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16 October 2015

Pope John Paul II on the school’s role in catechesis

The following is from Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Exhortation Catechesi Tradendae, given this day, 16 October, in 1979.

69. Together with and in connection with the family, the school provides catechesis with possibilities that are not to be neglected. In the unfortunately decreasing number of countries in which it is possible to give education in the faith within the school framework, the Church has the duty to do so as well as possible. This of course concerns first and foremost the Catholic school: it would no longer deserve this title if, no matter how much it shone for its high level of teaching in non-religious matters, there were justification for reproaching it for negligence or deviation in strictly religious education. Let it not be said that such education will always be given implicitly and indirectly. The special character of the Catholic school, the underlying reason for it, the reason why Catholic parents should prefer it, is precisely the quality of the religious instruction integrated into the education of the pupils. While Catholic establishments should respect freedom of conscience, that is to say, avoid burdening consciences from without by exerting physical or moral pressure, especially in the case of the religious activity of adolescents, they still have a grave duty to offer a religious training suited to the often widely varying religious situations of the pupils. They also have a duty to make them understand that, although God’s call to serve Him in spirit and truth, in accordance with the Commandments of God and the precepts of the Church, does not apply constraint, it is nevertheless binding in conscience.

Admittedly, apart from the school, many other elements of life help in influencing the mentality of the young, for instance, recreation, social background and work surroundings. But those who study are bound to bear the stamp of their studies, to be introduced to cultural or moral values within the atmosphere of the establishment in which they are taught, and to be faced with many ideas met with in school. It is important for catechesis to take full account of this effect of the school on the pupils, if it is to keep in touch with the other elements of the pupil’s knowledge and education; thus the Gospel will impregnate the mentality of the pupils in the field of their learning, and the harmonization of their culture will be achieved in the light of faith. Accordingly, I give encouragement to the priests, religious and lay people who are devoting themselves to sustaining these pupils’ faith. This is moreover an occasion for me to reaffirm my firm conviction that to show respect for the Catholic faith of the young to the extent of facilitating its education, its implantation, its consolidation, its free profession and practice would certainly be to the honor of any government, whatever be the system on which it is based or the ideology from which it draws its inspiration.

Address of Pope Francis to Students in Cuba

22 September 2015

Tags: Educators, Parents, Students

Categories: Homilies / Messages, News

Address of Pope Francis to Students in Cuba

Unprepared remarks of the Holy Father given at the Fr Félix Varela Cultural Center, Havana on the occasion of his visit to Cuba on 20 September 2015.

You are standing up and I am sitting. How rude! But you know why I am sitting; it is because I was taking notes on some of the things which our companion here was saying. Those are the things I want to talk about.

One really striking word he used was “dream”. A Latin American writer once said that we all have two eyes: one of flesh and another of glass. With the eye of flesh, we see what is in front of us. With the eye of glass, we see what we dream of. Beautiful, isn’t it?

In the daily reality of life, there has to be room for dreaming. A young person incapable of dreaming is cut off, self-enclosed. Everyone sometimes dreams of things which are never going to happen. But dream them anyway, desire them, seek new horizons, be open to great things.

I’m not sure if you use this word in Cuba, but in Argentina we say: “Don’t be a pushover!” Don’t bend or yield; open up. Open up and dream! Dream that with you the world can be different. Dream that if you give your best, you are going to help make this world a different place. Don’t forget to dream! If you get carried away and dream too much, life will cut you short. It makes no difference; dream anyway, and share your dreams. Talk about the great things you wish for, because the greater your ability to dream, the farther you will have gone; even if life cuts you short half way, you will still have gone a great distance. So, first of all, dream!

You said something which I had wrote down and underlined. You said that we have to know how to welcome and accept those who think differently than we do. Honestly, sometimes we are very closed. We shut ourselves up in our little world: “Either things go my way or not at all”. And you went even further. You said that we must not become enclosed in our little ideological or religious “worlds”… that we need to outgrow forms of individualism.

When a religion becomes a “little world”, it loses the best that it has, it stops worshiping God, believing in God. It becomes a little world of words, of prayers, of “I am good and you are bad”, of moral rules and regulations. When I have my ideology, my way of thinking, and you have yours, I lock myself up in this little world of ideology.

Open hearts and open minds. If you are different than I am, then why don’t we talk? Why do we always throw stones at one another over what separates us, what makes us different? Why don’t we extend a hand where we have common ground? Why not try to speak about what we have in common, and then we can talk about where we differ. But I’m saying “talk”; I’m not saying “fight”. I am not saying retreat into our “little worlds”, to use your word. But this can only happen when I am able to speak about what I have in common with the other person, about things we can work on together.

