As we celebrate CAFOD Harvest Family Fast Day on 1 October, world leaders prepare to gather in Glasgow for COP26, a crucial meeting this November about the climate crisis and the future of our planet and its people.
Around the world, communities that have done the least to cause the climate crisis or environmental destruction are increasingly seeing their harvests and ways of life threatened.
This is unjust. And we are called to stand with our sisters and brothers and to support them.
Bright green fundraising!
So, this Harvest, CAFOD challenges schools to Go Green to brighten up the world.
Whether it’s a pea-green soup lunch, a bright green mufti day or a vivid green bake sale, however you raise money for CAFOD, make it bright green!
How your money helps
builds a greenhouse for a family to grow vegetables all year round £33 supplies a family with fresh clean water £8 gives a family five fruit tree saplings to grow fruit to eat and sell
buys solar street lamps for refugee camps £54
£335
How your money helps
Your fundraising will support people like 14-year-old Luana who lives in the Brazilian Amazon with her grandmother.
When fires destroyed the crops and trees that Luana’s community rely on to survive, CAFOD’s local experts helped them to replant using sustainable methods so that they would have food to eat and to sell.
They also helped the community gain the legal right to stay on the land and protect the forest. As Luana says:
“The Amazon is important for everyone, for the whole world and not just for me.”
Support our global family
So let’s come together as Catholic schools in England and Wales to support our global family: Go Green to fundraise for CAFOD!
Watch Luana’s story and find resources to support your school’s prayer and fundraising this harvest at: cafod.org.uk/schools
fundraiser and help to build a brighter world. Go Green Join our
The Eyes of the World are on us!
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS ASK THE UK GOVERNMENT TO STOP THE CLIMATE CRISIS.
The eyes of the world will be watching world leaders at the COP26 climate meeting in Glasgow this November. To stand alongside our sisters and brothers hardest hit by the climate emergency, we all need to be watching too. Raise your voice with Catholic schools across England and Wales.
Thousands of children and young people have already united to show the government that we want them to stop the climate crisis and support those living on the frontline of climate change.
2021 is a crucial year for action on the climate crisis. This year we are asking the UK Government to make sure that people and planet are at the heart of all the decisions they make. As UK citizens, we can influence the decisions our government makes. As Pope Francis says in Laudato Si’, the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor are one. We must stand together with those who are
being affected by the climate emergency around the world, so that world leaders cannot ignore our united voices.
As Catholics, we hear Pope Francis’ call to “strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family”. In response, we reach out to our global neighbours, stand in solidarity with them and speak out against climate injustice.
Our young people are putting this into action. One student from Oxford shared that her school was taking part because they “want world leaders to know that taking care of our planet is important because we only have one earth. If our planet gets ruined, we won’t have anywhere else to go.”
Florence lives in the north of Zimbabwe. The places she would normally go for water have dried up, so she has to walk four miles to the next available water source. These water sources can also be unsafe.
Around the UK, children and young people have been creating incredible pieces of art showing that their eyes are on the government this year. They have been drawing, painting and finding other ways to create eyes. One group at Farnborough Hill school collected unwanted clothes from every student in their school and created a giant eye with them.
Sinead Callaghan from CAFOD’s Education team added that “Young people in the UK want Boris Johnson and other world leaders to take responsibility and use this year’s COP talks to commit to concrete actions that meaningfully support those communities on the front line of the climate crisis, including increasing climate finance for low-income countries and ending support for all fossil fuels.”
Some schools have gone even further, not only creating eyes but getting in touch with their local MPs. Year 6 pupils at English Martyrs’ primary school in Newcastle have written to the Prime Minister telling him they are watching his actions this year as the UK hosts COP26.
As part of Eyes of the World, schools have been learning about people around the world already affected by climate change like Florence in Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe, there is a lot of reliance upon the rains to grow good crops, but climate change has caused the rains to come later and become more unpredictable. This means that not only is there not enough to drink, but families are often left without enough food to eat. Last year the harvest failed, mostly because of extreme weather like droughts that lasted for months and
St Thomas Aquinas primary school in Bletchley also shared their amazing eye artwork and they wanted to take their message further. The pupils are proud to be part of a worldwide effort to tackle climate change and help others around the world and this is central to the work of their School Council and EcoCommittee. A year 6 student pointed out that “we need to put ourselves in the shoes of the poorest communities and act based on this.” floods.
The School Council wrote to their local MP Iain Stewart to let him know how worried they are about climate change and to ask him to take their concerns to the Government. Mr Stewart agreed to meet the students virtually and the pupils were full of questions about
the Government’s response to climate change. Mrs Kirkby who supports the School Council added her admiration of “the efforts that the children make to recycle, reduce plastic consumption, conserve water and make sustainable and environmentally friendly decisions
both in school and at home.” Mrs Hackett, head of RE added that “the children are so clear on how to put faith, action, stewardship and compassion together in order to make a difference.”
BANNER JOURNEY
An ‘Eyes of the World’ banner is also making its way across the UK to COP26. It first showed up in Cornwall in June at the G7 summit and has since travelled to Brighton Old Pier, Dover, London’s Houses of Parliament, Oxford’s Radcliffe Camera and the Senedd in Cardiff. Being photographed outside famous landmarks serves as a reminder to the government that young people from every corner of the UK are watching the decisions they make at COP26.
At each location it has been met by a group of passionate young campaigners, ready to remind the government of their duty to stop the climate crisis. In Brighton, one of the young people said “We’re here today because we need our young voices heard on the problems of climate change by the government, who need to help people who have already been affected by climate change.” Dan Davis James, an associate teacher at St Joseph’s primary in Oxford shared this need for children’s voices to be heard. “If children believe they are listened to and their ideas matter, then it gives them a stake in becoming responsible leaders of tomorrow. We want this campaign to help children to imagine a more sustainable future. The more children involved, the greater the awareness and drive to change, which in turn empowers them to demand positive action from world leaders.”
THERE IS STILL TIME TO TAKE PART!
As Pope Francis remind us in Laudato Si’, “climate change can no longer be left to a future generation”.
Over 150 Catholic schools around the UK are already united in the fight against the climate crisis, and there is still time to join us! Take part in Eyes of the World this term in the run up to COP26. You can find more information and resources at cafod.org.uk/schools
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Closing Date for Copy - Volume 23 Issue One – Winter Term 2021 edition - Copy to Editor by 11th December 2021. Published to schools 11th January 2022.
contents welcome
By Martin Clephane,
Dr Sean Whittle
By Raymone Friel
Kathryn Ansley
By Dr Sean Whittle
James Spencer
Over the last few weeks we have received messages from our Catholic schools detailing the outcome of their GCSE and A Level 2021 exam results. For many these have been outstanding and this is a testament to the dedication, and professionalism of all those who teach and work in them.
The 2020/21 academic year has been a difficult year for teachers and pupils alike and it was admirable to see how our schools adjusted to the needs of both as the Covid pandemic progressed. It will be no surprise if the effects of the pandemic have some long-lasting effects on our Catholic schools in the future but we can work towards ensuring that they adapt and continue to provide the pastoral, educational and spiritual care that is needed to promote the wellbeing of our students and staff.
As always we thank all our contributors and especially we thank CAFOD for their valuable contribution to this issue. I hope you will find items of interest in the following pages and don’t forget, we are always pleased to receive your comments or ideas
John Clawson Editor
Catholic Academies: The debates and concerns rumble on
I am writing in response to the recent articles and the issues raised by Jim Foley and the response from Dr Sean Whittle.
In the articles they focus on plans to make Catholic Education more coherent; to have a stronger and more influential voice. They call for us to embrace the present challenge and not look to how things should or could have been done. Dr Whittle also makes the point that Bishops, particularly during the pandemic, are disconnected from their Headteachers.
My personal experience in our Diocese has links to both these issues. In our Diocese, action is being taken in line with Jim Foley’s vision where the Bishop has decided that all schools become academies formed into four large trusts. This paints a very clear and unified approach which Jim Foley would approve. Unfortunately the reality is very different. For the significant number of heads, like myself, who have issues with the academies programme it is not such a rosy picture. We find ourselves pressured into conversion not because we agree but we face the threat of action against Governors and Headteachers.
I find it amazing and frankly undemocratic that a Bishop is achieving what an elected Government couldn’t and that is forced academisation of all schools. Headteachers and schools have never been part of the decision making process and this disconnect between Heads and Bishop as outlined by Dr Whittle has become increasingly evident. Requested meetings with the Bishop by Headteachers have all been declined. The disconnect between Bishop and Headteachers has not, however, halted the push to academisation even during the pandemic with the enormous pressures school leaders have faced.
The idea of creating unity has greatly back fired and some heads now feel very much at odds with their Diocese and Bishop
which is a very cold and lonely place to be when you have given your career to Catholic Education.
Jim Foley and Dr Whittle’s arguments are around re-establishing some position of power. Power should not be an end in itself and certainly not at the expense of those on the ground who feel their position as Headteacher, their autonomy and indeed their schools are being torn away from them.
There is a very strong moral argument that in meeting the apparent need to become more powerful we are acting selfishly and creating further pressure on already struggling Local Authorities; that in creating new tiers of unnecessary leadership groups around previously unneeded CEOs etc along with paying lawyers and accountants millions of pounds to oversee the process we are abusing public funds better spent on schools.
At its heart the academies programme is about ideology. Michael Gove was the greatest ideologue the Department for Education has ever seen. It is an ideology which put simply, favours private sector over public and this ideology results in the demonization and destruction of the public sector. It is an ideology which after eleven years has proven to offer no improvements of standards or outcomes for children.
Are we to align ourselves to this ideology just because it happens to be the prevalent one, whether we agree with it or not, or whether it is in line with our Catholic mission or not? I believe we should never lose sight of the people on the ground and the human impact which seismic change, as suggested by Jim Foley, has on them. People should always come before power if we are to follow the way of Christ and avoid the real danger of mission drift.
Core principles of Catholic Education are subsidiarity, solidarity and community cohesion. In my opinion having a CEO and diminishing the powers of governing bodies and parishes puts a greater distance between those making the decisions and those living with them and therefore goes against subsidiarity. As for solidarity; we have a family of schools with an impeccable reputation for standing together; this has been severely damaged by this most divisive of policies. Community cohesion must also be negatively affected as local authorities will be even more damaged by the removal of such a large number of schools and as a result this will impact on other local authority schools and local authority employees who we have had years of experience building relationships with.
