, does not mean that we are separated. We are one body in Jesus Christ. As Saint
Paul says, we are members, not only of Christ Jesus but “one of another” (Rom 12:5).

As we pray and meditate on the mysteries of the rosary, we see that the rosary is centered
on Christ. The rosary is not about Mary, but about Christ – his life and the mystery of our
salvation.

Though we meditate on her Assumption and Crowning in the Glorious Mysteries, these are
due to the power of Christ, who preserves her from the corruption of the grave and brings
her into heavenly glory. Mary is our guide who points us back to Christ her Son while at the
same time exercising her motherhood of maternal care over all of us.

Mary, our Mother, pray for us.

¹ Pope Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary
Marialis Cultus (1974), no. 54.

What do these special days that the Church has gifted us in every liturgical year actually
mean for us, as Catholic educators ‘on the ground’?

The ‘science of love’

St Therese of Lisieux is affectionately known as ‘the Little Flower of Jesus’ because, in her
autobiography The Story of a Soul, she described herself as a ‘little flower’ in God’s
garden of Creation, blooming wherever He planted her. Her spirituality was one of humility,
simplicity, and complete abandonment to God’s merciful love, much like a small,
unassuming flower that still brings beauty and glory to its Creator despite its smallness.

The little flower does not seek to be a more magnificent, showy bloom like a rose or lily.
The metaphor of ‘little flower’ beautifully captures her spiritual teaching, often called ‘the
Little Way’ which emphasises finding holiness not in grand, heroic deeds, but in
performing small, ordinary actions with immense love and trust in God.

Pope Pius XI declared St Francis Xavier and St Therese as co-patrons of missions and
missionaries in 1927. This might seem surprising given that, in contrast with St Francis
Xavier, St Therese spent her entire adult life cloistered within a Carmelite monastery,
never setting foot in a single foreign land. However, her patronage highlights a profound
truth about the nature of mission.

She is considered a co-patroness of missionaries for several key reasons:

• Spiritual childhood and desire for holiness:
  Recognizing her own spiritual weakness and inability to achieve holiness through her own
  efforts, she surrendered herself completely to God’s grace, like a little child depending
  completely on its parents, trusting that God would perfect her despite her imperfections.
  Despite her ‘littleness’, St Therese had a desire to be a great saint. As she famously said,
  “My whole life could be summed up in this little incident. Later . . . I cried out, ‘My God,
  I choose all! I don’t want to be a saint by halves!’” How would she accomplish this?
  Through her ‘Little Way’.
• The ‘Little Way’ of doing small things with great love:
  St Therese realised that not everyone was called to dramatic missionary journeys or other
  extraordinary acts of service. Instead, she focused on performing every small, daily duty –
  whether it was folding laundry, enduring an a particularly annoying fellow nun, or offering
  a kind word of comfort to another sister – with the greatest possible love for God. She
  taught that, by consciously offering every thought, word, and deed to God, even the most
  ordinary moments of everyday life were transformed into opportunities for grace.
• Her desire for souls:
  St Therese had a great spiritual longing for the salvation of souls; she believed that God’s
  love is so great that He desires to save even the weakest souls. As it was impossible for
  her to be a missionary herself, she dedicated all her prayers, sufferings, and sacrifices
  specifically for missionaries, believing that her hidden life of prayer and intercession in
  the convent was essential to their successful evangelisation in the field. In this way, she
  demonstrated that missionary zeal is not solely about proclaiming the Gospel in foreign
  lands, but primarily about a profound love for God and souls, expressed through prayer,
  sacrifice, and a deep commitment to the Church’s mission to bring all to God.

In 1997, Pope St John Paul II declared St Therese a Doctor of the Church, a title given by
the Catholic Church to specific saints whose writings, research, and teachings have made a
profound and lasting contribution to Christian theology and doctrine.

The Pope called her an “expert in the scientia amoris”, Latin for ‘the science of love,’
honouring the wisdom of her Little Way. As we have seen above, this Way sees love as the
very heart of the Church, encompassing all vocations: if we have a genuine desire to love
God and our neighbour as God loved them, this desire is in itself already pleasing to God,
and so He will accomplish in us what we cannot do on our own. This makes holiness
accessible to everyone, no matter what their ability, status or vocation in life, as long as
we do what little we can with great love.