In Buenos Aires, in a new parish in an extremely poor area, a group of university students were building some rooms for the parish. So the parish priest said to me: “Why don’t you come one Saturday and I’ll introduce them to you”. They were building on Saturdays and Sundays. They were young men and women from the university. So I arrived, I saw them and they were introduced to me: “This is the architect. He’s Jewish. This one is Communist. This one is a practicing Catholic”. They were all different, yet they were all working for the common good.

This is called social friendship, where everyone works for the common good. Social enmity instead destroys. A family is destroyed by enmity. A country is destroyed by enmity. The world is destroyed by enmity. And the greatest enmity is war. Today we see that the world is being destroyed by war, because people are incapable of sitting down and talking. “Good, let’s negotiate. What can we do together? Where are we going to draw the line? But let’s not kill any more people”. Where there is division, there is death: the death of the soul, since we are killing our ability to come together. We are killing social friendship. And this is what I’m asking you today: to find ways of building social friendship”.

Then there was another word you said: “hope”. The young are the hope of every people; we hear this all the time. But what is hope? Does it mean being optimistic? No. Optimism is a state of mind. Tomorrow, you wake up in a bad mood and you’re not optimistic at all; you see everything in a bad light. Hope is something more. Hope involves suffering. Hope can accept suffering as part of building something; it is able to sacrifice. Are you able to sacrifice for the future, or do you simply want to live for the day and let those yet to come fend for themselves? Hope is fruitful. Hope gives life. Are you able to be life-giving? Or are you going to be young people who are spiritually barren, incapable of giving life to others, incapable of building social friendship, incapable of building a nation, incapable of doing great things?

Hope is fruitful. Hope comes from working, from having a job. Here I would mention a very grave problem in Europe: the number of young people who are unemployed. There are countries in Europe where 40% of young people twenty-five years and younger are unemployed. I am thinking of one country. In another country, it is 47% and in another still, 50%.

Clearly, when a people is not concerned with providing work to its young – and when I say “a people”, I don’t mean governments; I mean the entire people who ought to be concerned whether these young people have jobs or not – that people has no future. Young people become part of the throwaway culture and all of us know that today, under the rule of mammon, things get thrown away and people get thrown away. Children are thrown away because they are not wanted, or killed before they are born. The elderly are thrown away – I’m speaking about the world in general – because they are no longer productive. In some countries, euthanasia is legal, but in so many others there is a hidden, covert euthanasia. Young people are thrown away because they are not given work. So then, what is left for a young person who has no work? When a country – a people – does not create employment opportunities for its young, what is left for these young people if not forms of addiction, or suicide, or going off in search of armies of destruction in order to make war.

This throwaway culture is harming us all; it is taking away our hope. And this is what you asked for in the name of young people: “We want hope”. A hope which requires effort, hard work, and which bears fruit; a hope which gives us work and saves us from the throwaway culture. A hope which unites people, all people, because a people can join in looking to the future and in building social friendship – for all their differences – such a people has hope.

For me, meeting a young person without hope is, as I once said, like meeting a young retiree. There are young people who seem to have retired at the age of twenty-two. They are young people filled with existential dreariness, young people who have surrendered to defeatism, young people who whine and run away from life. The path of hope is not an easy one. And it can’t be taken alone. There is an African proverb which says: “If you want to go quickly, walk alone, but if you want to go far, walk with another”.

So this is what I have to say to you, the young people of Cuba. For all your different ways of thinking and seeing things, I would like you to walk with others, together, looking for hope, seeking the future and the nobility of your homeland.

We began with the word “dream”, and I would like to conclude with another word that you said and which I myself often use: “the culture of encounter”. Please, let us not “dis-encounter” one another. Let us go side by side with one other, as one. Encountering one another, even though we may think differently, even though we may feel differently. There is something bigger than us, it is the grandeur of our people, the grandeur of our homeland, that beauty, that sweet hope for our homeland, which we must reach.

Thank you very much. I now leave you with my best wishes. For you I wish… everything I told you; that is what I wish for you. I am going to pray for you. And I ask you to pray for me. And if any of you are not believers – and you can’t pray because you don’t believe – at least wish me well. May God bless you and bring you to tread this path of hope which leads to the culture of encounter, while avoiding those “little worlds” that our companion spoke about. May God bless all of you.

—–

Dear Friends,

I am very happy to be with you here in this Cultural Center which is so important for Cuban history. I thank God for this opportunity to meet so many young people who, by their work, studies and training, are dreaming of, and already making real, the future of Cuba.