While Jim Foley has commented on Bishop’s not being clear enough and pushing through the academisation of their schools, some Bishops have actually listened to their Headteachers and Governors and chosen not to go down this route. To me that is not a sign of weakness but a sign of compassion and adherence to subsidiarity.
Before we go down the route of a painful and divisive process we must look at the evidence and ask ourselves, is it really worth it?
Martin Clephane (Headteacher)
Martin Clephane (Headteacher) St Mary’s RC Voluntary Aided Primary School Sunderland
by Dr Sean
Catholic Academies Continued
Dr Sean Whittle brings us up to date on plans for a second conference
Back before the pandemic even started, in December 2019, the first National conference on Academies and Catholic education was convened under the auspices of Networking and the Network for Researchers in Catholic Education. Although the pandemic has paralysed so many aspects of life, especially our ability to make firm plans, issues about academisation of Catholic schools have remained in the background but ominously ever present. As we move towards the end of 2021 plans are in place for a second conference. As part of the conference organising team I have had the opportunity to speak with a range of colleagues about their stance on Catholic schools and academisation. As part of our discussions I asked them what would they want to say to our bishops, if they had the opportunity. Here is the summary of what they had to say.
The first person I spoke with is Sinead Smith. Here is what she had to say.
I started my career as a teacher at a Catholic school in Banbury in 2001. In 2011 I took up my first headship at a Catholic school in Staffordshire, before returning to my home parish as Headteacher of a large Catholic junior school in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, in 2013. It was one of six schools that academised in March 2015 to form the Holy Spirit MAC. I was appointed to the role of Senior Executive Principal of the Holy Spirit MAC in January 2018.
In the early days of my career, the vision for the future wasn’t determined by me or any other individual leader, that would have been unthinkable, but I understood the job of Catholic schools and my responsibility as a Catholic leader was made very clear to me. We were expected to put Christ at the centre, to achieve well, to provide a good quality of Catholic education for young people and to account for ourselves when we fell short of this expectation. There were few distractions from this aim locally or nationally.
Without a unified vision which can easily be communicated to school leaders and communities, people begin to make up their own rules and they begin to retreat from the shared vision for the future because they simply don’t understand it.
Catholic social teaching – respect for the dignity of the human person – should be central to every decision Catholic leaders make. And yet it never fails to amaze me that the Catholic ‘academy agenda’ doesn’t focus on the relative extent to which our ability to do this is improved or impeded by academisation. The reality of our experience is that academisation can improve schools and therefore make a greater difference to young people, when it is done right and so maybe our focus should be on establishing a consensus about what doing it right looks like. To allow full engagement in the debate about the pros and cons of the academisation of Catholic schools, we must have decisive leadership at a national level and each diocese must be able to articulate the preferred vision for the future with confidence. We must recognise that those who disagree are often not the enemy but our greatest ally.
The aim of academisation is to unite, to create strength in numbers and in a Catholic context, the aim is surely to protect Catholic education for years to come. To achieve this, we need a vision for the future which unites Catholic leaders across the country. To date, the academy agenda has succeeded in creating much division but perhaps this is because we have lost sight of what unites us.
The second person I spoke with was Willie Slavin and this is what he would want to say to our bishops about academisation.
Having been involved in the charitable sector, post headship, focusing on the needs of our most disadvantaged children and families, I wish to contextualise the
debate about the future of Catholic education (and academisation) within the realm of the Church’s Social Teaching.
I am convinced that the emergence of the Church’s social teaching over the last 130 years is indicative of how the whole Church is beginning to develop a renewed self-awareness. It is by becoming more responsive to the needs of those people ‘left behind’ in an increasingly industrialised, capitalised, urban society and discovering that the Church’s existing narrative was no longer plausible.
One influential Post Vatican II Church document which perhaps offers an insight into the Church’s developing selfawareness is Evangelii Nuntiandi (1975) in which Pope Paul VI makes clear that there is far more to evangelisation than mere proclamation:
“The Church …. has the duty to proclaim the liberation of millions of human beings, the duty of assisting the birth of this liberation, of giving witness to it, of ensuring that it is complete. (Evangelii Nuntiandi par. 30)”
Just over a decade later John Paul II reinforced this imperative in his description of solidarity as:
“This is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good. (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 1987, par. 38)”
Both of these papal teachings are ultimately urging us (as the Church) to actively embrace the radical message that we preach. It is then, and only then, will we present a more compelling case to our young people.
Whether St Francis said it or not, there is truth in the oft quoted aphorism about ‘using words only if absolutely
Whittle Research Associate at the CRDCE with Professor Gerald Grace
necessary…’. Witness rather than words is what counts.
Placing the need for a cultural change within the post COVID call for a ‘new normal’ presents us with a plausible but transitory window of opportunity. It properly identifies the palpable coming together within a society, shocked into examining its values which has been aptly compared to the WWII spirit of togetherness. While that remains to be seen, one could take heart from the post war establishment of the transformative Welfare State, the 1944 Education Act and the NHS.
If there is a genuine public debate about ‘what kind of society we want to be’, the Church has much to offer. Given the critical position schools have played during the pandemic as anchor institutions, can we really afford to go back to a ‘normal’ that disregards the need for a supportive network around our schools and doesn’t our social teaching offer a supportive narrative for a renewal of our vision and values as Catholic educators?
Perhaps the real lesson of the pandemic, like the wartime experience, is in re-finding a sense of the common good through engaging in purposeful common action. A willingness to join a national reflection, and engaging in its articulation and proclamation, is surely a role the Church is well equipped to offer a contribution.
My challenge to Catholic educators is to re-imagine our educational mission in the light of the richness and relevance of Church’s Social Teaching. As we reconsider the drive for academisation of Catholic schools it is imperative that we do so mindful of the transitory opportunities presented by our post-COVID context.
The broader issues raised by Willie Slavin resonate deeply with the third person I spoke with, Kevin Quigley. He draws on rich experience, having served Catholic education as a secondary Headteacher, a Principal of a VI form College and a Diocesan Director of Education.
Kevin is convinced that our bishops need to realise that we are at an extraordinary moment in our history.
The impact of the Global pandemic with its nightmare scenarios has left us perplexed, threatened with a sense of a hidden and deadly menace undermining our very existence. We are now in a new
‘Age of Anxiety’, longing for a world we have lost. And yet that very uncertainty is the space for hope, as we have seen with the incredible response to counteracting the virus, to alleviate loss and suffering and to rebuild shattered lives and communities. So who can guide us to new horizons of hope? We believe that is where the Church comes in and, for our purposes too, its role in education in England and Wales as ”the future of humanity lies in the hands of those who are courageous enough to give future generations reasons for hoping and living.” (Gaudium et Spes par. 31)
Hope, Courage, Renewal, Boldness, Prophetic choice, and a visionary leadership are the ingredients for this task. In words attributed to Pope Francis: ‘Hope would have us recognise that there is always a way out that we can always redirect our steps that we can always do something to solve our problems.’
It strikes me that the document The Catholic school on the Threshold of the third Millennium now needs to be revisited in order to ground our hope as we discern the way ahead for Catholic Education in relation to academisation. The document’s call for ‘courageous renewal on the part of the Catholic School’ is one we need to take to heart. There are some sentences which are particularly striking in our current context. First is the emphatic declaration that ‘the school is at the heart of the Church’ (par. 11). Secondly, ‘it is urgent therefore to sensitise parochial and diocesan communities to the necessity of their developing special care to education and schools.’ (Par. 12). Thirdly, it is explained that ‘The heart of the school is Irreplaceable and the investment of human and material resources becomes a Prophetic Choice.’ (Par. 21). Thus our Catholic schools are very important and this gives an added importance to debates around academisation.
Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium unpacks what the hope looks like. It encourages us all to be ‘missionary disciples,’ ‘spirit filled evangelisers’, to be bold, creative, courageous and innovative in the evangelisation of cultures and of secular societies. Catholic schools are crucial to this task deserving of the best of authentic leadership from “teachers in faith, “our Bishops who have the responsibility of oversight of the mission. The best of leaders imagine an inspiring future and strive to shape it rather than passively watching the future happen around them. Pope Francis in Gaudette et Exultate
writes that holiness is ‘Boldness, an impulse to evangelise and to leave a mark on the world’ (par. 131) and that ‘Boldness and apostolic courage are an essential part of mission.’ Such boldness, such a prophetic choice given the challenges we all face now in relation to academies and Catholic education is in fact part of the critical witness to be expected from those charged with the oversight of our schools. In dealing with Catholic academies we need visionary leadership and a renewed sense of Mission and of Mission integrity.
The fourth person to discuss their thoughts on what our bishops need to hear about academies is retired headteacher Peter Boylan. He draws on his excellent grasp of the historical roots of Catholic education in the UK. Peter would want to offer these historically astute observations to our bishops.
Pope Francis is seeking to lead the Church in a synodal approach towards a new way of serving the common good of all people. This involves both consultation and collaboration at many levels. In itself this reflects the principles of Catholic Social Teaching which priorities the three elements of the Common Good, Subsidiarity and Solidarity.
Catholic Education across England and Wales has accepted consultation with practitioners since Cardinal Vaughan invited Heads of Catholic Colleges to Archbishops House in January 1896. This was extended by degrees over succeeding years as bodies representative of those practitioners were formed. The predecessor of the current service, the Catholic Education Council (CEC), was structured to assist the Bishops’ responsibilities in that mission.
It should be noted by how much those bodies relied on the voluntary contributions by so many, led by prominent names, whose involvement exceeded their professional duties over, above and beyond their working life. Such contributions drawn from a variety of experiences have been given freely and continue to be offered for the benefit of that shared mission in education.
The legislative changes of the 1980’s saw the need to reform the support structures of CEC. In November 1988 the Bishops’ Conference approved proposals for a new Catholic Education Service which came into being in 1990. One of the recommendations was; ‘There should be an Education Council
which represents all the organisations working in Catholic Education’.
The Forum for Catholic Schools and Colleges became a contributing partner and existed up to the turn of the century, when for a variety of reasons, including financial, it was allowed to lapse. Since that point there appears to have been no way for those involved in the practice of Catholic Education, to speak collectively with an authentic voice, to and through the CES about concerns, trends, plans and proposals to address needs from their direct experience.
