Building Relationships With One Voice

James T. Mulligan, CSC

Catholic Parent Involvement Committee

Ontario Association of Parents in Catholic Education

October 24, 2015

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Four parts:

Context One Voice Collaborative Partnerships A Resource

Introduction

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The changing cultural and church context

in which the transmission of faith occurs There is a changing face of Canadian

Catholicism. The importance to understand who these

young Catholics and their parents / families are … who make up our church at this time.

These are the children we journey with and share our experience of Jesus with --- in our Catholic schools.

Part I: Begin with the Context

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I am Catholic. I go to St. Andrew’s

School. Regular Sunday Eucharist while a

central referent generally is not binding for many; some come once or twice a month; many a few times a year.

The number of children in our schools whose parents are in different relationships.

A WORD PICTURE --- TO DESCRIBE THE CHANGING CULTURAL AND

ECCLESIAL CONTEXT

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Fewer and fewer sacrament marriages in church.

Fewer funerals in church.Many lack basic rules of church

etiquette.Fewer young couples or young

people who feel the need to contribute financially to the support of the church.

Hard to find Godparents for baptism and sponsors for confirmation.

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Increasing number of baptized Catholic parents who fail to have their little one baptized until Grade Two when they realize that baptism is needed for First Communion.

Increased number of clergy imported to serve in parishes some of whom, while good intentioned have difficulty with our language and with our culture.

More of a challenge urging our Catholic teachers to connect their ministry as Catholic teacher with baptism and their baptismal priesthood.

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From our schools, parents still feel a compelling need for children to receive sacraments: Baptism, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Confirmation.

Yet – in all of this there is “grace” -- widespread support from staff, families and students in our schools to work for the poor: Food Bank, Soup Kitchen volunteers, care for the environment, engagement in other charity and justice endeavours.

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Most today --- teachers and families – feel overwhelmed by the pressures of daily living. Two jobs at least per family. Fear of unemployment. So many cultural choices and distractions. The tyranny of ever changing communication technology that can be so addictive.

Internet challenges for young people and for older people.

The challenge to “outsmart” the smart phones.

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In the culture “silence” and “quiet” are so unappreciated.

Little sense of the sacred. As a Catholic community we seem to be suffering from amnesia --- our story is but vaguely remembered. There is way too much competition for our story to be heard.

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Schools become the “hearth” in which many children will learn to pray and learn the story of our faith.

But in all of this --- there are some amazingly committed teachers and administrators and parents who believe profoundly in this enduring gift that is ours in Catholic education and who translate that belief into practical activity to conserve and to help grow our Catholic education project.

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A clear picture of how the face of Catholicism is

changing. This is a picture that might disturb us … yet it

is a picture that should not disturb us if we have about us the spirit and missionary zeal that Pope Francis encourages in his Exhortation – Evangelii Gaudium -- On the Joy of the Gospel -- as we will see next.

A mantra: We are called to be in the middle of things as things are, not as we would like them to be.

CONCLUSIONS

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The point – the cultural context shapes how we must go about evangelizing through the Catholic school.

So blessed in Ontario --- the Catholic school is a rich locus pastoralis.

People are coming less frequently to where we are … to our churches and celebrations --- so we must go to them.

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It can be that the Catholic school becomes the meeting place --- the place where the church and our faith might connect with families … children and parents.

The Catholic school serves as a canary in the coal mine alerting us as to how the Ontario church of the future is now being shaped …

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We need “direction”. We need a roadmap! I am choosing one voice that speaks boldly and

joyfully to all of the partners of Catholic education – home, school and parish.

That voice is that of Pope Francis, especially in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium – on the Joy of the Gospel.

The voice of Pope Francis can guide us, encourage us and point us into the future. Let me propose some passages that at the same time are challenging yet very consoling.

Part II: Parish / Families / Catholic

educators guided by ONE VOICE

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Pope Francis Evangelii Gaudium

Apostolic Exhortation on the Joy of the Gospel

November 24, 2013

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#3 – I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord.

IT IS ALL ABOUT JESUS

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#10 – This is certainly what mission means. Consequently, an evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral! Let us recover and deepen our enthusiasm, that “delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing, even when it is in tears that we must sow …. And may the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the good news not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervor, who have first received the joy of Christ”.

RECOVERING OUR ENTHUSIASM

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#14 – The new evangelization is a summons … to the baptized whose lives do not reflect the demands of Baptism, who lack a meaningful relationship to the Church and no longer experience the consolation born of faith. The Church in her maternal concern, tries to help them experience a conversion which will restore the joy of faith to their hearts and inspire a commitment to the Gospel.

RECOVERING BAPTISM … RESTORING THE JOY OF FAITH

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#15 – We cannot passively and calmly wait in our church buildings; we need to move from a pastoral ministry of mere conservation to a decidedly missionary pastoral ministry.

#46 – A Church which ‘goes forth’ is a Church whose doors are open.

GOING TO THEM - NOT WAITING FOR THEM TO COME TO US

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#28 – The parish is not an outdated institution; precisely because it possesses great flexibility, it can assume quite different contours depending on the openness and missionary creativity of the pastor and the community. While certainly not the only institution which evangelizes, if it proves capable of self-renewal and constant adaptivity, it continues to be the Church living in the midst of the homes of her sons and daughters. This presumes that it really is in contact with the homes and lives of its people, and does not become a useless structure out of touch with people or a self-absorbed cluster made up of a chosen few.