I thank Leonardo for his words of welcome, and particularly because, although he could have spoken about so many other important and concrete things such as our difficulties, fears, and doubts – as real and human as they are – he spoke to us about hope. He talked to us about those dreams and aspirations so firmly planted in the heart of young Cubans, transcending all their differences in education, culture, beliefs or ideas. Thank you, Leonardo, because, when I look at all of you, the first thing that comes into my mind and heart, too, is the word “hope”. I cannot imagine a young person who is listless, without dreams or ideals, without a longing for something greater.

But what kind of hope does a young Cuban have at this moment of history? Nothing more or less than that of any other young person in any other part of the world. Because hope speaks to us of something deeply rooted in every human heart, independently of our concrete circumstances and historical conditioning. Hope speaks to us of a thirst, an aspiration, a longing for a life of fulfillment, a desire to achieve great things, things which fill our heart and lift our spirit to lofty realities like truth, goodness and beauty, justice and love. But it also involves taking risks. It means being ready not to be seduced by what is fleeting, by false promises of happiness, by immediate and selfish pleasures, by a life of mediocrity and self-centeredness, which only fills the heart with sadness and bitterness. No, hope is bold; it can look beyond personal convenience, the petty securities and compensations which limit our horizon, and can open us up to grand ideals which make life more beautiful and worthwhile. I would ask each one of you: What is it that shapes your life? What lies deep in your heart? Where do your hopes and aspirations lie? Are you ready to put yourself on the line for the sake of something even greater?

Perhaps you may say: “Yes, Father, I am strongly attracted to those ideals. I feel their call, their beauty, their light shining in my heart. But I feel too weak, I am not ready to decide to take the path of hope. The goal is lofty and my strength is all too little. It is better to be content with small things, less grand but more realistic, more within my reach”. I can understand that reaction; it is normal to feel weighed down by difficult and demanding things. But take care not to yield to the temptation of a disenchantment which paralyzes the intellect and the will, or that apathy which is a radical form of pessimism about the future. These attitudes end either in a flight from reality towards vain utopias, or else in selfish isolation and a cynicism deaf to the cry for justice, truth and humanity which rises up around us and within us.

But what are we to do? How do we find paths of hope in the situations in which we live? How do we make those hopes for fulfillment, authenticity, justice and truth, become a reality in our personal lives, in our country and our world? I think that there are three ideas which can help to keep our hope alive:

Hope is a path made of memory and discernment. Hope is the virtue which goes places. It isn’t simply a path we take for the pleasure of it, but it has an end, a goal which is practical and lights up our way. Hope is also nourished by memory; it looks not only to the future but also to the past and present. To keep moving forward in life, in addition to knowing where we want to go, we also need to know who we are and where we come from. Individuals or peoples who have no memory and erase their past risk losing their identity and destroying their future. So we need to remember who we are, and in what our spiritual and moral heritage consists. This, I believe, was the experience and the insight of that great Cuban, Father Félix Varela. Discernment is also needed, because it is essential to be open to reality and to be able to interpret it without fear or prejudice. Partial and ideological interpretations are useless; they only disfigure reality by trying to fit it into our preconceived schemas, and they always cause disappointment and despair. We need discernment and memory, because discernment is not blind; it is built on solid ethical and moral criteria which help us to see what is good and just.

Hope is a path taken with others. An African proverb says: “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go with others”. Isolation and aloofness never generate hope; but closeness to others and encounter do. Left to ourselves, we will go nowhere. Nor by exclusion will we be able to build a future for anyone, even ourselves. A path of hope calls for a culture of encounter, dialogue, which can overcome conflict and sterile confrontation. To create that culture, it is vital to see different ways of thinking not in terms of risk, but of richness and growth. The world needs this culture of encounter. It needs young people who seek to know and love one another, to journey together in building a country like that which José Martí dreamed of: “With all, and for the good of all”.

Hope is a path of solidarity. The culture of encounter should naturally lead to a culture of solidarity. I was struck by what Leonardo said at the beginning, when he spoke of solidarity as a source of strength for overcoming all obstacles. Without solidarity, no country has a future. Beyond all other considerations or interests, there has to be concern for that person who may be my friend, my companion, but also someone who may think differently than I do, someone with his own ideas yet just as human and just as Cuban as I am. Simple tolerance is not enough; we have to go well beyond that, passing from a suspicious and defensive attitude to one of acceptance, cooperation, concrete service and effective assistance. Do not be afraid of solidarity, service and offering a helping hand, so that no one is excluded from the path.