The history of Catholic education provision indicates that there has never been an agreed single approach at any age to address requirements and challenges. In part this is due to the inherited mixture of needs and provision in schools and in part by the authority of Diocesan Bishops.
That history also shows the great financial difficulties that have hindered progress and provision at all levels. While generous individual financial donations and voluntary individual commitment have sustained a structure, in many ways at breaking point, a sounder base with steady financial security is now required urgently. Perhaps it is this issue which keeps on driving forward academisation in the Catholic sector.
The fifth person I spoke with is Clare Madden, a colleague just about to retire, after decades of service to Catholic education. Here are her reflections that she would want to make our bishops aware of in relation to Catholic academies.
After over 30 years in Catholic education, I am about to embark on a ‘new career’ as the retired Catholic Senior Executive Leader of Lumen Christi MAC. My career in Catholic education has nurtured in me a sense of purpose and belonging. For a time I was the Coordinate to Birmingham’s Catholic Partnership. The partnership provided a wealth of opportunities for pupils to celebrate their Catholic identity through competition and events. However, the strength of the partnership was to be found in the solidarity of staff from across the city having a shared mission. The collaboration, support and genuine desire for success arose out of the common purpose of providing the best Catholic education we could for all of our children. We felt a togetherness, found reassurance in what we shared and understood what distinguished us from other schools. We
felt we belonged, and we were proud to belong both to our individual schools and to the collective.
The move towards academisation can reflect many of these sentiments and strengths. Our schools, some vulnerable, have found security in consistency and efficiencies – equally, we celebrate differences and are striving to embrace diversity although we are not there yet. Through academisation we can offer protection. We stand united and protect our own, which can be a force for good and yet can have catastrophic consequences when misplaced.
We strive for improvement - because we are called to grow. Positive growth necessitates positive change on a journey of improvement for all. Unfortunately, far from bringing strength and protection, the narrative around academisation is fragmented and divisive. On a recent CES webinar for Catholic leaders, many expressed frustration and disillusionment at the differences in rationale and structures manifested across different dioceses in England and Wales. In contrast, a subsequent discussion buzzed with enthusiasm whilst discussing the new Catholic Schools Inspectorate. The feeling was reflected in the comment ‘Won’t it be great when we are all doing the same thing’.
I am concerned that we have moved further away from what draws us together. The journey to academisation has caused division, fragmentation, and dissension. As a result we have lost the collective voice to engage with others outside Catholic education. There are many talented and willing people, in all ranks, who are committed to Catholic education. They have found reassurance and strength in unity when faced with the challenges of COVID. We are capable of more when working together and we have a responsibility to ensure that opportunities for a strong collective are not lost at this critical time.
The sixth person I spoke with has a notably different stance when it comes to academisation. This is secondary headteacher Dr Louise McGowan. Here she reflects on her long and at times painful experience of academisation outside the Catholic sector. These are serious matters which the bishops need to be able to appreciate.
I was part of New Labour’s city academies programme from its inception; in 2006 I was part of a small team of school leaders who planned, designed and opened a
brand-new sponsored academy built as part of a philanthropic regeneration project in a deprived south coastal area. It wasn’t a Catholic academy but it was Catholic social justice in action. It was an honour to have been part of this work. I believed wholeheartedly in this innovative new wave of schools.
But my experiences over time from working in a first-generation city academy to then leading a standalone converter academy revealed a darker side to the programme. The early philanthropic movement has now politicised state education to a point of dangerous fragmentation. What often starts out as the very best thing so easily becomes the very worst thing. An embryonic idea, stripped and reshaped into a vision for education where power, greed and position have found a platform to seed and breed, where there has been widespread reported corruption and misuse of public funds, where policies can be shaped to actually disadvantage the poor and those that need most help, where education philosophy has become diluted, lost amongst systems, structures and layers, the primary focus on economics, markets and data. A mass corporatisation of state education to serve the few, not the many. It is astonishing therefore that the academies movement has been embraced by so many leaders within Catholic education.
Academies were depicted as offering a way to preserve and protect Catholic education. The original architects of the academies system have long gone but what they started has since been taken up by successors who have moved in a different direction. Mass academisation of Catholic schools is very much not the answer. Signing over our schools to the Regional Schools Commissioners and their secular Headteacher Boards, whilst retaining the illusion that we, as people of the church, are still in control is not leading by the Spirit. The danger that has been played out across the country is that Catholic education is becoming corporatised. It begs the key question: which master are we now serving?
Jesus didn’t work through corporate structures. He didn’t see a need for egoistic executive titles or to build his church upon a balance sheet. Our catholic faith is not a multi academy company. Our Catholic schools are about community; people are human beings made in God’s image, not commodities slotting into a structure. And the structures continue to
grow with ever more layers of leadership and directorships and executives added. Schools in MATs or CATS pay on average between 3 and 8% of their annual pupil income for these structures. That can equate to over £500,000 top-sliced and paid directly to the Trust to run the executive functions and pay the executive people. Schools in such MATs and CATs are, quite literally, the poorer for it.
To what end is the academisation of Catholic schools? We have long argued in research that a one size for all is not the answer for education. There is now an urgency to reopen this conversation, to read the research, to listen to the voices of the people on the ground across the country, and on the receiving end of such policy. Wisdom will only be found through discernment. But to discern fully, the truths must first be told.
The final colleague I spoke with was Jim Foley. He retired in 2014 after 21 years as headteacher of a large Catholic comprehensive in Birmingham and has subsequently become Chair of Holy Spirit MAC in North Warwickshire. Here Jim offers his positive appraisal of academies and their potential for Catholic education in England and Wales. He wants our bishops to adopt a one-Church approach to academisation.
In 1997, shortly before the General Election the Bishops’ Conference issued ‘The Common Good in Education’. It was a powerful statement from the Church speaking with a single authoritative voice and outlined the key principles of subsidiarity and solidarity. It resonated widely not only with the Catholic faithful but the general public as well. It was a moment of pride for those of us in Catholic education.
For the past ten years we have experienced very different emotions as the Church has struggled to respond to the challenge of academisation. We have nineteen different approaches and in some dioceses the issue has caused huge division and bitterness. Now after a decade of confusion I, and many others, hope for a ‘One Church’ approach from the Bishops’ Conference so we can once again speak to the government with authority, clarity and moral purpose.
Academisation is not a panacea for anything. There are excellent Catholic MATs and there are very poor ones. At their best they enable a vision of Catholic
education from the nursery to the sixth form that is authentic, inspiring and life giving. At their worst they mirror the excesses of their secular counterparts with a culture of greed, bullying and self-interest. Catholic academies and MATs are no different from voluntary aided schools in their range of quality and success. It is not the organisational structure that is crucial but the way they are led and managed.
Just as we need the Bishops’ Conference to speak with one voice and to produce a ‘One Church’ approach to academisation we also need them to initiate an urgent process of synodality with the faithful. Twenty five years on we need an updated version of ‘The Common Good in Education’ which is a genuine reflection of the experience of many thousands of teachers, staff, governors, parents and young people who ‘work in the vineyard’ every day. We need to find out the reality of our schools, academies and MATs, to discover best practice and to share it with all.
The ‘One Church’ approach to academisation is nothing more than an administrative mechanism but it is an important first step. Once the Bishops’ Conference request that every Catholic school joins a Catholic MAT the real work begins. A new national senior leadership team for Catholic education is long overdue as I argue in my paper ‘Catholic Education – A System in Need of Reform’ on https:// www.emmausleadership.me/blog.aspx
The past decade has been brutal for Catholic education but there are good reasons to believe the next one can be much better. It is time for us to speak up once again so the government and society hears the Gospel message that is so desperately needed in these challenging times. We have the mission and we have the people. It is an opportunity we must not miss.
Making sense of these different perspectives on Catholic academies.
These seven voices neatly illustrate that there is a rich diversity of opinion when it comes to academisation of Catholic schools. Responding to these differing perspectives is a genuine challenge for our bishops. However, it is vital that they do not duck the urgency of the situation at hand. The question of Catholic academies is an urgent one. There is now a significant need for a
unified national approach for England’s Catholic education system.
It is hard to argue against the analysis that our bishops failed to respond to the academies challenge in a united way, with every diocese from 2011 being able to decide for itself how to respond to the academy challenge. Splintering has occurred with each diocese, and now the Catholic education system is no more coherent than its state counterpart across the country. There is an interesting overlap with the analysis offered by Margaret Buck’s doctoral research (recently published in 2019) which points out the unity of purpose promoted by Cardinal Griffin in relation to the 1944 Education Act and all Catholic schools becoming voluntary aided. In 2021 there is no unity of purpose in relation to Catholic education.
In 2021 we must deal with the reality of where we are now and not where we might have been back in 2010. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that in 2021our Church leaders have lost their voice. They are now unable to speak coherently to the Government on key educational issues. This is a far cry from the clarity and unity of 1997 and bishops’ statement on The Common Good in Education. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the CES has not announced a national policy on academies because there is not one. What we need now is a vision for Catholic education, capable of uniting every Catholic school and MAT.
There is a danger that under the current structures, Catholic education is fading away as a national voice in matters of education. The danger is that this voice will disappear unless we can find one voice that makes teachers in Catholic schools feel they could identify with a bigger mission.
Clearly, when our second national conference on academies is convened in 2022 there will be many pressing matters that need to be debated and discussed. We can only hope that our bishops will pay careful attention to all the differing voices who have a stake in Catholic education in England.
