"The Catholic Identity and Mission
of Our Catholic Schools"

by the Most Reverend William E. Lori, S.T.D.
Bishop of Bridgeport

Diocese of Bridgeport Teachers' Institute
Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT
October 13, 2009

Introduction

Allow me to begin with a word of deepest thanks. I am delighted to be with you today, to have had the opportunity to celebrate the Eucharist with and for you, and now to spend these moments reflecting on the Catholic identity and mission of our elementary and secondary schools here in the Diocese of Bridgeport.

I trust you know how proud I am of the wonderful accomplishments of our schools. To quote Dr. Margaret Dames, “Our cup runneth over!” The other night
I was at a reception in Greenwich where I could not have stopped myself from speaking about our schools even if I had tried – about the six Blue Ribbon Schools and the rest who came so close; about the high schools that send 97 – 98% of their graduates to college; about the learning atmosphere that prevails in every one of them. “Unheard of!” a man in the back piped up, “not even in the Greenwich public schools!”

So today, it’s in a spirit of gratitude and respect that I’d like to reflect with you
on the core of what makes our schools dinstictive and gives you the freedom
to make them excellent, namely, their Catholic identity and mission, something which you and I must participate in and lead both personally and professionally.

Flawed Meanings of the Phrase, “Catholic Identity”

The phrase “Catholic identity” is bandied about quite a bit yet it often means different things to different people. Some of these meanings are good and they complement one another. Other alleged meanings really get in the way of the good work we’re trying to do. We do ourselves and our students a favor to discard at the outset distorted understandings of Catholic identity before moving on to what I hope is a more robust understanding.

Thus by the phrase “Catholic identity” we do not mean:

• merely set of arbitrarily imposed policies and regulations to be observed only as a matter of “company loyalty” – there are policies and regulations and loyalty is expected but Catholic identity means that such observance and loyalty flows from a much deeper source than merely the imposition of rules;
  
  
• a communal sense of insecurity that uses adherence to the faith as a way of closing us off from any branch of learning or from the challenges posed by contemporary culture;
  
  
• a mere marketing tool to be trotted out and displayed at open house or when a man in a pointy hat comes a-calling!

I know you don’t accept those flawed understandings of “Catholic identity” because they are not a worthy part of the culture of excellence we’re working so hard to create across our 39 Catholic schools in Fairfield County. Catholic identity means a great deal more to all of us in this room and so let’s reflect on some of its more profound dimensions.

Toward a More Robust and Profound Understanding of Catholic Identity

Pope Paul VI said in Evangelii Nuntiandi (On Evangelization in the Modern World) that the deepest identity of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel, to be an evangelizer, a witness and a teacher of Jesus Christ before the world and before the minds, hearts, and spirits of countless individuals. To quote the Holy Father’s exact words:

“Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of his death and glorious Resurrection.”

A Catholic school shares in and manifests the Church’s deepest identity, it is an instance of the grace and vocation proper to the Church, on actualization of her very reason for existing which is to preach, to teach, to be a channel of grace. This has been affirmed both by the Holy See and the U.S. Bishops. To quote the Vatican document, Catholic Schools on the Threshold of the Third Millennium: “Catholic schools are at once places of evangelization, of complete formation, of inculturation, of apprenticeship in a lively dialogue of young people of different religions and social backgrounds…” (no. 11).

In 2005, the U.S. Catholic bishops reaffirmed their commitment to Catholic schools and cited their role in the formation of young people: “Catholic schools provide young people with sound Church teaching through a broad-based curriculum, where faith and culture are intertwined in all areas of a school’s life.”

Thus our Catholic schools are an important instance of the Church’s profoundest identity – that has to be our starting point. But let’s reflect on this idea just a bit further. The word “identity” implies more than a mere function, important as that is, more than just a job to be done, crucial though it be, more than a responsibility to be fulfilled, committed as we are to doing so! Identity has to do with what springs from one’s inmost being, and expression of who one is or what something is.