This path of life is lit up by a higher hope: the hope born of our faith in Christ. He made himself our companion along the way. Not only does he encourage us, he also accompanies us; he is at our side and he extends a friendly hand to us. The Son of God, he wanted to become someone like us, to accompany us on our way. Faith in his presence, in his friendship and love, lights up all our hopes and dreams. With him at our side, we learn to discern what is real, to encounter and serve others, and to walk the path of solidarity.

Dear young people of Cuba, if God himself entered our history and became flesh in Jesus, if he shouldered our weakness and sin, then you need not be afraid of hope, or of the future, because God is on your side. He believes in you, and he hopes in you.

Dear friends, thank you for this meeting. May hope in Christ, your friend, always guide you along your path in life. And, please, remember to pray for me. May the Lord bless all of you.

Source: Vatican.va
Photo credit: Getty Images

Canossian schools choir perform at interfaith concert to mark SG50

3 August 2015

Tags: Educators, Parents, Students

Categories: Events, News

Canossian schools choir perform at interfaith concert to mark SG50

Our Canossian schools — St Anthony’s Canossian Primary and Secondary, Canossa Convent Primary and the Canossian School for the hearing impaired — made up a 180-strong combined choir to perform in an interfaith concert celebrating SG50. They sang Let There Be Peace on Earth at the concert titled Harmony in Diversity, celebrating religious and racial Harmony in Singapore.

Held at The Star Vista in a crowd of about 5,000, the event was jointly organised by New Creation Church and Taoist Federation (Singapore). It brought together 10 of the major religions — including Buddhists and Bahai’s, Christians, Hindus and Muslims — and the four main races in Singapore in song and dance. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was the guest of honour.

Deacon Matthew Kang, Chairman of New Creation Church, said, “As Singapore celebrates the 50th year of its independence, we give thanks for one of the most precious legacies that has been handed down to us – our racial and religious harmony. It is something worth celebrating and New Creation Church and Taoist Federation are happy and honoured to be co-organising this meaningful event.”

Mr Tan Thiam Lye, Chairman of Taoist Federation (Singapore), added, “We are very happy and encouraged that every race and religion represented in Singapore is involved in some way in tonight’s celebration event. Through this event, the relationships between the leaders of different faiths and races have been strengthened. This is a wonderful outcome.”

Sr Theresa Seow FDCC, Vice-Chairperson of the Archdiocesan Catholic Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and member of the event’s organising committee, shared her delight for the Catholic Church’s involvement in this interfaith event: “To see 180 children of our Catholic schools come together to perform was beautiful.”

She added: “The song performed by the choir was an appropriate one for the occassion, seeing that peace among different religions is what we’ve had in Singapore these 50 years. It is also our desire for future generations to have this peace, not just here in Singapore, but also in the world; it was symbolic that it is the children who sang that message.”

In spite of the logistical and administrative challenges of bringing so many schools together, the schools overcame the obstacles because “everyone was excited about participating in the event,” shared Ms Chua Lee Beng, HOD of CCA at St Anthony’s Canossian Primary School.

Recalling the performance, Ms Chua added: “I was watching the students sing on stage from the holding room backstage and I could not help but feel a sense of pride of the combined effort of the four schools, coming together as one Canossian family to share the message of peace with the different religions and races in Singapore. The reviews that I read on Facebook reaffirmed that their song touched those who attended the event that night.”

Apart from the performance put up by our Catholic schools, the concert also featured a drum performance by members from the Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, a solo Indian classical dance, and songs by a multiracial group of singers, and a special joint martial arts display by Wudang Sheng Hong Health Preservation Centre and Perguruan Sim Putih. The night ended with the recitation of the national pledge of Singapore, a fitting reminder that “we, the citizens of Singapore” are “one united people, regardless of race, language or religion”.

More coverage by Channel NewsAsia, Catholic News.

16 July 2015

Tags: Educators, Parents

Categories: Reflections, Saints

Chasing a Life Worthwhile

St Benedict was young, wealthy, and healthy at the time he decided to step back away from the world to pursue what he thought mattered most. Do parents and teachers value the same things today?

On 11 July, the Church commemorated the life of St Benedict of Nursia, one of the most well-known and respected saints in Christianity. Dubbed the founder of western monasticism, St Benedict is known most notably for writing his “Rule of Saint Benedict”, whose unique reasonableness, moderation and balance had become immensely influential in the formation of numerous religious orders throughout history.

However, apart from the inspirational deeds and miraculous events that happened in his life, there is one simple, historical fact about St Benedict that parents and teachers can draw special reflection.