New Thinking, New Scholarship and New Research in Catholic Education Responses to the ork of Professor Gerald Grace
Edited by Sean Whittle, St Mary’s University, UK
Series: Routledge Research in Education
This book gives a forum to many established and leading scholars to review, critically appraise and develop the research contribution of Gerald Grace’s work in the period 1996-2021 for a deeper understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of Catholic education. Presenting a range of perspectives from the UK and various global contexts, it demonstrates the ways in which the field of Catholic Education Studies has become an established academic, research and professional field across the world today. This book will be of value, because of its interdisciplinary range, to teachers, scholars and researchers in Education, Theology and Religious Studies, Philosophy, Sociology and to members of Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities, and perhaps, to Humanist and Secular critics of all forms of Faith-based education, who may wish to dialogue in the future
Reviews
“This is a powerful and important book, a testimony to how significant Gerald Grace’s research and scholarship on Catholic Education is in the modern world. He has almost single handedly established a new academic and professional field. The later chapters explore his very significant influence globally. These different contributions illuminate the continuing importance of the moral and spiritual dimensions of education. As such, the book has vitally important messages for all of us with an interest in education, whatever faith we profess”. – ohn Furlong, OBE. Emeritus Professor of Education and former Director of the Department of Education, University of Oxford
“This fine collection of essays highlights Professor Grace’s role as a beacon for expanding the horizons of research and scholarship in the field of Catholic Education. He has pioneered the emergent field of international Catholic Education Studies, marked by a sense of shared purpose and solidarity. Part 2 of this collection manifests Prof Grace’s noteworthy success in fostering an international community of researchers”. – Professor Paolo aro a, Director, Kellogg Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
“Professor Gerald Grace has inspired many people, Catholics, those of Other Faiths, Religious, scholars, researchers and students. I write as his former student. He wants the Catholic Church internationally to enhance its own mission integrity by being true to its global mission that ‘First and Foremost, the Church offers its educational services to the Poor’ (1977)” ister Dr gonna Igbo, DDL, Ph.D Regina Pacis College, Abuja, Nigeria
“Over an academic lifetime, Gerald Grace has convincingly demonstrated how critical scholarship can illuminate and revitalise Catholic Education Studies. He has validated a respected place in the Academy. The chapters bring to life a remarkable journey enriched with strong theorising, intellectual creativity, but above all, a passionate commitment to social justice and the common good” Professor Diane eay, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge
This book is available in Open Access to assist students, teachers and researchers in every country to have access to it. The Open Access version is available for download as an eBook PDF at www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oamono/10.4324/9781003171553
The book is available in hardback at a discounted rate of £96 (quoting code FLY21 until 31/12/2021). It is also available in paperback at the book launch on 19th November at £20.
For more information visit: www.routledge.com/9780367725280
CSAN Update No. 1
By Raymond Friel, CEO of CSAN
As Willie Slavin kindly pointed out in the last issue of Networking, I have moved on to a new role after just over thirty years in Catholic education. In April 2021, I took up my new role of CEO of Caritas Social Action Network. CSAN is the agency of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales which addresses domestic poverty and injustice. Our sister agency, CAFOD, deals with international development. CSAN has over fifty member charities, ranging from national charities to smaller local charities, and a growing network of diocesan Caritas agencies, all linked together by a common desire to tackle the causes of poverty, promote justice and restore dignity.
In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI issued an apostolic letter, “In the Service of Charity” in which he asked each bishop, “to establish in the Church entrusted to his care an Office to direct and coordinate the service of charity in his name.” This Office in the Church is Caritas Internationalis (https://www.caritas. org/), a global network of Catholic Caritas agencies, of which CSAN is a member. Pope Benedict described Caritas as “an institution promoted by the ecclesiastical Hierarchy which has rightly earned the esteem and trust of the faithful.” The role of Caritas in a diocese is to coordinate and animate the work of charity, identifying need and the priorities for advocacy, ensuring that the existing charities are in dialogue and the ongoing formation of their members – formation of the heart - is catered for.
The Holy Father went further in his desire to see Caritas embedded in every Catholic community by saying that “The Bishop is to encourage in every parish of his territory the creation of a local Caritas service or a similar body, which will also promote in the whole community educational activities aimed at fostering a spirit of sharing and authentic charity.” In many of our dioceses, the parish Caritas is supported by a Caritas in the local Catholic school. This serves the same function as the parish Caritas. Led by students, it coordinates the charitable activity and advocacy for justice in the
school community. It is not meant to replace the charitable groups already in the school, but to bring them together.
An excellent example of Caritas in schools is the Caritas Ambassadors programme in Salford Diocese, developed in collaboration with Sr Judith Russi and EducareM. In this approach the pupils are commissioned by the Bishop as Caritas Ambassadors and ‘sent out’ to promote and develop social action projects within their schools, parishes, and local communities, while helping to raise awareness of the work of Caritas in the diocese by demonstrating ‘faith in action’. You’ll find more information about the programme on the Caritas Salford website: https://www.caritassalford.org. uk/service-view/caritas-ambassadors/ There’s a similar programme in Westminster Diocese, with more details on their website: https://www. caritaswestminster.org.uk/schools.php
As we move towards nineteen dioceses in England and Wales having a Caritas agency, it would be in keeping with the vision of Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 that we worked towards Caritas Ambassadors in every Catholic school in England and Wales. Please contact your diocesan Caritas agency to find out where they are in their planning for Caritas groups in parishes and schools. In future editions of this column, I’d like to highlight some of the inspirational social action work going on in our schools as our pupils respond to the call to build a better world, a kingdom of justice, love and peace. Please contact me at the email address below and tell
by Raymond Friel CEO of Caritas Social Action
me about the social justice work going on in your school.
There are two other events I’d like to bring to your attention. The first is Walk with Amal. Little Amal is a 3.5m tall puppet made by War Horse creators Handspring Puppet Company. Amal was originally a character in Good Chance Theatre’s award-winning play The Jungle, about the refugees in Calais. She represented the hundreds of unaccompanied minors separated from their families. Little Amal will begin an epic walk from the Syria-Turkey border in August and will finish her journey in Manchester on 3 November 2021.
Everywhere she goes there will be events to throw light on the many young refugees who are looking for a welcome across the world. You can follow her route on the website: https://www. walkwithamal.org/the-journey/. The educational resources will be of particular interest to schools, encouraging us to engage with key concepts such as ‘home’. ‘community’, and ‘welcome’. As Pope Francis said in Fratelli Tutti, “Our response to the arrival of migrating persons can be summarised by four words: welcome, protect, promote and integrate” (FT, 129). I’d encourage all schools to look at the resources and consider incorporating the story of Amal into the curriculum this autumn: https:// www.walkwithamal.org/education/
The other event to bring to your notice is the fifth World Day of the Poor on Sunday 14 November. This World Day was initiated by Pope Francis in 2017 with the theme of “let us love, not with words but with deeds.” The Christian is called to follow the example of Jesus in loving God and neighbour, especially the most vulnerable. Pope Francis reminds us, “If we truly wish to encounter Christ, we have to touch his body in the suffering bodies of the poor.” Developing a culture of encounter is a key theme for Pope Francis and an essential counter witness to what
Caritas Ambassadors in Salford Diocese with Sr Judith Russi, 2017.
Network (CSAN)
he describes as a culture of waste and indifference, a culture that casts aside human beings who are not considered to be productive or useful.
Each year since 2017, Pope Francis has published a letter on the forthcoming World Day of the Poor. You can find this year’s letter on the Vatican website: https://www.vatican.va/content/ francesco/en/messages/poveri/ documents/20210613-messaggio-vgiornatamondiale-poveri-2021.html.
The theme for this year’s World Day of the Poor is “for the poor you have always with you” from the words of Jesus at the Anointing in Bethany just before his Passion, an incident described in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and John. Jesus is not saying that we should not work to alleviate poverty. In Mark’s account Jesus says that we can show kindness to the poor whenever we wish. In John’s account, the main objection to the use of costly perfume to anoint Jesus comes from Judas, but John makes clear that Judas had no love for the poor, but was a thief. He stole from the common purse. His words said one thing, his actions another. The Christian tradition is realistic about human beings. We are good, but flawed, wounded by sin. We do not believe in utopia in this life. There will always be poverty and injustice of some kind, but we are called to reduce its impact wherever we can.
The Pope goes on to say that the encounter with the poor is more than just charity, or acts of benevolence, important as they are. Our encounter with the poor should be a genuine sharing, an establishment of community, a desire to get to know those who may have been invisible to us. Pope Francis, in his other writings, pushes us further. It is not enough to work for the relief of poverty. In Fratelli Tutti, we are called upon to challenge the structural causes of poverty. In our society there is widespread injustice, many people who do not have what is their due, what they need to live a dignified and fulfilled life, and many people who have far more than they need. This is not a natural state of affairs, but the result of policy, which means it can be changed.
Poverty comes in many guises. In England and Wales, we do not always see the desperate material poverty which is evident in other countries, but it is there. In 2019, according to a report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/uk-
poverty-2020-21) 2.4 million people in UK, including 0.5 million children, experienced destitution at some point in the year, in other words they did not having enough to live on. The same report says that before the Coronavirus pandemic, 14.5 million people in the UK were caught up in poverty, equating to 1 in 5 people.
In our society, we also have people who experience the poverty of isolation and loneliness, homelessness, modern day slavery, trafficking, relational poverty, the experience of being abused or the victim of violence. These circumstances are often drivers of material poverty, or the result of material poverty. The Gospel calls us to a conversion of heart and this conversion, as Pope Francis says in this year’s message for the World Day of the Poor, “consists primarily in opening our hearts to recognizing the many different forms of poverty and manifesting the Kingdom of God through a lifestyle consistent with the faith we profess.”
In my own experience as a Catholic headteacher, the ‘world days’ for various causes which fell on a Sunday were often overlooked in school. That’s why the resources we have developed at CSAN this year includes a Novena, a traditional form of Catholic devotional prayer which lasts for nine days, usually leading up to a major feast or solemnity. The Novena could be used in school, beginning on Friday 5 November, as a way of encouraging pupils and staff into a deeper engagement with the reality of poverty, with the help of scripture readings and reflections. Each of the nine days highlights a different way in which people experience poverty.
There is also a See-Judge-Act exercise, which a class or chaplaincy group might undertake to discern how the school might be more involved in social justice in the community. Do we know our community, who do we ‘see’ there, who do we not see, what is the Holy Spirit prompting us to do? The World Day of the Poor is not about fundraising but about prayer, discernment, and above all encounter and concrete expressions of charity. You’ll find all our resources for the World Day of the Poor on our website at https://www.csan.org.uk/ worlddayofthepoor/. On the website, you will also find out more details of the fifty charities which are members of CSAN, engaged in different ways in tackling the causes of poverty, promoting justice and restoring dignity.