Let’s start with our own identity and then move to the identity of our schools. When we are baptized, reborn by water and the Holy Spirit, we are not simply handed a set of jobs to do, a set of responsibilities, not even a set of commandments to be kept solely through our own efforts. On the contrary while remaining unique individuals endowed with God-given dignity, we are given a new principle of life, that of the death and resurrection of Christ, and a new identity, as adopted sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father, as disciples and friends of the Lord, as fellow disciples and friends with one another. This principle of life, and this new identity are to be nurtured in use through Word and Sacrament, so that “from the inside out” we become like Christ and love in such a fashion that we more than fulfill the commandments.

Further, by baptism we become not members of a club or a charitable organization but rather, as St. Paul teaches, we become members of the Body of Christ in which we hear the Word and receive the gift of new life from God who is love. Thus, our Catholic faith is not an optional extra tacked on to an already busy life but rather it is foundational to who we are and to who we are becoming; …How we live our lives flows from this identity which includes the impulse to bear witness to Christ and to hand on his life-giving teaching to our families and loved ones. In other words, evangelization lay at the heart of the vocation of every Christian reborn by water and the Holy Spirit.

Mutatis mutandis, something similar can be said of our schools. They could be said to have a kind of “corporate personality," a kind of “soul” whence flows the mission to evangelize and catechize. Keep that thought as book mark, because in a minute I will complete it.       

For now, we can make the point that the “identity” of our schools is more than a “core value” or a “longstanding commitment” or even a “tradition”. Identity has to do with the DNA of the institution.   It’s not just what we do, it’s who we are, and why we exist.

Continuing to go backwards, let us look at the first word in the phrase, “Catholic identity”. The word “Catholic” refers to the Church and, as we have already seen, it means that our schools share in the Church’s identity. We could say that the “soul” of a Catholic school participates in “soul” of the Catholic Church which is not the hierarchy or the laity or any other group within the Church; rather, it is the Holy Spirit who is the soul of the Church born from the side of Christ. Because of the over-shadowing spirit, the fullness of the faith, as the II Vatican Council taught, ‘subsists’ in the Catholic Church, the whole message of Christ.

Yes, the faith of the Church continues to develop as we journey through history. Yes, there are elements of truth and sanctification outside the Catholic Church. Yet the Church’s proclamation of Christ and her teaching on faith and morals flowing from that proclamation is something altogether reliable and calling for the assent of faith and religious adherence of mind and heart. It is proclaimed, to repeat, not as a mere list of things to be believed but rather as the way of discipleship within the communion of the Church.

This proclamation, in which the fullness of faith is preserved and transmitted, springs from the heart, “the soul” of the Church. It is a saving message, an all-encompassing love, meant for every time and place, every language and culture, indeed every individual. To quote the Acts of the Apostles, “(There is) no other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved” (AA 4:12).

Let us then draw these few ideas on Catholic identity together, so that we can move on to discuss the Catholic culture in our schools and their specific role in handing on the Catholic faith. In fact, we have hopefully seen a three-fold convergence:

• the evangelized and evangelizing “soul” of the Church
  
  
• the evangelized and evangelizing “soul” of the baptized
  
  
• the evangelized and evangelizing Catholic identity or “soul” of our schools.

The clear implication of this convergence is that we do not check our faith at the door of the school when we walk in. We have the God-given and constitutionally protected freedom to bring it in and to bear witness to that faith before our students, whether or not we formally teaching religion.

Indeed, when it comes to the faith, we must overcome any separation between our personal and professional lives. That’s what being a witness means, at least according to St. Paul: “Be imitators of me!” he said. He could say that because he could also say: “It is not I who live but Christ who lives in me!” This too must be our stance before the students, whom we hope to evangelize, to catechize, and to help form as disciples and friends of the Lord within the communion of the Church, as those who have the freedom to chose what is noble, life-giving, virtuous, and truly excellent.

I recognize, as you do, that we are blessed with wonderful teachers who do not identify themselves as Catholics. As noted earlier, our schools are to be marked by all the Church stands for, including the Church’s commitment to ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue. I know that when you who are of other faiths come aboard in our schools, you are told of our Catholic identity and mission and that you respect it and contribute to it in a manner that is a living lesson in practical ecumenism and inter-religious understanding, and for that I thank you!