What matters?
The only authentic account of St Benedict is attributed to the writings of St Gregory, in the second volume of his four-book Dialogues, thought to have been written in 593.

St Gregory, who was pope at the time, based the authority of his writings on the first-hand accounts of St Benedict’s own disciples, who had succeeded him as abbots of the many monasteries the saint had establish in the vicinity of Subiaco, Rome, and Naples.

It is written that St Benedict was the son of a Roman noble of Nursia, and lived with his parents in Rome until he reached his higher studies. Despite being a young man, in good health, wealthy, and in great position to take after his father’s footsteps into a successful career as a Roman noble, St Benedict instead gave it all up to pursue what he thought was truly valuable.

“Giving over his books, and forsaking his father’s house and wealth, with a mind only to serve God, he sought for some place where he might attain to the desire of his holy purpose; and in this sort he departed from Rome, instructed with learned ignorance and furnished with unlearned wisdom,” St Gregory writes.

Though St Benedict’s age at the time is widely disputed, a careful examination of St Gregory’s narrative makes it impossible to suppose him younger than nineteen or twenty. It is noted that St Benedict was old enough to “understand the real meaning and worth of the dissolute and licentious lives of his companions, and to have been deeply affected himself by the love of a woman. He was capable of weighing all these things in comparison with the life taught in the Gospels, and chose the latter.”

What if…
Now imagine… What would your first reaction most likely be, if you were the parent or teacher of St Benedict? How would you have felt and what would you say to him, if he approached you with his decision to leave everything? Why do you feel this way?

In the meritocratic society of 21^st century Singapore, it is commonplace for parents and teachers to pay special attention to a child’s achievements and development. Extra tuition classes, multiple co-curricular activities, sports courses, and several other such programmes to aid a child’s growth have become a norm in children’s schedules.

It is indeed a natural and good thing to want the best for one’s child and student. But it is crucial to stop and reflect once in a while; when we hope for the best for them, what do we really hope for?

For St Benedict, a truly worthwhile life was the one he learnt in the Gospels, instead of the one according to the world’s standards; wealth, health, nobility, pleasures, and so on. St Gregory expresses, “he was in the world and was free to enjoy the advantages which the world offers, but drew back his foot which he had, as it were, already set forth in the world”.

Balanced education
As parents and educators, there is sometimes a dangerous tendency to tip the balance of our efforts and focus toward children’s academics and achievements, and forget to also spend time to develop them spiritually and morally.

Archbishop William Goh often echoes these sentiments in his homilies. In January this year for example, at a commissioning mass for four new principals of Catholic schools, Archbishop William asked, “Our young people here, what do we expect for them? A Catholic school has to provide beyond academic formation. We provide a holistic formation, in terms of human, moral, psychological, and most importantly, spiritual formation. This is what makes the person human.”

Highlighting the sacred responsibility of developing a human person, Archbishop William affirms again, at the recent SG50 Joy Mass, “Whether you like it or not, we are made of body and spirit. We have a mind that seeks the truth, a heart that seeks for love. Man cannot live fully without meaning and purpose. He must know his identity, where he comes from, where he goes after.”

For St Benedict who had seemingly given up a life of prosperity to follow God, his life had eventually become much more successful and blessed in the hands of God than it would have been. As parents and teachers who hold the task of developing a human person, let us pray that when we seek the best for our children, we may always be reminded that the source of such goodness pours forth from the Cross.

A day in the life of… Sr Delphine Kang RGS

30 June 2015

Tags: Educators, Parents

Categories: Reflections

A day in the life of… Sr Delphine Kang RGS

Sr Delphine Kang RGS is the supervisor of Marymount Convent School.

What are your roles and responsibilities at Marymount Convent?
As supervisor in the only Good Shepherd School in Singapore, I ensure the school is on track in its mission, “reaching out with compassion and respect and empowering each person to develop her full potential holistically.” As a Religious of the Good Shepherd, I want to ensure that every child who comes to my school experience God in some way.

What are some of the difficulties in working in education?
As I am not directly involved in teaching and as the school programme is packed with a zillion things, getting a slice of time for spiritual things is a challenge. It is especially difficult to get a majority of pupils and staff to participate in optional Catholic activities like weekly Masses, adoration and other prayer sessions. While staff members are genuinely hard pressed for time, many shy away from the spiritual. I am pained and saddened by children whose parents forbid them to listen to Bible stories even as they send them to our mission school.

This cannot be easily overcome. However, I try to make things convenient and attractive, like meeting their schedules, and including their concerns and their families in the intentions. I also take every available opportunity at major school events to insert my presence and message of God’s abiding love for all. I hope that the hymns we insert at morning assemblies will touch the lives of all who are present, staff as well as pupils.