Our society has been shaken by a global pandemic. The poverty which already existed in our communities, often hidden in plain sight, has been exposed and the hardest hit are those who were in poverty before the pandemic. When the first lockdown started in March 2020, I was still in education and saw for myself the remarkable work in our schools to reach out to our children and families, at times literally delivering food parcels to the front door. We know from our experience that poverty is on the increase, not just food poverty, but working poverty, and the relational poverty which is the result of domestic violence and mental illhealth. A good education is one of the most powerful ways to counteract the effects of poverty and give young people the hope of a fulfilled life.
Our schools are on the front line of society’s massive effort to ‘build back better’. In our Catholic schools, inspired by the Gospel of love and the vision of a kingdom of justice and human flourishing, we are committed to building back more equally and, with COP26 also very much on our minds, more sustainably. I hope that all our schools will make the World Day of the Poor this year a priority in our ongoing work of inspiring our young people to be agents of change for a better world. From its entry onto the world stage in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, the Christian community was known for its service to the poor. This sign is needed now more than ever. The world is looking for hope.
Raymond Friel CSAN email: Raymond.friel@csan.org.uk
Raymond Friel personal Twitter: @friel_raymond
How our Catholic Schools are Transforming Their Communities with Caritas In Action:
caritas (noun): love for humankind; charity
As we know, the pandemic has shone a spot light on all the injustices and imbalances in our own local communities as well as nationally and globally. Our schools have been well placed to identify exactly what and where the issues are and demonstrate caritas in action in response. We have witnessed many inspiring examples of schools reaching out in solidarity to their communities by making masks and scrubs for the NHS for instance during the early days of the pandemic or writing cards and messages for residents in their local care homes to combat isolation and loneliness.
We have also seen TV coverage of Head Teachers delivering food parcels to their own pupils’ families and local businesses rallying to support schools in providing the necessary technology for those students who are digitally poor and not able to access the necessary technology at home for remote learning. Turning “normal life” further on its head, there have also been instances where local charities and foodbanks have been sending food parcels for distribution to struggling families, into the very schools which have previously supported them with donations and collections as part of their school’s charitable mission.
So, whilst the usual roles and boundaries of who is giving and receiving, who is poor and who is wealthy may have become somewhat blurred, what is clear is that the time is right here, right now, for our schools to put caritas in action, as living exemplars in their own local communities of the Social Teaching of the Church, not as an optional extra but as something central to our Faith, as people made in the image and likeness of God.
Pre-pandemic, it is probably fair to say that much of the attention on charitable
projects in our schools was focused on what was happening oversees, where the need is indeed still considerable of course. Whilst not neglecting global issues of poverty and injustice, the pandemic has arguably led us to a clearer understanding of social justice priorities locally and nationally and our own connectedness to the issues in the wider world. As Pope Francis says, “We need a movement of people who know we need each other, who have a sense of responsibility to others and to the world. We need to proclaim that being kind, having faith, and working for the common good are great life goals…” Let Us Dream.
Catholic Social Teaching (CST), is rooted in the Gospels and teachings of Jesus Christ and is also transmitted to us through Papal statements and encyclicals and through statements and pastoral letters from our Catholic Bishops. Often referred to as “the Catholic Church’s best kept secret”, CST calls us all to work for the common good, shows us how to build a just society, uphold the dignity of human life, care for the planet and work for justice and dignity for all our brothers and sisters, especially those in greatest need.
It is important to note that the current draft form of the National Framework for the Inspection of Catholic Schools, Academies and Colleges, places Catholic Life and Mission as the first of three judgement areas, focussing on “the extent to which pupils contribute to and benefit from the Catholic life and mission of the school.” (Draft National Framework for the Inspection of Catholic Schools, Academies and Colleges. Page 2 October 2020.). Criteria, amongst other key factors, covers how well pupils respond to Catholic Social Teaching and evidence sources include such
areas as pupil involvement in charitable campaigns, advocacy and acts of solidarity with the poor.
Addressing the Challenges
The ongoing challenges for our schools is finding ways for all staff to share the responsibility of embedding the key themes and messages of CST, in an engaging way across all key stages and across the whole of the curriculum. It is no easy task for our schools to develop communities of confident young social justice activists who understand why they are doing what they do and are able to process their actions as not just acts of kindness but most importantly, as acts of faith. This challenge is ramped up considerably for staff whose personal knowledge and experience of CST may have gaps.
Recognising the challenges and the need to provide schools with an effective resource, Sister Judith Russi SSMN, a Director of EducareM, (who has worked for many years in all fields of Catholic education; teaching, leadership, advisory, inspection as well as professional development for teachers and governors), produced and pioneered a new education and formation resource for schools in the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church. Caritas In Action was originally launched through Caritas Diocese of Salford for schools within the Diocese. Now in its second edition and including new sections on the Environment and Modern Day Slavery, it has proven to be such a unique and effective resource that we are delighted that it has now become available nationally for all schools to order through Redemptorist Publications.
by Kathryn Ansley Caritas Diocese of Salford lead in Catholic Social Teaching
Maximum Flexibility
Caritas In Action groups Catholic Social Teaching into 7 key themes across each key stage:
• The Dignity of the Human Person
• Family and Community
• Solidarity and the Common Good
• Rights and Responsibilities
• Option for the poor and vulnerable
• The Dignity of Work
• Stewardship
and provides teaching and learning activities and ideas for each. Designed for maximum flexibility in choice and variety of activities, the staff member has the freedom to select and adapt the appropriate material from any key stage for the level of their particular class or group. The content for each theme has been designed as a building block allowing progress from EYFS right through to KS5. This aids planning as you can see what younger pupils may have covered and what it is leading to next – this is particularly helpful at transition stages. The material can be selected and adapted as required to relate to any curriculum subject including spiritual, moral, social and cultural education, Citizenship and PSHE. Higher learning activity ideas for each key stage also allow for extended learning and equally, if you feel that pupils may not have an awareness and understanding of CST in any depth, you can access the materials from a lower key stage.
Building Staff Knowledge and Confidence
Caritas In Action has also been designed to include support for staff in all subject departments who may not yet be secure in their own knowledge of CST and so may perhaps lack confidence in engaging pupils as a result. The introduction to every theme contains background notes which include short extracts from scripture and relevant papal or Church documents whose principles underpin the theme. Some of the activity ideas refer back to the extracts directly, for others they are the foundation. Accompanying website listings are a further aid to staff knowledge and understanding. Staff who are more familiar with the subject matter are of course at liberty to supplement
with their own choice of relevant scripture and Church documents as a foundation for learning.
In summary, Caritas In Action, is an invaluable, accessible and flexible resource which will assist all schools, from primary through to high school and 6th Form, in honouring their privilege and meeting their responsibility to help form future generations equipped to address the many challenges of human life and decision making, both personally and as a community, with a mind and conscience rooted in and formed by the treasure that is Catholic Social Teaching. As Pope Francis tells us, “Education and upbringing, concern for others, a well-integrated view of life and spiritual growth; all these are essential for quality human relationships and for enabling society itself to react against injustices, aberrations and abuses of economic, technological, political and media power.”
Fratelli Tutti #187
Kathryn Ansley. Trainer ~ Catholic Social Teaching, Caritas Diocese of Salford.
Here’s what others are saying about Caritas In Action:
“With skilled guidance and a lively narrative…Caritas In Action offers pupils of all ages a fresh and thoughtful examination of contemporary social issues and is a wonderful resource for educators who want to understand the Church’s teachings on many of the critical issues of our time.” Archbishop Malcolm McMahon, Archbishop of Liverpool.
“Here is an excellent practical resource for the formation of young people.
Through the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, the core values of compassion, dignity, solidarity with the poor and the care for creation, can find expression and give shape to the missionary discipleship to which each one of us is called. Caritas In Action will help young people come to understand that social action, the striving for justice and the care for the environment are all interconnected in our care for one another and for our world – our common home.”
Bishop John Arnold, Bishop of Salford.
“Caritas In Action has helped our staff and pupils to become secure in our knowledge of the themes of CST. Our pupils know what it means to put their faith into action and how to support
people in our local area as well as beyond. We link the material to what the children are interested in and they are developing empathy.”
“It is a wonderful resource and has been a very useful tool for cross-curricular, whole school planning.”
“Caritas In Action underpins our whole school curriculum. We have found it to be invaluable.” School staff who are using the Caritas In Action resource.
How to use Caritas In Action 5 Top Tips
(kindly provided by a teacher in the Diocese of Salford and Caritas In Action enthusiast)
1. Use as a basis for whole school CST planning. Try out some of the activities as staff first.
2. Start simply by focusing on which CST theme/s link most easily to your subject and the curriculum.
3. Encourage pupils to take ownership – what are the issues in their local area? What do they care about?
4. Check that pupils can express after each activity how it links to the relevant CST theme and to living their faith.
5. Adapt the activities and ideas to suit the needs of your pupils and supplement with your own materials.
To order Caritas In Action, please go to https://www.rpbooks.co.uk/ search?search=caritas+in+action
Need help on how to get started using Caritas In Action? Please contact Kathryn Ansley: k.ansley@ caritassalford.org.uk
Already using Caritas In Action and interested in sharing best practice with others? Please contact Natalie Claveria: natalie@rpbooks.co.uk
Why might Forming Catholic Teachers and Leaders be Difficult To Achieve?
Introduction
For many advocates of Catholic education there has been a deeply held conviction that the success of our Catholic schools might depend on having enough Catholic teachers who will go on to lead these schools. To support this there have been repeated calls for formation initiatives, which ought to prioritise retreats and periods of reflection and contemplation. The hope is that by attending to the spiritual matters Catholic teachers can engage with some formation, and this will be the most apt way of preparing for leadership. This, rather than CPD or good old experience, is what the future leaders of Catholic schools really need. However, despite the increase in the number of retreat opportunities for serving headteachers and the custom of including mass alongside regular CPD at diocesan events, there is a nagging sense that there is insufficient formation. Instead of calling for more formation opportunities, the focus in this reflection is to trigger a debate about why forming Catholic teachers and leaders is so difficult to achieve. This debate is going to begin at the basic level, by drawing attention to the conceptual issues at play. It will be proposed that the focus on ‘formation’ might in fact be a blind alley, that diverts us from other more pressing matters and needs facing Catholic education.