Our call to mission

The Little Way also shows us that, no matter what our station in life may be, we can aspire
not only to be saints, but also missionaries like St Therese.

“The pilgrim Church is missionary by her very nature.”
(Second Vatican Council, Ad Gentes, 1965).

“In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary
disciples.”
(Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 2013)

The Church carries out this mission not by proselytising but by evangelising, the
difference between the two lying mainly in the motivation and method of each. “The
Church exists in order to evangelise” (Pope Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, 1975, 14) but
always in a way that respects human dignity and religious freedom.

“This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of
individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be
forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly,
whether alone or in association with others, within due limits.”
(Second Vatican Council, Dignitatis Humanae, 1965)

Catholics are therefore called to witness to Christ, not through any form of pressure or
manipulation in order to convert others by force, but from a genuine desire to share Good
News through joyful but gentle invitation in the hope that more lives might be transformed,
as ours were, by God’s love.

In other words, our motivation and method for, and the content of, evangelising is love,
not just for God, for the other’s good, and the common good of all.

The important thing is to share our own unique personal experiences and convictions from
the heart and then let God take over and do his part. If we are attentive to his promptings,
the Holy Spirit will teach us what to say and to whom in a particular situation.

But it’s not just about us doing all the talking. Mission in everyday life also involves being
just present to others, listening to their stories, and engaging in respectful dialogue so
that we build relationships and share faith authentically, rather than impose it.

Indeed, as Pope Benedict XVI taught, “A Christian knows when it is time to speak of God
and when it is better to say nothing and to let love alone speak!”
(Deus Caritas Est, 2005).

Our vocation to ‘middle-class’ sainthood

How can stretched and tired Catholic educators fulfil their calling to be missionaries,
attracting others to God?

Perhaps Children’s Day on October 2 could remind us all to be child-like in faith and
filled with missionary zeal for the salvation of souls, like St Therese. Following her Little
Way, we could offer up even the minutiae of the daily joys and toils of school life for the
good of our students, their parents, our colleagues and school staff (and of course
ourselves and our loved ones), and pray for the salvation of their souls.

Perhaps, through this Way, our everyday duty to be both an educator and a missionary
may gradually become less of an obligation and burden, and more of a joyful task, such
that our actions and attitudes become automatically infused with charity and compassion,
and our joy and love become more infectious and attractive.

Then, on Mission Sunday on October 18 we could dedicate all the ‘littleness’ of our
missionary efforts to those ‘great’ and ‘professional’ missionaries – past, present and
future – who gave up everything, even their lives, to spread the seeds of the Gospel.
(Where would the Church in Singapore, be without them?)

We could, like St Paul in the Second Reading of the Day specially “mention you in our
prayers and thank God for you all, and constantly remember before God our Father how
you have shown your faith in action, worked for love and persevered through hope, in our
Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:2-3).

And, on October 31, the eve of All Saints Day, we could spend some time contemplating
the words of Pope Francis:

“We need not think only of saints as those already beatified and canonised. The Holy
Spirit bestows holiness in abundance among God’s holy and faithful people… I like to
contemplate the holiness present in the patience of God’s people: in those parents who
raise their children with immense love, in those men and women who work hard to support
their families, in the sick, in elderly religious who never lose their smile… Very often it is
a holiness found in our next-door neighbours, those who, living in our midst, reflect God’s
presence. We might call them ‘the middle class’ of holiness.”
(Pope Francis, Gaudete et Exultate, 2018)

And throughout the month of October, let us remember to honour the Blessed Virgin Mary,
Our Lady of the Rosary, whose feast we celebrate on October 7. She was the first and
greatest proponent of the Little Way, long before St Therese discovered it, and the Queen
of all saints.

As our Mother and intercessor, she will show us, and protect us as we tread, the way from
‘middle-class’ to ‘high-class’ holiness!

Story of a name

Marty Haugen’s Canticle of the Sun is one of my favourite hymns.
The last line of the chorus goes,

And sing, sing to the glory of the Lord!