What is the fondest memory of your time working in the education sector?
There are many! The simplicity and joy of children, sometimes inexplicable; the sometimes good response of the staff and pupils in celebrations like Foundress Day and Easter; a couple of occasions when staff members or pupils are baptised at Easter; the commitment of parent volunteer catechists; and the annual P6 retreat camps that impact the participants greatly.

When you are faced with difficult students, what is one thing you tell yourself?
They are beloved children of God and His love will help overcome the challenges. Have patience, God has all the time. I lift them up in prayer that hand them over to the Lord to take charge of them.

What does being a Catholic educator mean to you?
While not diminishing the importance of academic excellence and holistic formation of our children, God has the first place in all things and is of primary importance in my life as an educator, and I want to transmit this priority to our children.

Why is education an important aspect of Good Shepherd Sisters?
Education – formal education – is secondary to the Good Shepherd Mission. Our main thrust is towards the socially marginalised, disadvantaged women and children. However, as education also falls within the ambit of our Mission, it provides a platform for some vital focus, like awareness raising for social issues – peace and justice, poverty, human trafficking, environment, migrant workers, and so on – as well as sowing the seeds of faith, and for character formation.

What is one thing about the founder of your congregation that inspires you?
Our Mother Foundress, St. Mary Euphrasia (1794-1868), was a visionary whose life, works and words remain ever relevant today. One of her many inspirations that I treasure is, “I was not possessed of great talents… I only loved. But I loved with all the strength of my soul.” One thing about her that I try to emulate and pass on to my school is gratitude. Despite numerous challenges in her life and mission, St Mary was ever thankful to God and exhorted her sisters to do the same. Gratitude is what keeps the flame of zeal alive even in the midst of discouragement and difficulties.

Has a student ever inspired you or taught you something valuable?
Yes, now and again I meet with students who are very respectful, full of gratitude and are helpful and self-giving. Most of all these are happy children and I use them as examples in my attempt to inspire others. Each time I see children bowed to the ground at the children’s adoration sessions, I am reminded of the call of Jesus to be like them… simple, humble and trusting.

How about the teachers you work with?
Thankfully, we have many teachers who are committed, focused on the school’s mission, are patient, caring, and who often go beyond the call of duty. I am encouraged and inspired by them to do my part and go the extra mile whenever the occasion arises.

What is one aspect or character of a Catholic school that you appreciate the most?
That we begin the day with a prayer and promote and practice Gospel values.

What difference would it make if Catholic parents enrolled their children in a Catholic school?
A Catholic school would help reinforce the faith of a Catholic child and sow the seeds of faith in a non-Catholic child, as well as build strong characters with the values of Jesus, the way of love, truth, and fullness of life. The Catholic environment of the school should instil in her pupils the things that matter most in life and a sense of self-worth based on an unselfish life of sharing, caring and giving.

What is one advice you would give to teachers today?
Teachers: yours is a noble vocation. Your words and actions impact the children you teach one way or the other. They look to you for inspiration and guidance. Love them and they will love you and loving you they will do well. Be a teacher like unto your Teacher (Jesus). Find time daily to sit at His feet to feel His love and listen to His wisdom. Take Him as your inspiration; love your pupils with His love. Be blessed and be a blessing to others.

Join Archbishop William Goh in praying for our Catholic schools!

18 June 2015

Tags: Educators, Parents, Students

Categories: News

Join Archbishop William Goh in praying for our Catholic schools!

Archbishop William Goh’s prayer intention for June 2015 is for Catholic schools: “That Catholic educators will be more courageous in the proclaimation of the Gospel as they form young people in truth and love; that the Catholic Ethos to be strengthened in our Catholic schools.”

Please make a mention for this intention when you pray this month.

Proclaiming the Word: Telling Bible stories to young children

15 June 2015

Tags: Educators, Parents

Categories: Reflections

Proclaiming the Word: Telling Bible stories to young children

Over dramatisation of any scripture text is never a good idea especially when you want to create the understanding that God speaks through his word. However, when telling Bible stories to young children, some emphasis and additional inflection may be needed for better grasp of the story and for greater engagement. The teacher’s personal preparation can make all the difference to the faith experience of the children. Here are some steps you can take.

1. Read the whole text from an adult Bible and carry out the following exercise if you have time before going to the children’s Bible.

2. Ask yourself these questions for greater personal insight:

What is the context of this story – where is it happening? What happened just before? What is coming next?
What is the purpose of this particular book of the Bible?