Making sense of some of the words we frequently use
We really need to recognise the ambiguity around what counts as a ‘Catholic teacher’ and the theologically rich metaphor of ‘formation’ in relation to Catholic teachers. It is commonly assumed that Catholic schools are or ought to be staffed by Catholic teachers. This assumption rests on the idea that alongside pedagogic expertise, the Catholic teacher will be able to draw
on their faith in a range of ways for the benefit of students. One of these might be in providing living role-models of loving service, and demonstrating or witnessing to what it means to put faith into action. As well as informing and underpinning their teaching skills and practice, the hope would be that Catholic teachers might see themselves as having something like a God-given vocation. However, what counts as being ‘Catholic’ is also ambiguous. Someone who has been baptised and confirmed as a Roman Catholic Christian has completed their full initiation into the Church and they are considered to be de facto ‘Catholic’. However, not all baptised (and confirmed) Catholics will practise their faith on anything like a regular basis (in terms of attending weekly Sunday Eucharist). People in this situation are often described as ‘lapsed’ Catholics. For some there has been a clear decision to reject the formal practice of the Catholic faith, perhaps because of no longer believing in God’s existence or due to a rejection of other aspects of belief. For others the issue might be to do with the practical discipline of regular practice set against the mundane practicalities of life, yet they remain keenly aware of having a Catholic identity. Thanks to the insights of the theologian Karl Rahner (1976), there is a further layer of complexity, with the conviction that there are some who could be considered to be ‘anonymous Catholic Christians’. These would be people who have not been baptised but yet live in such a way that their values and openness to the will of God align with what it is to be a Catholic. This is something (in Rahnerian terms) that the individual concerned is probably totally unaware of, and this is the sense in which they can be described as anonymous members of the Church. All these levels of complexity mean that in referring to a ‘Catholic teacher’ there is a genuine danger of ambiguity and conflation - is it a reference to a baptised
practising member of the Church, or to a lapsed Catholic, or even to someone who is not baptised (and perhaps belongs to another religion) but yet is an anonymous Catholic Christian? Of course when these varieties of being ‘Catholic’ are coupled with the idea of being a teacher it can be challenging to work out what the implied relationship is between the two. For the practising Catholic, their job as a school teacher in a Catholic school would in all likelihood be wrapped up with their faith. As such the decision to enter the teaching profession might then be described in terms of being their vocation (see Lydon 2011 and Jamison 2013). It is of course possible that a practising Catholic teacher does not see their teaching job, even in a Catholic school, in terms of being a religious vocation. However, when it comes to both the lapsed and any anonymous Catholics, the senses in which their religious vocation is to be a teacher is not at all obvious or clear. It might well be that a lapsed Catholic teacher has been able to use the fact that they were baptised as an infant as a helpful way of being called for interview and makingthem a more appealing candidate. The interview panel might assume that all Catholic appointees will be supportive of the school’s mission and ethos. In fact a normal part of the interview process in Catholic schools is to ask the applicant if they are willing to support the ethos and values of the school. For the sake of expediency, such as the need for a job, a lapsed Catholic might seek out a teaching post in a Catholic school, despite having serious misgivings about Catholic Christianity. Moreover, in England and Wales employment legislation means that there are very few ‘protected posts’ in Catholic schools, which are reserved exclusively for practising Catholics. Other than when appointing headteachers or deputy headteachers, the appointment of teachers to Catholic schools will not use explicit religious criteria.
by Dr Sean Whittle Research Associate at the CRDCE with Professor Gerald Grace
Not only is there ambiguity over what counts as a ‘Catholic teacher’ but there is a complexity built into the theologically rich metaphor of ‘formation’. The modern concept of formation has some of its etymological roots in the Latin phrase ‘formatio’ which is to do with shaping and the creation into patterns. There can be naturally occurring patterns, such as the formation of rock types or cloud types, and there can be the fabrication or making of a shape or pattern, which can range from physical objects to ideas. For those who join Religious Congregations or seek ordination it has become commonplace to refer to their period of preparation or training as a time of formation, where the individual is nurtured and guided to a point where they are be able to commit to the Rule of the Congregation or to make the vows of ordination. Here the metaphorical force of ‘formation’ is used in relationship to the individual being called by God to the ordained ministry or to religious life within the Church. Through prayer, study and engagement with others, the person’s character is shaped and prepared to take on this new role and way of being in the Church. This is distinct from mere training or skill development because it is a more holistic concept, linked with shaping the person’s character. Another aspect of the etymology of the word ‘formation’ is its links to Plato’s Theory of the Forms, in which he played on the everyday idea of a ‘form’ to develop his distinctive epistemology and account of reality. Typically the Greek concept of idea or eidos is translated into Latin as ‘Form’. For Plato the Forms are the abstract, perfect, unchanging ideals and concepts (such as Truth, or Beauty or Justice). Plato insists that reality lies with these ideal Forms, rather than the changing physical world we perceive with our senses. In using eidos or ideal Plato was alluding to the blue-print or perfect model which the master craft person would make first. The craft person or their apprentices would use this model as their pattern to make the subsequent copies. A skilled crafter would make an exact or almost perfect copy. Whilst formation is typically classified as a noun, it is also verb-like in being a process in which something or someone undergoes a process of being shaped into a highly specific and recognisable pattern or way of being.
In the light of the complexity built into the concept of formation, it becomes
clearer that exploring what is involved in the formation of Catholic teachers is a multi-levelled challenge. It will involve describing what the formation of the different types of Catholic teacher might involve. At one level, when focusing on practising Catholic teachers, the formation can take a very explicit shape, informed by the theologies of vocation and baptism. At another level, when considering lapsed, or even anonymous, Catholic teachers, the sense in which explicit formation might be involved becomes more nebulous, vague and perhaps very problematic.
Is there something unhelpful with using the notion of ‘formation’?
Perhaps there is actually a danger with using the language of ‘formation’ in relation to Catholic teachers and school leaders, in that it could potentially lead us down some blind alleys or unhelpful distractions. Much of this is because of the difficulties of untangling the language of formation from its associations with vocations to Religious Congregations or to ordained ministry. Thus if teaching in, or leading a Catholic school is depicted in terms of the theology of vocation it becomes an appealing move to speculate about the need for the formation of these teachers or school leaders. It is important to realise that it is understood as ‘formation’ rather than ‘Continuing Professional Development’ or additional training in management or leadership skills. This is because the preparation for ordained ministry is routinely described as a process of formation. Typically up to five years are spent in seminaries by those seeking ordination. They are not simply following courses in wide-ranging aspects of theology but are said to be in a process of formation in which spiritual development and character training are central. Similarly, those who join a Religious Congregation spend an extended period of years as a postulate or in temporary vows before finally committing to the rule of the order, society or congregation. This is described as a period of discernment and formation. Against this custom of practice, it can appear as an intuitive step to ask about how those with the vocation of teaching in, and / or leading a Catholic school are to be adequately formed and thus guided and aided in the pursuit of their (God-given) vocation. However, perhaps this ought
to be seen as a questionable step, based on a distorted understanding of vocation. The gloss or glide from the interconnections between priestly vocation and their need for formation with preparing someone for leadership in a Catholic school might be flawed in a number of respects. First, drawing any serious comparison between the two is a gross oversimplification. Second, given the negative aspects inherent within the theology of vocation (to wrongly over emphasise the importance of Religious Life or ordination rather than the universal call to holiness) there is a real need to be cautious about going on to apply the theological metaphor of formation to teaching or leadership preparation in Catholic schools. Moreover, there are actually inherent dangers associated when it comes to the formation of those who seek ordination. Questions about the appropriateness of formation programmes can be coupled with the very significant declines in the numbers of those exercising ordained ministry throughout the Catholic Church over the past six decades. It is possible to speculate about the inadequacy of the seminary model and more general attempts at formation for ordained ministry. The current approach to priestly formation has not in any way mitigated the steep decline. If there is something flawed or questionable about the current formation process of those seeking ordained ministry, then there might well be little value in framing research around formation programmes for teachers and leaders in Catholic schools. This might ultimately be a blind alley for how we approach teachers who work in Catholic schools and for those who go on to lead Catholic schools.
Jamison, C. (2013a). ‘God has created me to do him some definite service’ (Cardinal Newman): Vocation at the heart of the Catholic curriculum. International Studies in Catholic Education, 5(1), 10–22.
Lydon, J. (2011). The contemporary Catholic teacher: A reappraisal of the concept of teaching as a vocation in the Catholic Christian context. Lambert Academic Publishing.
Rahner, K. (1976). Foundations of Christian Faith: An introduction to the idea of Christianity (Translated by Dych, W.). New York: Crossroads Publishing.
The Case for scrapping the 50% admissions cap
It’s been more than a decade since the then Coalition Government brought in the 50% admissions cap for new free schools of a religious character. This policy alone has resulted in no Catholic free schools or new academies being opened in over ten years.
Put simply the policy caps the number of pupils a free school can admit on the grounds of religion to 50%. This arbitrary rule has effectively barred the Church from opening new schools because it would inevitably result in the bishops having to deny Catholics access to a Catholic school – something they were not prepared to do.
What was the purpose of the cap?
Back in 2010, the belief was that in order to prevent monocultural faith free schools and promote diversity and multiculturalism, a policy was needed to limit a school’s power to admit pupils on the grounds of faith.
The reasoning was that if a school could only admit 50% of its pupils based on faith then other pupils would be drawn from neighbouring communities – in essence engineering a diverse pupil population.
The reality of course has been different. Faith free schools (with the exception of Church of England free schools) are more likely to be mono-ethnic and have nearly all pupils coming from the same faith of the school.
Why has it not worked?
Fundamentally this comes down to an ongoing misunderstanding of what faith admissions policies actually are. They are not, as some in the media and secular campaign groups like to
characterise them, rules for saying who is and isn’t allowed in a particular denominational school. They are, in fact, oversubscription criteria for when a school is faced with more applications than is has places.
Oversubscription admissions criteria have little or no impact however, on the demographics of parents applying for their children to go to a certain school. For example, if one hundred Muslims applied for one hundred places at an Islamic free school, all would get in because the school has enough places for all those who have applied and therefore the cap is not triggered. However, even if two hundred Muslim families applied for those one hundred places and the 50% cap came into force, it does not alter the fact that only one demographic is applying to that school.
To be clear, the cap doesn’t mean that a faith free school will only ever be 50% of one faith, it just limits the faith admission criteria. The other 50% can prioritise anything from siblings to distance from the school, criteria which in themselves can lead to a lack of ethnic diversity.
If it doesn’t work, why would it impact Catholic schools?