I had sung those words many times. Yet it was only recently, while re-reading
Pope Francis’s encyclical in full, that I properly made the connection: this
was where the encyclical’s title Laudato Si’ came from.

Laudato si’, mi’ Signore = Praise be to you, my Lord.

It comes from Saint Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Creatures,
written in the Umbrian language. Pope Francis titles his encyclical about our
environmental crisis with a line of praise – how interesting! It stands in
stark contrast to the doom and gloom about climate change we see on the news
every day. And the idea of viewing the earth and our environment as God’s
creation – I think it really brings out this idea of our common home, received
as a gift, to be shared with others, and entrusted to our care.

Personal reflections on Laudato Si

Although Laudato Si was published more than ten years ago, I continue
to be inspired by the ideas in this encyclical. It resonates very much with me,
personally. I am currently finishing a Master’s in Special and Inclusive
Education, and one of the things I value most has been having the time to read
more deeply and to ask why I care about the things that I do.

For much of my career, I thought of my interests as separate. My background in
Geography and my time working on climate policy in the wider civil service drew
me towards climate change and care for the environment. My work as an educator
drew me towards children with special educational needs, disadvantaged
backgrounds and others that we could consider to be at the margins. I cared
deeply about both, but I couldn’t honestly say that I saw them as part of the
same mission.

Reading Laudato Si’ helped me recognise a connection. In chapter 1,
Pope Francis writes not only about climate change and biodiversity loss, but
also about global inequality, the decline in quality human life and the
breakdown of society (paras 43-52). He calls on us to hear both the cry of the
earth and the cry of the poor as one common cry.

The veil of ignorance

During one of my master’s modules, I encountered the American philosopher John
Rawls’ thought experiment, the veil of ignorance. Rawls asks us to imagine
designing society without knowing the position we ourselves will occupy. We
would not know our race, abilities, family circumstances or whether we might
require significant support.

What kind of society would we want for ourselves, and our children, if we did
not know whether we would be born to positions of advantage or disadvantage?
What forms of support would we protect if we did not know whether we would be
independent or dependent on others?

Rawls reminds us that the circumstances into which we are born are largely
unchosen. We did not select our abilities or starting positions. They should
not determine whether we can belong and flourish.

Applying the Catholic Social Teachings

While Rawls’ thought experiment is useful in thinking about why inclusion is
philosophically important, I think it is theologically insufficient. We do not
care for those at the margins merely because we could have, or might one day,
share their circumstances. We care because they possess equal dignity.

In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis writes that “the rich and the poor have
equal dignity, for the ‘Lord is the maker of them all’” (Prov 22:2, cited in
para 94). The late pope also describes the earth as a shared inheritance,
“whose fruits are meant to benefit everyone” (para 93). In other words, the
common good requires social conditions that enable every person and community
to flourish, with particular concern for those most easily left behind. I often
get quite dismayed when I read about viral incidences and the accompanying
comments when they centre around what works for ‘the majority’ or the ‘typical’
Singaporean.

The poor and the earth are crying out

So, this is where inclusion and a concern for the environment can come together.
The cry of the earth and the cry of those at the margins expose the effects of
indifference and a culture of excessive accumulation, which at heart subscribes
to a belief that greater power entitles one to take and hoard while others
absorb the consequences.

The same culture that treats the natural world as a limitless collection of
resources can also cause us to measure people solely by their usefulness and
productivity. It can make us uncomfortable with difference or overlook those
whose needs do not fit our idea of what the good life should look like. I seem
to type this so confidently, but to be very honest, I too find myself resisting
such tendencies both as a parent and as an educator sometimes!

Pope Francis therefore calls for an integral ecology, inseparable from the
common good. To me, this means that our care for creation is also a question
about what it means to be human.

At the end of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis invites us to pray:

“… God of love, show us our place in this world as channels of your love for
all the creatures of this earth, for not one of them is forgotten in your sight of this earth, for not one of them is forgotten in your sight. Enlighten those who possess power and money that they may avoid the sin of indifference, that they may love the common good, advance the weak, and care for this world in which we live…”

Then comes the simple line:

“The poor and the earth are crying out.”