Identity and Culture

Now, if you’re ready, let’s take this to the next level by asking how are our schools are manifestations of the evangelizing soul of the Church? The impulse of the Holy Spirit to share the teaching of Christ as it comes to us through the Church begins deep within but by its very nature it has to receive external expression. It this just a matter of words? Just a matter of rules and regulations to be followed? Or is it something deeper? Quite obviously I think it is indeed ‘something deeper’!

Some of you may be old enough to remember the Baltimore Catechism and the rote fashion in which the faith was taught. There were advantages – people had a common language to express the faith and most people had a base-line knowledge of what the Church teaches. In many cases, however, people saw their faith as a list of things to be believed because these things had been taught with authority, not necessarily because they had intrinsic relevance to their lives.

Attempts to go beyond that immediately following the Council did not improve things. Even the ubiquitous commentator on Catholicism in America, Andrew Greeley, has criticized the “content-less” catechesis that prevailed after the Council. Over time many efforts have been made to address this: The publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and its Compendium; the U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults; The General Catechetical Directory; the latest edition of the U.S. National Catechetical Directory; and the efforts of bishops, priests, Catholic educators, and catechists to develop sound catechetical materials in conformity with the CCC.

To this, I might add the efforts of dioceses like our own to develop a comprehensive
K-12 religion curriculum – aimed at communicating the faith in its completeness to the young people we serve. All of these efforts are excellent, most especially the Catechism of the Catholic Church which helps us see the truth, coherence, goodness, and beauty of the faith we profess.

Yet, as the theologian Josef Ratzinger taught us, it’s not enough to teach the formulas of the faith, important as they are, to our young people and belatedly to their parents… and this the faith of the Church is best received not in isolation but is in a humanly wholesome culture formed by the language and symbols of our Catholic tradition. As the Australian scholar, Tracey Rowland puts it: “Ratzinger [believes] that a knowledge of the language and symbols of the Christian tradition is a necessary component of catechesis and that this itself is best received by being immersed in a Christian community and sharing in its practices . . . .” (p. 61)

Thus, as you know so well, to be true to its identity and for the faith to take root, our schools must create not simply a nice atmosphere or a safe environment but indeed a genuinely Catholic culture of respect for the human person, of respect for human reason, and of explicit proclamation of the Good News. This is not merely a matter for the bishop, or the superintendent, or the President or Principal or the religion department to worry about – but all of us together; as we all know, a culture is created when a critical mass of people in an organization are pulling in the same direction out of deeply understood and felt convictions.

Not surprisingly, opinion divides about whether the Catholic culture is exclusively a matter of the head or exclusively a matter of the heart: it is both! And thus, we must pay close attention to the explicit teaching of the Church as well as the expression of that faith in the signs and symbols of worship and how both of these play out in the lives of our students.

As a practical matter, our schools need to be places of prayer and beauty. It’s a joy to walk into a school hear the morning-prayer over the PA system. It’s a joy for me to offer Mass in the high schools of the Diocese year after year. What we are seeking is a Catholic culture that encourages by word and example that our kids attend daily Mass if possible; that they receive in the school the Sacrament of Reconciliation from time to time; that regular opportunities for Eucharistic adoration be provided; that the Rosary be prayed together with some regularity; that truly beautiful religious art adorn our schools; that the vocation to marriage and family be promoted and defended; that vocations to priesthood and religious life be encouraged such that it’s o.k. for a young person to openly consider such callings.

It is in this context that the truths of the faith find their ‘natural’ ambience; it is in this context that the Church’s teaching makes sense to our people – that the Mass and the Sacraments are understood in their truth, beauty and saving power. Here is the basis for that atmosphere of learning, respect, and service that so wonderfully characterizes our schools, and makes us so very proud of our students!

And, as you know so well, it is important to draw parents into this culture, by assembling a critical mass of parents who are truly committed to their faith and working with them to reach out to and involve other parent who are less committed to the practice of the faith, e.g., the parents who value our schools for their discipline and academic excellence but less so for their Catholic identity. With the help of the Holy Spirit we need to develop an evangelizing synergy to help these parents remember deep down the calling they too have received.