Ironically, a policy designed to foster ethnic diversity and religious pluralism would harm Catholic schools precisely because they are diverse and popular with parents of all faiths and none. Catholic schools are the most ethnically diverse in the country and educate well over a quarter of a million pupils not of the Catholic faith.
Given the diversity of applicants and the strong reputation Catholic schools have for high standards and excellent results, the cap would inevitably result in some
by James Spencer, Partnerships and Communications Manager, Catholic Bishops’
Catholics missing out on a place in a Catholic school, a place that they should unquestionably be entitled to.
What’s more, given the demand for Catholic school places in urban areas, an admissions cap would impact on our proud track record of being consistently the most ethnically and socioeconomically diverse schools in the country. This is because the catchment area for Catholic schools is ten times larger than other schools, significantly widening the net of opportunity for those living in urban areas. An admissions cap would (most likely) prioritise those living closest to the school for half of the places. If, for example, a Catholic school was located in a wealthy area, this would deny poorer pupils from further away access to the school.
Catholic schools are one of our nations greatest assets and there is a reason they remain extremely popular with all parents; they provide an extremely high level of education underpinned by a strong moral formation grounded in the teachings and wisdom of the Catholic Church. Whilst the justification of the cap is as weak now as it was ten years ago, the case for removing it is stronger now than it ever was.
As we build back from the legacy of the pandemic, the Church should be allowed to open as many schools as necessary to cater for Catholic demand and provide as many young people as possible with the benefits of a Catholic education. To do this the 50% admissions cap needs to go.
Conference of England and Wales
The Bishop of Nottingham blessed the new nursery at St Edward’s Catholic Voluntary Academy ahead of its opening in September.
Bishop Patrick McKinney led a short, socially distanced church service before blessing the new nursery and parish centre in Swadlincote.
He was joined by Father Neil Peoples, parish priest at St Peter and St Paul’s in Swadlincote, staff and pupils from St Edward’s and representatives from the St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust.
Jayne McQuillan, Headteacher at St Edward’s, told those gathered for the service: “This is a truly wonderful day as we see the culmination of parish and school working together to achieve a bespoke parish centre and the wonderful addition of a nursery for St Edward’s.
Thank you to everyone who has made this possible. To Bishop Patrick and the
Nottingham Diocese, to the Trust Board, our CEO and all the executive team who have supported us every step of the way, thank you. A huge thank you to Fr Neil and the Parish for finding the funds to develop the car park, without which the inside refurbishment could not have taken place.
“Most of you know that I have a very long association with St Edward’s having been one of the first pupils through the door back in 1972. The addition of the nursery fulfils a long-held dream to expand our Catholic provision at St Edward’s to younger children.
“I’m pleased to say that together we have continued this good work allowing us to protect and sustain the gift of Catholic Education in this small corner of Swadlincote for many more years to come.”
Sean McClafferty, Chief Executive of the St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust, said: “This is a truly momentous day for St Edward’s and the St Ralph Sherwin Trust.
As a Trust, our ambition is to have a nursery for each of our 20 primary schools, to ensure the best possible start for all our children. This nursery is a wonderful example of how a Trust and parish can work in partnership to achieve something very special.”
The new nursery will open in September and will cater for 3 and 4 year olds.
News from CATSC
Wonderful Celebration for the Graduates of the MA in Catholic School Leadership Programme
Many congratulations to the record number of students who graduated with their MA in Catholic School Leadership recently! It was a splendid day with scorching hot temperatures. Students came from as far as Ireland and Scotland for the ceremony, where the MA programme also has centres.
If you are from Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, England, Wales or Scotland and are interested in completing the Masters in Catholic School Leadership Programme, please contact the Programme Director, Prof. John Lydon: john.lydon@stmarys.ac.uk or Senior Lecturer, Dr caroline.healy@ stmarys.ac.uk. You may be entitled to exemptions from previous postgraduate or professional qualifications and if you are an alumnus of St Mary’s University Twickenham, reduced fees are applicable.
About the Programme Director in the MA in Catholic School Leadership
Prof. John Lydon holds degrees in education and theology from the Universities of Durham, Liverpool and Surrey. His doctorate focused on teaching as a vocation for lay teachers in a contemporary context. As well as teaching at the University of Notre Dame, London Global Gateway, he is the Director of the MA in Catholic School Leadership Programme, Associate Director of the Centre for Research and Development in Catholic Education and Associate Editor of the leading International Studies in Catholic Education journal, St Mary’s University, London.
Recent MA in Catholic School Leadership Graduates, July 2021 with the Programme Team led by Prof. John Lydon and Monsignor Roderick Strange, University Chaplain and Rector of the Pontifical Mater Ecclesiae College at St Mary’s University.
Significant areas of Lydon’s scholarship and research focus on spiritual capital, Catholic school leadership, the maintenance of distinctive religious charisms and the relationship between these and competing school paradigms in the 21st century which focus on the marketisation of education and school effectiveness in the UK. He is a doctoral supervisor and mentor to post-doctoral researchers from Africa, who are enhancing their research capability in the area of Catholic education. Lydon is a sought-after speaker and regularly delivers lectures in the United States, especially at NCEA, but also Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. Most recently he gave a keynote address to the Graduate School at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, where he was appointed Visiting Professor in April 2021.
Lydon was recently appointed Multidisciplinary Expert of the CatholicInspired NGO Forum for education working in partnership with the Vatican Secretariat of State. He is a member of the Executives of the World Union of Catholic Teachers, the Catholic Association of Teachers, Schools and Colleges of England & Wales and the Catholic Union of Great Britain. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His most recent publications include:
‘Professor Gerald Grace and the concept of ‘Spiritual Capital’: reflections on its value and suggestions for its future development’. In: New Thinking, New Scholarship and New Research in Catholic Education (June 2021).
‘Salesian Accompaniment in Formal & Non-Formal Settings’ (2021) In: G. Byrne & S. Whittle (eds.) Catholic Education: A Lifelong Journey, (Dublin: Veritas).
‘Shepherding Talent: An Informal Formation Programme for Catholic School Leaders’ (2021), in Whittle, S, (ed.), Irish & British Reflections on Catholic Education, Singapore, Springer
Congratulations to Rev. Dr Auson Kamugisha Mushosi SDS who recently graduated with his doctoral degree
Rev. Dr Auson Kamugisha Mushosi, SDS, recently graduated with his doctorate from St Mary’s University London. It was the first graduation in two years due to the Covid Pandemic and took place outside in the beautiful grounds of the university and was blessed with warm and sunny weather. Most Rev. Bishop Richard Moth was present as Chair of the university governing body, together with Vice-Chancellor Anthony McClaran.
The topic of Rev. Dr Auson Kamugisha Mushosi, SDS doctoral dissertation was ‘The Extent to which the Bukoba Diocesan Education Policy Influences the Way in which Mission Integrity is Maintained in Catholic Secondary Schools in the Kagera Region of Tanzania’. He was supervised by Dr David Fincham and Prof. John Lydon. Originally from Tanzania and a member of the Salvatorian Religious Order, Dr Auson Kamugisha Mushosi, came to St Mary’s over six years ago to study for his MA in Catholic School Leadership and then continued with his doctoral studies. While he has been studying, he has been serving in pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese of Southwark as a priest in the parish of Holy Cross and St Patrick in Plumstead, South East London. We wish
him all the very best for the future as he returns to Tanzania.
The purpose of the doctoral study was to examine the extent to which education policy within the Bukoba Diocese in Tanzania influences the way in which mission integrity is promoted in Catholic secondary schools. Grace (2010: 11) defines mission integrity as ‘fidelity in practice and not just in public rhetoric to the distinctive and authentic principles of a Catholic education’. Grace (2008) states mission integrity means that an organisation and the people within it can be seen to be living and practising in accordance with the principles of Catholic education. It should be evident in an organisation’s mission statement and not simply published in a prospectus or in other publicity statements, as an exercise in marketing. Within the context of a Catholic school, the chief guardian of mission integrity is the head teacher. However, if mission integrity is to be achieved, it is important that all school staff are engaged in the formulation and implementation of mission statements, school policy and practice and, that they together with the headteacher, ensure that every policy in the school is informed by it. Catholic schools specifically must be committed to maintaining the integrity of their mission which, in essence, involves the maintenance of a balance between school effectiveness issues and Catholic distinctiveness or identity.
The literature review focused on some existing education policy of the Bukoba Diocese and then explored the five principles of Catholic education. The concept of mission integrity was
discussed particularly in relation to the sacramental perspective and collaborative ministry, and working in partnership with parents and the formation of students. Finally, some of the challenges of realising mission integrity in contemporary society were identified.
Little empirical research has been undertaken to explore the extent to which education policy in the context of Catholic secondary schools and specifically in the Bukoba Diocese has encouraged and promoted mission integrity. This is also the case in the Kagera region of Tanzania. In view of the lack of published literature, there is a clear need to extend understanding of how policy influences the way in which mission integrity is maintained in Catholic secondary education. The aim was therefore to create and interpret new knowledge through original research and extend and enhance professional and vocational practice in Catholic secondary education.
A case study using a qualitative was used to capture how Catholic secondary schools promote, in reality, the practice of the principles of Catholic education as documented in education policy. Semistructured interviews were conducted with bishops, a priest, headteachers and teachers from two Catholic secondary education schools. A period of observation of school assemblies and teaching practice was also undertaken. Document analysis of school policy, literature and the curriculum, was also carried out. Three themes of significance emerged from the analytic process: effective Catholic school leadership;
attributes of the Catholic educators and dealing with challenges. Effective Catholic school leadership outlines the qualities that are required of competent leaders in a Catholic school. More specifically it identifies the features required of a leader to drive and support the implementation of local policy, the education policy and the promotion and maintenance and integrity. It describes the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes required of school leaders to effectively translate policy into practice. Attributes of the Catholic educators identifies those required of Catholic educators in the classroom or, more specifically, those required of the educators to promote the education policy in the school curriculum and teaching practice. It makes explicit what defining characteristics teachers need to possess, to promote and maintain mission integrity within the context of Catholic secondary education. Dealing with challenges, it describes the barriers or challenges that both school leaders and teachers are presented with in respect of policy implementation in the context of Catholic secondary schools. It reveals the barriers that Catholic educators, including school leaders, headteachers and teachers are confronted with, and in particular, the lack of funding received to support policy implementation and staff development. A number of recommendations emerged from the study to enable Catholic leaders, Catholic head teachers and teachers to develop and implement effectively Catholic education policy in secondary schools, and ensure mission integrity is central to the work of the school and all academic and teaching practice.