THE SCHOOL – POINT OF CONTACT FOR HOME AND PARISH

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#33 – Pastoral ministry in a missionary key seeks to abandon the complacent attitude that says: We have always done it this way. I invite everyone to be bold and creative in this task of rethinking the goals, structures, style and methods of evangelization in their respective communities.

HOME / SCHOOL / PARISH – A MISSIONARY COMMUNITY

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#134 – Catholic schools, which always strive to join their work of education with the explicit proclamation of the Gospel, are a most valuable resource for the evangelization of culture.#49 – I prefer a Church, which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church, which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security. I do not want a Church concerned with being at the centre and then ends up being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures. If something should rightly disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them, without meaning and a goal in life.

THE CATHOLIC SCHOOL CAN OFFER LIGHT AND MEANING

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#102 – Lay people are, put simply, the vast majority of the People of God. The minority – ordained ministers – are at their service. There has been a growing awareness of the identity and mission of the laity in the Church. We can count on many lay persons, although still not nearly enough, who have a deeply-rooted sense of community and great fidelity to the tasks of charity, catechesis and the celebration of the faith. At the same time, a clear awareness of this responsibility of the laity, grounded in their baptism and confirmation, does not appear in the same way in all places. In some cases, it is because lay persons have not been given the formation needed to take on important responsibilities. In others, it is because in their particular Churches room has not been made for them to speak and act, due to an excessive clericalism which keeps them away from decision-making.

RECOVERING BAPTISMAL PRIESTHOOD FOR MISSION

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#120 – In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the people of God have become missionary disciples. All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization, and it would be insufficient to envisage a plan of evangelization to be carried out by professionals while the rest of the faithful would simply be passive recipients.

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#262 – Spirit-filled evangelizers are evangelizers who pray and work. What is needed is the ability to cultivate an interior space, which can give a Christian meaning to commitment and activity. Without prolonged moments of adoration, of prayerful encounter with the word, of sincere conversation with the Lord, our work easily becomes meaningless; we lose energy as a result of weariness and difficulties and our fervor dies out.

NOTHING HAPPENS WITHOUT PRAYER WITH OUR WORK

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What might be some expectations that we have of each other --- parish of schools and schools of parish and school and parish of parents and families. In doing this I am looking for the possibility of a deeper more effective collaboration between Catholic school and parish and Catholic homes. I do this in an essay in Part Two of my book – I present here briefly some of my conclusions.

Part III: Towards a more collaborative partnership:

Looking more closely at the relationships among the partners.

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Encouragement – teachers deserve

affirmation in their lay ministry, which is so important for the evangelizing mission of the church. Life today and our culture are so very complicated and difficult.

What the Catholic school needs from the parish:

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The parish can help and support teachers in their ministry as Catholic educators in any way that can further faith formation and remind teachers that what they do as Catholic teachers is an extension of their own baptismal vocation.

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The Catholic school … office and support and teaching staff and principal… can surely draw inspiration from a parish community --- especially the pastoral team and office staff … that is marked by hospitality and compassion and a readiness to always go further or do more.

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It is logical that if the parish is the centre of the faith community that the parish should also be a resource, a theological and catechetical resource for the teachers in their role of teaching the faith. That doesn’t mean that “the priest” has all the answers --- but that the priest and the pastoral staff can help teachers in looking for theological understanding.

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Sometimes one has to take medicine even though one doesn’t think they need it or should have it. But encouraging Catholic teachers to be mindful of their baptismal vocation is medicine “with a spoonful of sugar” to help it go down.

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Collaboration in educating in the faith is what the parish needs above all from the Catholic school.

What the parish needs from the Catholic school:

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Participation in Sunday Eucharist on the part of Catholic educators is a prophetic symbol that can question the assumptions and priorities of our culture. The parish needs teachers who profoundly believe that Sunday Eucharist is necessary to sustain their own vocations as Catholic educators.

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Our ideal is that the parents prepare the child; the reality for most is that the Catholic teacher is backup and in many cases the faith educator in loco parentis. The parish often depends on Catholic teachers to be front-line educators in our faith.

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The priest and the parish would love that each Catholic teacher live out with authenticity the ideals of the pastoral reference they have received.

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In almost every parish teachers can contribute in so many ways to the ministry of the parish: liturgical ministries of Reader and Eucharistic minister; volunteers in social ministries; support for youth ministry etc.

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In so many ways, the parish community looks to our Catholic teachers --- their words, their ideals and their witness – to maintain the Catholic identity of our schools.

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The most important desire of both

parish and Catholic school is that parents participate whole-heartedly in the education and in the faith education of their children.

What the Parish and Catholic School need from parents / families:

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Reviewing the Catholic identity of the Catholic school should be a regular agenda item for every Catholic School Council meeting. What makes our schools ‘Catholic’? How do we keep our schools ‘Catholic’? How might parents and families contribute in keeping our schools ‘Catholic’?

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By our involvement as parents we are missionaries to other parents. And extending hospitality to others and journeying with them and encouraging them and inviting them to participate and help are all traits of what it is to be a missionary today in our difficult culture.

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Yet the work of Catholic education begins even before the children arrive for junior kindergarten. One’s experience of Jesus must be shared at the earliest age possible; what it is to talk to Jesus must be taught at the earliest age possible; Catholic parents are called to pray for their children and with their children at the earliest age possible. Parents – through your child’s first 4-5 years ask yourselves the question --- if I fast forward her life 20 or 30 years from now --- will my child have faith? Will my child still have a relationship with Jesus?

A resource to assist us in going forward –

A brief overview of -- A PASTOR’S JOURNAL.