3. Ask yourself the following questions when preparing to tell a particular story:

What is the key message this story is putting across that I need to get across?
What do I want my listeners to feel?
Which words should I highlight?
Where does the mood change – from fear to confidence; from defiance to adoration; from despair to trust; from complaining to obedience and peace etc? See Exodus 14: 10-31 for example and practice reading it with changes to your voice and mood.
Is there a climax in the story?
Where would be the places to pause?
Which difficult words do I need to practice?

4. Read the text again and again from the Children’s Bible or Good News bible.

5. Look up at your listeners more than at the text.

6. Always allow a pause after the reading and keep still.

Feel free to adapt these tips, and feel free to give us your feedback.

By Wendy Louis

The Catholic school at the heart of the Church

10 June 2015

Tags: Educators, Parents

Categories: News, Reflections

The Catholic school at the heart of the Church

The complexity of the modern world makes it all the more necessary to increase awareness of the ecclesial identity of the Catholic school. It is from its Catholic identity that the school derives its original characteristics and its “structure” as a genuine instrument of the Church, a place of real and specific pastoral ministry. The Catholic school participates in the evangelizing mission of the Church and is the privileged environment in which Christian education is carried out. In this way “Catholic schools are at once places of evangelization, of complete formation, of inculturation, of apprenticeship in a lively dialogue between young people of different religions and social backgrounds” (John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Africa, n. 102). The ecclesial nature of the Catholic school, therefore, is written in the very heart of its identity as a teaching institution. It is a true and proper ecclesial entity by reason of its educational activity, “in which faith, culture and life are brought into harmony” (Congregation for Catholic Education, Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic school, n. 34.). Thus it must be strongly emphasized that this ecclesial dimension is not a mere adjunct, but is a proper and specific attribute, a distinctive characteristic which penetrates and informs every moment of its educational activity, a fundamental part of its very identity and the focus of its mission (cf. Congregation for Catholic Education, Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic school, n. 33). The fostering of this dimension should be the aim of all those who make up the educating community.

From: The Catholic school On the threshold of the third millennium, 28 December 1997, Congregation for Catholic Education (for Seminaries and Educational Institutions)

22 May 2015

Tags: Educators, Parents

Categories: Reflections

Living as Spirit-filled educators

As we celebrate Pentecost, let us remember the gits that God freely blesses us with, and what they mean for us as educators and parents.

Have you ever been so absorbed in the busyness of life that you forgot to open a gift? Perhaps a Christmas present you only opened after the New Year? Or that birthday card you only read a month later? As silly as it sounds, many of us do in fact go through life without ever realising we sometimes forget to open the greatest gift we have – the Holy Spirit.

The gift of the Holy Spirit, infinitely good and beneficial to us in so many ways, is indeed offered freely to everyone. But often, we are so absorbed in the activities of modern life that we simply forget to open this gift and use it to its fullest ability.

As we celebrate Pentecost, let us remind ourselves what it truly means to receive the Holy Spirit, and what the significance is for us as educators and parents.

Receiving a gift
The Holy Spirit is offered to you. Whether baptised yet or not, there is no doubt that God unconditionally offers His Spirit to all, because He calls everyone to Himself. “Since all men possess a rational soul and are created in God’s likeness, since they have the same nature and origin, we have been redeemed by Christ and enjoy the same divine calling and destiny,” Pope Paul IV writes in Gaudium et Spes.

All we need to do to attain such an incomparably rich gift then, is to simply reach out for it through baptism. During Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit manifested as tongues of fire and attracted a crowd to the apostles, St Peter had stood up and declared, “Every one of you must be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise that was made is… for all those whom the Lord our God is calling to himself” (Acts 2:38-39).

However it is also important to be aware that receiving a gift does not only stop at acceptance. There is also the next step of actively opening this gift and allowing ourselves to be blessed by it. After all, what sense would it make to accept a present but keep it in its wrapping? Or what sense is there to order pizza but only admire the box and let its contents go cold?

Act1v8!
This is why the term, “Act1v8”, a play on the word “activate” and “acts 1, verse 8”, still holds a truly relevant reminder to educators and parents. Do we remember to regularly activate the Holy Spirit who dwells in us?

Here, the emphasised verse from the Acts of the Apostles is Jesus’ proclamation that, “You will receive the power of the Holy Spirit which will come on you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to earth’s remotest end” (Acts 1:8).

There is an undoubtedly energetic tone as Jesus describes the power that will guide His disciples to witness to even the remotest ends of the earth. And this very same energy truly dwells in us, prompting and guiding us on the same mission – to reach even the remotest hearts of our students and children.