St. Francis of Assisi. Source: ChurchPOP

This year, Catholic schools and parishes in Singapore marked Catholic Education Sunday
(CES) on 23 August 2026. In recent years, CES was brought forward from the Teachers’
Day weekend, to the weekend of the feast day of St Joseph Calasanz, Patron of Catholic
schools, which is on 25 August.

Every year all schools in Singapore will celebrate Teachers’ Day on the last Thursday of
Term 3. So, this year, Teachers’ Day falls on Friday 4 September, which is a school holiday
for teachers and students.

Aren’t schools busy enough? Why is there a need to mark CES when it means having two
major school celebrations within a span of two weeks for Catholic schools in Singapore?

For the past 10 years since the inauguration of CES in 2017, I’ve been reflecting on this
question, especially as I approach Term 3, infamously known as the crazy term of the
school year.

My reflection brought me to more questions on what makes Catholic education distinct,
which I would like to share here:

Do we see every student as a gift from God?

When I was a school leader in a non-mission school, I found myself reminding my teachers
at Staff Meetings that “schools exist for children”.

Perhaps in a Catholic school, we need to remind all teachers that children are gifts from
God. Each child is made in the image and likeness of God. To each child is attributed the
dignity of a child of God. And from the Master Teacher Jesus, we educators and parents,
receive the sacred responsibility of forming each child to be the unique individual that God
has created him or her to be.

Perhaps if Staff Contact Time agendas are too crowded to include such short conversations,
CES in Week 9 of Term 3 may at least be a good opportunity to revisit annually, with all
teachers, the reason for existence of Catholic schools.

Do all our teachers see every student as a gift from God, entrusted to us for care and
formation?

Do we believe that every teacher is called, not just employed and posted?

By the end of Term 3, every school in Singapore would have concluded the MOE Open
Posting Exercise (OPE). My dream when I was principal of a Catholic school was to be able
to recruit teachers who:

• see teaching as a Christian vocation;
• appreciate the need to form students to be good citizens of this world and the next; and
• understand that their demonstration of excellence in curriculum, pedagogy and
  assessment is an expression of both competency and authentic witnessing to Christ.

Perhaps during the OPE leading up to celebrating CES, the Catholic school leadership team
may want to revisit the above as the desired marks of a teacher in a Catholic school.

Does the Catholic school leadership team feel called to pray to the Lord of the Harvest
to send teachers who understand the Church’s vision of education and their place within it?

Do we believe that our identity as Catholic schools is both educational and ecclesial?

In January every year, most Catholic schools gather the whole school community for a
Commencement Mass to thank God for the gift of Catholic education. Kudos to the schools
who do this annually, because every member of the Catholic school community—students,
educators, support staff, leaders and even parents—should come to understand that the
identity of a Catholic school is both educational and ecclesial.

It is an educational institution in that it is committed to academic excellence and the
holistic formation of the human person. Additionally, it is an ecclesial community in that
it participates in the evangelising mission of the Church. These two dimensions are
inseparable and together shape the school’s mission, culture, relationships and educational
practice.

In January every year, the Archbishop commissions newly appointed principals at the
Commencement of School Year (COSY) Mass, where newly appointed vice-principals are also
presented to the community. This is because a Catholic school is not merely an educational
institution but also an ecclesial ministry of the Church.

Through this commissioning, the Archbishop entrusts the principal with the responsibility
of leading the school in fidelity to its Catholic identity and mission.

During this January COSY Mass, all school leaders pledge their commitment –
“Make me a doer of Your Word; hopeful and confident in your truth.”

Perhaps as a run-up to CES in August, it is fitting that the Principal reflects again on the
sacred task that was entrusted to him or her when he or she was commissioned to head a
Catholic school.

As principals and vice-principals of Catholic schools, is our discernment and
decision-making guided by Catholic Social Teaching?

Many Gifts, One Mission

Schools are indeed busy. Yet CES reminds us each year why Catholic schools exist and
points us to the one mission to which each of us are called.

This CES, we thank God for blessing us with many gifts, in the 46,000 students entrusted
to the care of our 35 schools.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power
of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13)

May each of us in the Catholic education fraternity—school board members, school leaders,
staff and parents, forge forward in hope, sharing in the one mission of the Church to form
each child to be the unique individual that God has created him or her to be.