Finally, before offering a few modest suggestions for the teaching of the faith itself, let me add one more observation with regard to subjects that are not per se religious. Along the way I have mentioned the respect of the Catholic faith for reason. Although the story of Galileo is endlessly repeated, you know that the Church has been history’s greatest transmitter of general knowledge and culture, going back to ancient times, the developer of the university system, and a Tradition that defends the capacity of reason for truth in a skeptical age. So while there is no Catholic math or physics or computer science, there is a Catholic vision of the human person, there is clear Catholic teaching on the right ordering of human society, and there is a clear Catholic ethos which flows from our identity, there is an understanding of faith and reason, ethics and technology as the Body of Christ and as members of that Body. Everyone in the school has to be a part, then, of creating a culture in which the faith can be heard and accepted by our students ― not as something tacked on but as the guiding light for all that lies ahead.

Being Equipped for Witnessing and Teaching the Faith

Developing the faith is a life-long process. After 33 years of priesthood, 14 of which I spent as a bishop, even after having earned a doctorate in theology back in the antediluvian days, I stand before you as one who knows but a fraction of our Tradition and who is still growing in my knowledge of the faith and appreciation of its beauty. Being a Christian is a life-long project with eternal consequences. And I’m quite sure that you feel the same way!

Beginning next January, we will be asking those who teach in our schools to avail themselves of an opportunity to grow in the knowledge of faith. We are working with the University of Dayton to provide an adult, on-line course in the faith based on the Catechism of the Catholic Faith, in a way that aims to enrich your life of faith both personally and professionally. The hope is to provide a resource to help in seeing the relationship between what we read in Scripture, what we profess in our faith, how we worship as a community, and how we pray in private. The hope is to provide a resource that shows the relationship between faith and reason, between what is true, good, and beautiful. In other words, the point is not to cram a few additional facts into our heads but to develop our understanding of the faith and to further integrate it in our lives.

Finally, with regard to content, I would simply observe with the late Cardinal Dulles that “the content of faith, especially in central matters such as Trinity and Incarnation, cannot be divorced from faith itself. Faith (he said) is not an empty sack that can be equally well filled by anything God chooses to say. The doctrines are articulations of what faith, in its inner reality already is. They illustrate the inherent structure of any act of faith.”

As the Cardinal goes on to remind us, the structure of the faith is based on Jesus Christ – on who He is and on what He has done to save us. Thus the Letter to the Hebrews describes Christ as “the author and perfecter of faith.” It is through Christ that we know the Father in the Holy Spirit and receive our call to share in the life of the Trinity, a communion of love upon which the Church is modeled. It is through sharing the risen life of Christ sacramentally that our way of praying opens out into a way of living. In setting our hearts on what is above, paradoxically we see the human person with more clarity and are moved to try to create a society more befitting our human dignity.

As Cardinal Dulles said way back in 1968, The contents of the faith is not simply a list of truths to be believed but rather the study of God as he gives Himself in friendship. “Faith (and its contents) is a living communion with the God of love”.

Conclusion: A Renewed Word of Thanks

I came today in person to thank you for making the faith come alive in yourselves, in the deepest recesses of our schools, and above all, in the lives of our students and their families. I wanted to share with you this day of prayer, reflection, and personal development because from the opening bell to the closing bell of each school day you give of yourselves to God, to the Church, and to the school community with unstinting sacrifice, joyful faith, keen hope, and profound love.

Thanks to you our schools are places of learning to be sure but more than that they are places where our students have the freedom to embrace what is coherent, true, good, and beautiful and to be affirmed in their God-given dignity and vocation. The reward you seek, even on the most trying day imaginable, is to see the light of faith and knowledge shining in harmony from the hearts and on the faces of our students. The satisfaction you derive is not only in test scores and enviable statistics but rather in the secure knowledge that you have helped a student chart a course that leads toward God and all that He wills.

May God bless you for listening to me this afternoon and may Christ, the One Teacher, bless you and your students day after day after day! Thank you and God bless you!


Return to the Writings of Bishop Lori