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January 17, 2024What a year! We have many blessings to be thankful for this past year.
Catholic Schools Week, Jan. 28 - Feb.3, is a wonderful time to stop and consider what makes a Catholic education stand apart and the tremendous gift we have been given by its existence.
What is the purpose of a Catholic education? It is more than just a business, more than another option in the educational realm. Formation in the faith is a promise all parents make when their child is baptized.
Catholic schools partner with parents to help them fulfill this important mission and exist solely for this purpose, with a focus on formation to allow the child to not only contribute to society and to their personal goals, but to aim higher for heaven, to be with God for eternity.
As parents, that is our goal, to give them all the assistance they need get to heaven and to work toward the good in society as they travel the path.
The purpose of a Catholic education goes beyond preparing a student for the next level of academic achievement. While that is lauded and certainly needed, it is not what separates a Catholic school from another school system.
All schools teach reading, writing, math, history and science, so logic tells us that what we do in Catholic schools must go beyond just skills and knowledge acquisition. It reaches deeper, to the core of our human person: who we really are, what we believe, and our character as a human.
It is developed over time, cultivated by the domestic church at home, the educators at school, and the parish community. It does not just happen. It is a purposeful formation and a desire for the good to be cultivated in a child’s soul both by the parents and the child.
It takes God in the Trinity, Mary our mother, the angels and saints, parents, educators, and the village to form a child. It’s no small feat.
An authentic Catholic school works to this end by its emphasis on virtue development, by focusing on how children learn and to teach in such a way that we foster wonder and awe, that we utilize the transcendentals of truth, beauty and goodness to enable the child to be free to become who God created them to become to change the world.
Virtues are the habits of mind, those affective skills, that enable the human person to thrive and to have true freedom to love God and neighbor. Virtues are priceless gems that prepare a child for a lifetime of learning, growing, achieving, teaching and nurturing throughout life and to its end — all directed toward God and what is good.
“Human virtues acquired by education, by deliberate acts and by a perseverance ever renewed in repeated efforts are purified and elevated by divine grace.” (CCC 1810)
These virtues are rooted in the theological virtue in which we receive the disposition to seek the good. In Catholic schools, children learn to strive to be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect, not perfection as the world defines it, but a mastering of individual strengths and talents, knowing that they were created to be in this time and place for a specific purpose.
Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote about seeking virtue and referenced the ancient Greeks, Plato, Aristotle and Cicero, recognizing that for a society to function well, virtue must abound. As we look at our society right now, we can see what happens in the absence of virtue.
Assisting children to strive in the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance will help them unlock the various virtues that fall within each category. As parents and educators, we want children to grow and have a practical reason to discern the good and choose it. This is prudence.
Justice will help the child to give God and neighbor their due; the ability to stand up for what is right and to persevere when it is challenging is fortitude, or courage.
Temperance helps the child to moderate pleasure-seeking to keep it in a healthy balance.
Just as in sports, practice is what makes a person skilled. It is the repetitive attempts that build constancy, ease and bring joy.
This work towards virtue is what allows the child to embrace the transcendentals of God: truth, beauty and goodness in order to create rightly ordered strong bond between the Creator and the created.
This aspect, while both simple and difficult at the same time, is the differentiating factor for Catholic schools. Catholic schools must be schools developing virtue and we eagerly welcome families to partner with us on this great mission.
As Saint Thomas Aquinas said, to become a saint, we must first “will it” and orient ourselves to develop virtue. As we continue to work toward this ideal, let us pray to Mary, our mother. As a parent to the Christ child, she knows first-hand what is important and will help us to “will it” and to joyfully engage in this work of formation for our children and students.
Catholic schools throughout the archdiocese are now giving tours and enrolling for next school year. Stop in and take a look and see the difference a Catholic education can make in the life of your child/children. A list of schools can be found at archokc.org/find-a-catholic-school.
Peace and joy to your families,
