A Beacon Of Light… The Gifts Of Life And Of Catholic Education

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON JR.

(Editor’s Note: Fr. Richard D. Breton Jr. is a priest of the Diocese of Norwich, Conn. He received his BA in religious studies and his MA in dogmatic theology from Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Conn.)

• + + One of the greatest gifts we receive from the Lord is the gift of life. The gift of life is so precious it needs to be nourished from the moment of conception until the very last breath.
  This was made evident to me very profoundly a few years ago when I was working as a hospital chaplain. I often will use my hospital experiences as tools to teach about the great mysteries associated with life and death and how these are teachable moments.
  During my time as a chaplain, I was asked to take on the responsibility of caring for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. For me this was very special because, I too, had been a patient on the NICU at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston in the early months of my life.
  Each morning I would begin my day by visiting my little babies. Without fail I would have the opportunity to sit and cuddle with one of the precious babies waiting for their parents to arrive. While holding the babies I would reflect on the great responsibility that the parents now had in raising this precious little gift from God.
  Like the little babies in the NICU, we are all children of God in need of growing in knowledge. From the very moment of our Baptism, our education in the faith begins. It was this responsibility in mind that prompted the fathers of the Second Vatican Council to promulgate a document specific to education.

Restore All Things In Christ

October 28, 1965, was a turning point for the Church in her understanding of Catholic Education. It was the day His Holiness Pope Paul VI, promulgated Gravissimum Educationis, a document in which the first line states:
“The Sacred Ecumenical Council has considered with care how extremely important education is in the life of man and how its influence ever grows in the social progress of this age….
“To fulfill the mandate she has received from her divine founder of proclaiming the mystery of salvation to all men and of restoring all things in Christ, Holy Mother the Church must be concerned with the whole of man’s life, even the secular part of it insofar as it has a bearing on his heavenly calling. Therefore she has a role in the progress and development of education. Hence this sacred synod declares certain fundamental principles of Christian education especially in schools” (Gravissimum Educationis, n. 1).
These first lines clearly express, with much importance, the responsibility that the Church has in educating the People of God. This cannot be done, however, by the Church alone. The education of the faithful begins in the home. By virtue of having been blessed with the gift of children, parents are the first teachers in the ways of the faith.
The council fathers reminded us of this when they said: “Parents who have the primary and inalienable right and duty to educate their children” (Gravissimum Educationis, n. 6).
This means parents must begin to train their children in the ways of the faith at the earliest age possible. I can remember my parents began teaching my siblings and me our prayers at a very young age. I also had the example of my maternal grandmother who was exceptionally gifted in teaching us the faith.
This can be done very easily by teaching children their prayers and by bringing them to Church to experience the Mass. Often parents are afraid to bring their young children to Church for fear they might act up and cause some kind of embarrassment. To this I urge parents to remember the words of the Lord Jesus in the Gospel of Mark:
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Mark 19:14).
Parents need to expose their children to Sunday Mass and allow them to experience the presence of God. I always encourage parents to sit in the front pew so their children can see what is going on. This is usually frowned upon by the “older generations” and their displeasure is made known by glaring looks in the direction of the parents, and even by sometimes telling them to remove their child from the church.
Don’t listen to them! Stand your ground and remind them they were once children too! It is also important to introduce the children to the parish priest so that a connection can be made. By doing this the children feel welcome at Sunday Mass.
One of the worst things that is happening in many of the parishes today are these proposed “Liturgies of the Word for Children.” The intention is all well and good, but sadly these have an opposite effect and make children feel not welcomed. It also has the possibility to become more of a play time than encouraging a sacred time.
The mission of educating the faithful, whether children or adults, can be most perfectly accomplished by the use of Catholic schools. I’m happy to say I am a product of Catholic Education and I thank God every day that my parents provided me with this opportunity. The Catholic school is the breeding place of formation where both the intellectual and spiritual aspects of a person grow.
Turning back to the fathers of Vatican II we are reminded of this importance when they said:
“The influence of the Church in the field of education is shown in a special manner by the Catholic school. No less than other schools do the Catholic schools pursue cultural goals and the human formation of youth. But its proper function is to create for the school community a special atmosphere animated by the Gospel spirit of freedom and charity, to help youth grow according to the new creatures they were made through baptism as they develop their own personalities, and finally to order the whole of human culture to the news of salvation so that the knowledge the students gradually acquire of the world, life, and man is illumined by faith” (Gravissimum Educationis, n. 8).
Often in discussing Catholic Education, there is a misunderstanding regarding who is responsible for promoting our Catholic schools. The answer to that question is everyone! In one of my previous parishes, I dealt with this false understanding on almost a daily basis. As I worked diligently improving the parish school, I fought a battle where the parish had been falsely led to believe the school was a separate entity. This is entirely false! A parish school is, and should be, the heartbeat of the parish. Again, the council fathers have addressed this when they said:
“This Sacred Council of the Church earnestly entreats pastors and all the faithful to spare no sacrifice in helping Catholic schools fulfill their function in a continually more perfect way, and especially in caring for the needs of those who are poor in the goods of this world or who are deprived of the assistance and affection of a family or who are strangers to the gift of Faith” (Gravissimum Educationis, n. 9).

The Precious Gift

As we have discussed this week, like the little babies who need to be nurtured in the NICU in the first moments of their lives, so too, children and adults need to be nurtured throughout their lives. Catholic Education is a gift that allows this to happen. And yes, the parents are the first teachers of their children in the ways of the faith, but they too, must have an understanding of faith if they are going to fulfill their responsibility.
A Catholic Education is a gift that builds both the intellectual and spiritual identity of a person preparing them to live a well-rounded life in today’s difficult society. Catholic Education is all our responsibility, and our Baptism calls us to engage in this mission.
May we, parents, bishops, priests, teachers, and the entire People of God, do all we can to maintain the precious gift that Catholic Education is to the Church, but, more importantly, to the whole world!