Conversation Between Father and Son

“Why do I have to go? It’s going to be boring! And why can’t we use our phones at night?”

My 14-year-old son was not pleased about attending a church camp for Secondary 2 youths at the start of the June holidays. I suspect his greatest concern was the ban on mobile phones at night. After all, he would lose all his mobile gaming “streaks”.

As one of the catechists serving at the camp, I simply replied, “You’re going. You won’t regret it.”

His eye roll suggested otherwise.

Letter to God

During one of the camp activities, the youths were invited to write a personal letter to God. They were encouraged to pour out their worries, frustrations and struggles in complete privacy. The letters were not meant to be shared with anyone else.

When we later reflected on the experience, their responses were revealing.

Some admitted that they felt awkward because they had never expressed themselves in such a way. Others were unsure what to write because they had never really stopped to think about their struggles. A few were able to put pen to paper immediately, almost as though they had been carrying these burdens for a long time.

What struck me most, however, was that many of them had never considered bringing their concerns to God at all.

When asked why, the responses were simple and honest. Some did not think it would help. Others had never thought of it as an option. More often, they turned to close friends or simply kept their struggles to themselves.

Perhaps this says something about the reality facing many young people today. It is not necessarily that they have rejected God. Rather, they may never have developed a personal relationship with Him in the first place. And if a relationship has never truly been formed, how can it be strengthened?

Eucharistic Adoration

Later that evening, the youths gathered for Eucharistic Adoration. They were invited to spend time before the Blessed Sacrament and, if they wished, to receive prayer from the adult facilitators for challenges they were facing — personal struggles, family difficulties, friendship issues, bullying and more.

At first, no one moved.

Perhaps they were afraid of being judged. Perhaps they felt uncomfortable being vulnerable in front of their peers.

Perhaps they were just wondering when the session would end.

Then one teenager quietly stood up and knelt before the Blessed Sacrament. A facilitator approached and prayed with her.

Soon another youth stepped forward. Then another.

What began as a single act of courage became a movement of grace. Realising that they were not alone in their struggles, the youths came forward without fear or embarrassment.

Together, they brought their burdens before the Lord as the hall echoed with the familiar chorus of a song:

“All my life You have been faithful.
All my life You have been so, so good.
With every breath that I am able,
I will sing of the goodness of God.”

Praise and Worship

In that moment, I was reminded that many young people are not looking for perfect answers. They are looking for an encounter. Sometimes, all they need is the opportunity to pause, put aside the distractions around them and become aware once again of God’s presence.

The joy and conviction in their voices during the Praise and Worship session that followed bore witness to something deeper at work. It reinforced for me how important it is for us, as Catholic educators, parents and catechists, to intentionally create spaces where young people can encounter Christ through prayer, community and authentic relationships.

Praying for and with Our Children and Youth

As we celebrate Youth Day on Sunday, 5 July 2026, let us pray especially for our young people in Singapore and around the world. May they come to know that God is present in their lives, that He listens to their hopes and struggles and that His love continues to call them closer to Him.

And what about my son?

At the end of the camp, he sheepishly admitted, “You’re right, Papa. I didn’t regret going.”

Then, after a brief pause, he asked, “So… when’s the next camp?”

Every year, on the first Sunday of July, Singapore celebrates Youth Day. It is a timely opportunity to honour the dignity, the gifts, and the struggles of young people in our homes and classroom, and to recommit, as educators and parents, to journeying with them on the road of life.

It is a timely reminder for Catholic educators, mid-year, to heed the words of Pope Francis to young people: “Christ is alive and he wants you to be alive!” [Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit (2019), 1], alive in him and for his mission.

Youth in the Eyes of Christ

In the Bible, youth is no impediment to mission. On the contrary, it is often a time of great openness to God’s call.

As Pope Francis reflected in Christus Vivit (CV), “Samuel was still a young boy, yet the Lord spoke to him. Thanks to the advice of an adult, he opened his heart to hear God’s call: ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening'” (1 Samuel 3:9–10; CV 8).

When Jeremiah protested his call: ‘Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy!’ God assured him, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 1:7–8)

And St Paul instructed his protégé Timothy: “Let no one have contempt for your youth, but set an example for those who believe, in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity” (1 Timothy 4:12).