The upbringing of children for God is one of the greatest areas of work in the Church, and teachers and parents are the blessed ones called to this important mission. In the 1997 Vatican document, The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium, teaching is described to have “an extraordinary moral depth and is one of man’s most excellent and creative activities, for the teacher does not write on inanimate material, but on the very spirits of human beings.”

This is why it is important to be aware of the gift of the Holy Spirit we have received (or called to receive for those not yet baptised), and the wealth of graces we can find in this great gift!

When the Spirit manifests
When the Holy Spirit was activated in the apostles during Pentecost, not only were the signs of the Spirit noticeable in the form of tongues of fire and a loud gushing wind, but more importantly, the work of the Spirit through each apostle was so powerful that thousands were converted that very day.

In the Acts of the Apostles, it was described that a crowd of various nationalities gathered upon hearing the gushing sound, and were “amazed and astonished” (Acts 2:7) to see the apostles speaking in their own native languages. A little later on, the crowd were “cut to the heart” (Acts 2:37) as they listened to St Peter explain that this was the work of the Holy Spirit, who was promised by Christ Jesus whom they crucified. That very day, about three thousand “accepted what he said and were baptised” (Acts 2:41).

When we struggle to reach the hearts of our students and children, when we feel as if our words fall on deaf ears, let us remind ourselves that this very same Spirit that empowered the apostles to speak in such a way that cut to the heart of those listening, also dwells in us this very moment.

With this knowledge, we can approach our everyday responsibilities with a renewed strength and joy, because we are truly blessed by God with everything we need to follow His call. “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry ‘Abba! Father!’, it is the Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom 8:15-17).

Pope Francis: Parents must “re-assume fully their educational role”

21 May 2015

Tags: Parents

Categories: Homilies / Messages, News

Pope Francis: Parents must “re-assume fully their educational role”

At his General Audience yesterday, Pope Francis encouraged parents to not “exile themselves from the education of their children”, but to take responsibility of educating their children, in partnership with schools and teachers.

Continuing his weekly catechesis on the family, the Holy Father focused on the importance of the education of children, “an essential characteristic of the family” and the family’s “natural vocation”. Parents, he said, in spite of challenges – like work and even separation from each other – must put in effort to nurture the child: “It is difficult for parents to educate their children when they see them only in the evening, when they return home tired from work – those who have the good fortune of having work! It is even more difficult for separated parents, who are weighed down by their condition: poor souls, they have had difficulties, they have separated and so often the child is taken as hostage and the father speaks badly to him of his mother and the mother speaks badly to him of the father … they must not be used as hostages against the other spouse. They must grow hearing the mother speak well of the father, even though they are not together, and the father speaking well of the mother. For separated parents this is very important and very difficult, but they can do it.”

The pope lamented the rupture between the family and school. “Today the educational pact has been broken. And thus, the educational alliance of society with the family has entered into crisis because reciprocal trust has been undermined. The symptoms are many … At times there are tensions and mutual mistrust and the consequences naturally fall on the children”. On the other hand, he said, “the so-called ‘experts’ have multiplied, who have taken the role of parents even in the most intimate aspects of education. On emotional life, on personality and on development, on rights and duties the ‘experts’ know everything: objectives, motivations, techniques. And parents must only listen, learn and adapt themselves. Deprived of their role, they often become excessively apprehensive and possessive in dealing with their children, to the point of not correcting them ever: ‘You can’t correct your child’. They tend increasingly to entrust them to the ‘experts’, even for the most delicate and personal aspects of their life, putting themselves in the corner, and thus parents today run the risk of excluding themselves from the life of their children. And this is very grave!” He continued: “Evidently this approach is not good: it isn’t harmonious, it isn’t dialogic, and instead of fostering collaboration between the family and the other educational agencies, the school, it opposes them”.

Pope Francis reminded us that “Christian communities are called to offer support to the educational mission of families”, citing St Paul’s exhortation for the reciprocity of duties between parents and children: “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged” (Colossians 3:20-21). “At the base of everything is love”, he said.

Finally, he lauded the many “wonderful examples we have of Christian parents full of human wisdom”, who “show that a good family education is the spinal cord of humanism”. Asking the Lord to “give Christian families the faith, the freedom and the courage necessary for their mission”, he challenged parents to “return from their exile … and re-assume fully their educational role”.

Read the Holy Father’s catechesis here.

Unprepared remarks of the Holy Father given at the Fr Félix Varela Cultural Center, Havana on the occasion of his visit to Cuba on 20 September 2015.

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