How often have we mentored any young person in their journey of life and faith, following the example of Eli with Samuel, the Lord with Jeremiah, St Paul with Timothy, and Our Lady and St Joseph with Jesus, such that he or she “increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favour” (Luke 2:52)?

Youth as a Possession of Humanity

Pope St John Paul II, in his 1985 Apostolic Letter Dilecti Amici (Dear Friends) to the youth of the world on the occasion of the United Nations’ International Year of Youth, insisted that youth is not merely a personal phase of life but a gift to the whole human family.

“Youth is not only a period of life corresponding to a certain number of years,” he wrote, “it is the whole of that space that every man traverses in his life’s journey, and at the same time it is a special possession belonging to everyone. It is a possession of humanity itself…. Responsibility for this present reality and for its shape and many different forms lies first of all with adults. To you belongs responsibility for what will one day become reality together with yourselves, but which still lies in the future.”

In other words, the young are the living bridge between what they have received and what they are called to build.

As the Second Vatican Council bluntly put it, “It is you who are to receive the torch from the hands of your elders and to live in the world at the period of the most gigantic transformations ever realised in its history. It is you who, receiving the best of the example of the teaching of your parents and your teachers, are to form the society of tomorrow. You will either save yourselves or you will perish with it.” (1965 Message to Youth)

We were youth once. How did we bridge the past we received with the future we were called to build then? How did we contribute to our present time?

Youth at the Cusp of a “Gigantic Transformation”

The Second Vatican Council was uncannily prophetic.

In 1965, the post-World War II world was being transformed by the Cold War and the existential threat of nuclear conflict; rapid decolonisation and the reshaping of the entire global political map; the Space Race and other technological advances; social upheavals; the spread of mass media and global communications; the rise of communism, atheism, secularism, and materialist ideologies, all competing for the hearts and minds of the younger generations.

Just over 60 years later, our youth are living in analogous times. As Pope Francis pointed out, a World War III is being fought “piecemeal”; there is still a nuclear crisis; the post-Cold War rules-based international system is giving way to deglobalisation and super-power rivalry; the Space Race has resumed; traditions, religious values and morals are still being eroded, with all these compounded by the disruptions due to socio-economic ills, climate change, pandemic threats, and of course, the social media and AI revolution.

It is hard to imagine today that, in 1965, television was the new mass medium. The youth then were exposed to shared images and/or narratives in radio and TV programmes, magazines, etc. Today, algorithms curate personalised content for youth, potentially isolating them in their own virtual realities — oxymoronic echo chambers where falsehood often masquerades as truth.

What other ‘gigantic transformations’ is the world going through? How are we coping? How are we helping our young people cope?

Youth in a Digital World

In Christus Vivit, Pope Francis acknowledged that although social media can “provide an extraordinary opportunity for dialogue, encounter, and exchange between persons, as well as access to information and knowledge” (CV 87), it also exposes young people to the risk of self-isolation, addiction, and a bombardment of data that dulls rather than enriches — “a kind of mental pollution.”

Young people who measure their worth by the number of ‘likes’ on an Instagram post, or in comparison to the carefully edited highlight reels of their peers, are vulnerable to the destructive lie that they are not enough.

In his 2026 landmark first encyclical Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), Pope Leo XIV warns that AI’s ability to deliver instant, summarised answers risks “extinguishing the desire to ask questions” and that hyper-stimulated young people experience “fatigue, boredom, and apathy” and resistance to undertake the process of discernment and genuine learning that “bears fruit only over time” (MH 140).

Hence Pope Leo XIV called for a renewed “educational alliance for the digital age” — a collaboration among families, schools, faith communities, and public institutions — all of which are “not called to follow the pace of the digital world but to offer that which the digital sphere by itself cannot provide, namely a shared time for learning and developing trustworthy relationships” (MH 141).

More than ever, our young people — whether they realise it or not — are thirsting for oases of quiet in deserts of noise, safe spaces where they can establish their identity and find belonging and acceptance, and sanctuaries where they can speak from and listen with their hearts with others in face-to-face physical encounters.

How are our schools and homes safe and serene havens for our young people?

Mental Health: A Silent Crisis

In his Message for World Youth Day 2024, Pope Francis acknowledged that “many of your contemporaries who experience wars, violent conflict, bullying, and other kinds of hardship are gripped by despair, fear, and depression. They feel as if they are in a dark prison, where the light of the sun cannot enter.”

In May 2025, the Straits Times reported that “mental disorders are the leading cause of disability and death among 10- to 14-year-olds in Singapore, while the impact of mental distress on population health here is the highest in Asean, according to a new paper published in medical journal Lancet Public Health on May 28.” The Institute of Mental Health also reported that its 2022–23 National Youth Mental Health Study found that about 1 in 3 young people aged between 15 and 35 years in Singapore reported experiencing severe or extremely severe symptoms of depression, anxiety and/or stress.

The pressures of academic performance, fears of an uncertain future, and social isolation despite digital hyperconnectivity leave many young people feeling alone in the crowds around them. Yet many mask their feelings very well for fear of judgment.

In response, Pope Francis urged: “When you feel surrounded by the clouds of fear, doubt, and anxiety and you no longer see the sun, take the path of prayer.” This is a reminder to young people to seek not only professional help where needed, but also to find strength in their Good Shepherd who never abandons them.

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff — they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4)

How might we or our school/home environments be contributing to the lack of mental well-being in our youth? What could we do about it?

Parental, Societal and Self-Expectations

In a high-achieving Singapore, success is often defined by high grades in exams, good universities, prestigious careers, and high salaries. The flourishing of a person’s inner, spiritual life does not feature much in the assessment of the secular world.

Pope Leo XIV, in his 2025 Message for the 40th World Youth Day, told the story of the Rich Young Man (Mark 10:17–22). The young man came to Jesus rich in the eyes of the world, with wealth, social status, and in the prime of his life. Still, he found something missing: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” When he could not bring himself to give away all his riches to the poor and follow Jesus, the Bible tells us the Lord, instead of reproaching or condemning him, looked at him and “loved him” (Mark 10:21).

Pope Leo wrote, “Christ alone fully knows who we are and why we are here; young people, he knows your heart, your indignation in the face of discrimination and injustice, your desire for truth and beauty, for joy and peace. Through his friendship, he listens to you, motivates you, and guides you, calling each of you to a new life.”

Jesus meets each young person where he or she is, and looks at everyone with Christian love and without judgment. Do we?

Why the Catholic Church Celebrates Youth Day

Inaugurated by Pope St John Paul II in 1985, the Church traditionally celebrates World Youth Day locally around the end of the liturgical year and the feast of Christ the King, and internationally every two years. The next international event is in Seoul 2027.

In his ‘pitch’ to the Roman Curia, the Pope said, “All the young people should feel followed by the Church: that is why all the Church, in union with the Successor of Peter feels more and more that it is committed, on a world scale, in favour of young people, of their worries, their questions, their openness and their hopes, in order to match their expectations, by communicating the certainty who is Christ, the Truth who is Christ, Love who is Christ. And in this privileged attention that the Church nurtures in their regard, young people need to find proof that they count a lot because they are worth a lot. Their lives are precious for the Church.” (December 20, 1985)

The Holy See calls all Catholic schools to see the uniqueness of each young person with such “supernatural vision” (Essential Marks of Catholic Schools #1). Our frequent celebration of youth imbues “a Catholic worldview” in the life of our schools. (Essential Marks of Catholic Schools #4) How?

• It is an act of justice. We need to give young people what is due to them: they need to be assured, in no uncertain terms, that they “count a lot” and are “worth a lot”, not as mere statistics in school rankings, or future workers or taxpayers, but as human persons made in the image and likeness of God, gazed upon lovingly by Christ, no matter their intellectual, mental or physical capabilities. In this way, our Catholic schools will be “founded on Christian anthropology” (Essential Marks of Catholic Schools #2).
• It builds identity and belonging. Young people yearn to be part of something larger than themselves. Catholic schools, “animated in communion and community” (Essential Marks of Catholic Schools #3), should remind their students that they are not alone; they are part of a living, worldwide People of God, believers and non-believers alike. After all, Jesus died for the salvation of all humanity.
• It is witnessing to the Gospel. (Essential Marks of Catholic Schools #5), drawing youth closer to Christ and his Church. Pope Leo ended Magnifica Humanitas with a heartfelt appeal, among others, to cultivate relationships.

“In an era that favours speed and fragmentation, the human person still yearns to receive care and recognition from attentive minds, kind words and hands capable of tenderness. The digital culture multiplies connections and offers new opportunities for interaction; yet, the human heart retains an irrevocable need for genuine closeness. I invite everyone to cherish places and times where physical presence remains crucial, such as shared meals, community gatherings, time spent with the lonely and serving the poor. These are signs of a humanity that continues to believe that every person’s body is a dwelling place of God and a temple of the Holy Spirit.”

Christ is alive in our youth, waiting to be revealed. May our Catholic schools always be divine strongholds of magnificent humanity, shelters in the storms of life.

A hallmark of Catholic education is the cultivation of a Catholic worldview, where faith is woven into academic subjects to help students discover their identity and recognise God’s presence and action in their lives. God has placed in every human heart a desire for Himself (CCC 27), yet many factors lead people to hide from God, as Adam did in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:10). Ignorance, evil, attachment to worldly things, and the influence of bad example can cause us to overlook or reject God (CCC 29–30). As Catholic educators, we hold the privileged responsibility of nurturing our students’ awareness of God’s existence, presence, and action in their lives.

God reveals Himself through creation. We experience reality and learn through our senses, and through the faculty of reason given to every person, we can come to know God. St Paul reminds us that “since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made” (Rom 1:20). This is our starting point in Catholic schools: to help students recognise God’s existence through what they learn.

Subject content is a vehicle for communicating this truth. The Catholic educator serves as a bridge between study and insight, helping students see the fingerprints of God in what they are learning. A science educator helps students perceive in nature’s intricate coordination and purposeful complexity a testimony to divine intelligence.

An arts educator helps students understand that when we are moved by beauty, we glimpse something of God Himself. St Augustine recognised that beauty in the world reflects God’s own beauty. Whether encountered in art, music, literature, nature, or language, beauty reveals God’s order, harmony, and goodness. Mathematics can be viewed from a similar lens, where there is beauty and order in numbers, geometry, sequences or mathematical proofs.

In the humanities, we may teach historical facts or data, geographical phenomena, patterns of human development, or economic trends influenced by human behavioural patterns. However, a Catholic humanities educator has the responsibility and privilege of challenging students to see God’s hand moving in human history and development.

I once spoke with a student who was studying a case on the persecution of groups denied religious freedom. I saw an opportunity to invite her beyond the source-based questions that followed—to consider how this case study connected to her own life. I asked her to reflect on what religion meant to her personally, on the freedom she had to practise her faith, and on how God had blessed her with this freedom.

Answering techniques and exam skills matter, but to truly fulfil our mission as a Catholic school, we are called to guide students in seeing beyond exams and objective facts. Our role is to help them examine how what they study applies to their own lives, how it shapes their understanding of the world, and how it deepens their faith and knowledge of who God is.

A good Catholic education therefore enables students to live out their deepest calling: to seek truth and so fulfil the desire God has placed in every human heart. St Ignatius of Loyola in his spiritual exercises (S.E. 23) reminds us that we are created to praise, reverence, and serve God, and that all things exist to help us achieve this purpose. The subjects we teach are means of leading students to an awareness of God. In discovering who God is—expressed through the beauty of creation—they may come to know themselves and their purpose in life. They begin to realise that lasting happiness is found only when they are true to themselves and to that innermost desire God has planted within them: to reverence, praise, and serve Him.

This is our calling as Catholic educators: to guide students in discovering the existence, presence, and constant action of God in their lives. Yet we cannot give what we do not have. We too must first recognise God’s hand in what we teach, something that can only be cultivated through a strong prayer life and a living relationship with the Lord. Our love for our students, and above all our love for God, should move us to deepen our own faith and to grow in understanding of how we can better help those in our care to discover God and their purpose in life. We do not merely teach subjects. We educate students so that they may grow in their Catholic worldview.