Graduation 2021 St Mary’s University: L to R: Dr Caroline Healy, Dr David Fincham, Rev. Dr Auson Kamugisha Mushosi, SDS, Most Rev. Bishop Richard Moth and Prof. John Lydon.
Right: Rev. Dr Auson Kamugisha Mushosi, SDS receives his doctorate from Vice-Chancellor Anthony McClaran
Professor Lydon recently appointed Visiting Professor at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, The Philippines
E N G L I S H A N D F I L I P I N O L A N G U A G E
I M M E R S I O N P R O G R A M S F O R
Professor John Lydon has been appointed Visiting Professor of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas in Manila, The Philippines in April. This is a great international honour to be recognised in this way in the field of Catholic education globally.
His first task in this role was to give a keynote address online to 100 foreign religious missionaries drawn from 19 countries, before they were sent out to their missions. This was organised by the Department for International Relation in the university’s Graduate School in partnership with the Dominican Province of the Philippines and the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines. The theme was ‘The Mission of The Word: a language of Love and Mercy’ and took place online on 5th May 2021 at 8 am London time (3.00 pm in Manila).
Dr. Lilia de Jesus
Faculty Member, Education Cluster
UST Graduate School
things is the world sustained: by the Law, by the Temple service, and by deeds of loving-kindness’ (hesed – going beyond the liturgy in pure, loving goodness). [3]
Modelled on Christ the teacher
Associate Professor John J. Lydon, Ph.D., SFHEA, KC*HS
Programme Director, MA in Catholic School Leadership (MACSL)
St. Mary’s University, United Kingdom
This initiative of the university Graduate School, led by the Dean, Professor Michael Anthony Vasco and Director of the Office for International Relations, Prof. Lilian Sison, was to contribute to the celebration of the Roman Catholic Church’s 500th Anniversary of existence in the Philippines. The other keynote speaker was Associate Professor Pilar Romero, Dean of the College of Education at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and they were introduced by Prof. Belen Tangco, President of the Dominican Laity of the Philippines and a member of the Council of Presidents of the World Union of Catholic Teachers (WUCT). The respondents were Dr Lila de Jesus, Faculty Member of the Education Cluster at the UST Graduate School; Dr Pablito Baybabo, Jr., Lead for the Theology Department at the UST Graduate School and Rev. Sr Cecilia Espenilla, O.P., Catechetical Coordinator, Archdiocese of Lingayen Dagupan. The welcome message was provided by Rev. Fr Rodel Aligan, O.P., Regent of the UST Graduate School and send-off messages by Rev. Fr Angelito Cortez, OFM, Co-Secretary for the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP) and the Very Rev. Fr Filemon Dela Cruz, O.P., Prior Provincial of the Dominican Province of the Philippines. Prof. Lydon chose to speak on the topic of ‘Mercy, Charism and Love Realised in Practice in Missionary
Service’. This address first explored the interconnections between the concepts of mercy, charism and love, considering biblical, ecclesial and scholarly sources, underpinned by a sacramental vision, that is, Christian missionary activity in general and education ministry specifically should be modelled on Christ the teacher par excellence. The address then continued to discuss the applicability of these sources for the ministry of the missionaries going forward. Concepts such as presence and accompaniment will be considered, referencing in particular the Salesian education vision which establishes a dialogue between formal and non-formal education contexts. Dominican scholarship is also cited while the address concludes by challenging missionaries to adopt an approach marked by reciprocity and mutuality, once again modelled on Christ himself. The full address follows:
The interconnections between the concepts of mercy, charism and love
While the Old Testament background of the word ‘hesed’ is significant in the context of the Mercy charism, the loving kindness spoken of and reflected in the life and teaching of Jesus is of seminal importance. In the Johannine discourses there are several references to the need for disciples to love one another. [4] Such love, as in the ‘Good Shepherd’ discourse, must be modelled on the love that Jesus has shown for his disciples, a love that will reach its apogee in his saving death[5] Barrett cites, as relevant background to Jesus’ command to ‘love one’s neighbour’, contemporary Jewish literature such as that emanating from the Qumran community and the Gospel of Thomas which speaks of ‘walking in merciful (ךםח) love, each man with his neighbour’. [6]
Associate Professor Pilar Romero, LPT, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Education
University of Santo Tomas, Philippines
From the biblical point of view there are no certain references in the Septuagint to ‘charism’ and, of the seventeen occurrences in the New Testament, fourteen can be found in the letters of Paul while the other three appear in letters dependent on Paul. (1Timothy; 2 Timothy and 1 Peter). With regard to the origin of the term Paul does not take it from Greek literature since the earliest certain occurrence of the term outside of the Bible is from the second century A.D.[1] It would appear, therefore, that Paul took the term from colloquial language where the term must have been used with the meaning of ‘gift’ or ‘present’. Ernst Kasemann makes the point that Paul was the first person to introduce the concept of charism into the language of theology. [2]
Jesus’ ministry appears to be synopsised in Chapter 15 of St John’s Gospel when he suggests to the disciples that ‘as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you, abide in my love’ (John 15:9). Jesus then appears to aggregate the commandments when he exhorts the disciples to ‘love one another as I have loved you (15:12). Barrett links this exhortation with the Son of Man saying in Mark’s Gospel describing his death in the service of love as ‘a ransom for many’ [7] before going on to suggest that ‘the mutual love of Christians, is a reflection of Jesus’ love for them…a love which reaches its complete and unsurpassable expression in the death of Christ’. [8]
Dr. Pablito Baybado, Jr.
Lead, Theology / Social Pastoral Communication
UST Graduate School
In later books of the Old Testament χάρις sometimes translates ﬢﬦﬨ (hesed), a Hebrew word more often rendered ελεος (eleos), a Greek word rendered ‘mercy’ in most English translations.. While the Hebrew word ‘hesed’ means more than mercy or ‘loving kindness’, signifying loyal faithfulness to a Covenant relationship, in later Hebrew it came to mean lovingkindness. For example, a saying from Simeon the Just in the oldest Mishnaic tractate, Pirke Aboth (1:2) reads: ‘by three
In the context of the teaching of Jesus the command to love one’s neighbour is made even more demanding in the Sermon on the Mount when, in the last of a series of radical intensifications of the Old Testament Law, Jesus encourages his followers to ‘love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them’. [9] Hill points out that generations of scholars have failed to find any reference in the Old Testament or literature [10] contemporary with the New Testament to love of enemies.
Sr. Cecilia Espenilla, O.P.
Catechetical Coordinator
Archdiocese of Lingayen, Dagupan
Pope St John Paul II sums up the biblical and scholarly literature signposted thus far when he states:
“Mercy that is truly Christian is also, in a certain sense, the most perfect incarnation of ‘equality’ between people, and therefore also the most perfect incarnation of justice as well.” [11]
In stating that ‘mercy is the most perfect incarnation of Jesus’, the late Holy Father appears to reflect St Thomas Aquinas’ [12] statement that ‘mercy...is a certain fulness of justice’ (quaedam iustitiae plenitudo)’, quoting James 2:13: ‘mercy triumphs over justice’.
The Ministry of the Missionaries
What does this mean for our missionaries as they embark upon their various ministries in formal and non-formal Catholic education settings in poor communities in Manila and the Provinces, thereby reflecting the primacy of the Catholic Church’s mission to the poor?
First, I wish to emphasise that the title of my paper encapsulates a sacramental vision, that is a calling to discipleship demanding that all model their ministry on that of Christ. So, what does this ‘all inclusive love’ for those within and beyond our communities mean in practice? To answer this question I wish to address first the work of the missionaries in non-formal settings and introduce the notion of accompaniment, encapsulated in the Salesian charism.
The Missionaries in non-formal contexts
In the context of Bosco’s educative project, his initial aim was to break down this barrier between educator and teacher, encapsulated in his Letter from Rome to Salesians, constituting an evaluation of the extent to which the original inspiration of the project was being maintained:
“The teacher who is seen only behind his lectern is a teacher and no more. But when he spends recreation time with the young people, he will become like a brother. When someone sees a priest preaching from the pulpit, one will say that the man does no more neither less than his duty. But if he speaks words during recreation time, that will be the words of someone who loves.” [13]
‘Spending recreation time with the young people’ was, therefore, seminal in terms of Bosco’s educational vision. Presence in the form of constructive engagement by educators was the key to gaining the trust of the young people. For St John Bosco, the first principle of pastoral care was presence. Like the picture painted in the ‘Good Shepherd’, the Salesian educator knows his pupils, goes before them and, like the father in the story of the ‘Prodigal Son ’(Luke 15), is prepared to make the first move. Far from being simply passive watchfulness, the presence-assistance advocated by St John Bosco reflected the optimistic humanism both of himself and that of Frances de Sales.
St John Bosco often made the point that gatherings without some element of a spiritual dimension were simply games rooms. [14] The creating of sodalities circumvented this issue. Sodalities, derived from the Latin ‘soliditatem’ were seminal to the Catholic ecclesial tradition and emerged strongly following the founding of major religious orders such as the Dominicans in the 13th century. The terms ‘sodality’ and ‘confraternity’ are sometimes used interchangeably, connoting a concept of solidarity around a common mission.
Lemoyne [15] describes the founding of several sodalities around 1859 which combined spiritual exercises with charitable activities. The young people themselves were responsible for the running of the sodalities, under the guidance of one of the Salesians who acted as a spiritual director. Such an organisational structure promoted the building up of energetic and integrated Christian characters who gained confidence through the delegation of responsibility. Sodalities were an essential, indispensable factor in Don Bosco’s educational organisation, and they grew along with the maturing of his experience. They were a valid instrument for the practical realisation of those educative collaborations between pupils and educators, without which it would be idle to speak of a family spirit.
Initially the charitable activities were focused on the members of the school community. Louis Grech [16] refers to the Sodality of Mary Immaculate to which the schoolboy Saint Dominic Savio belonged and makes the point that “being of service to others was a very useful means which Bosco used to
empower the young people to mature in responsibility and spirituality”. Lemoyne points out, however, that the work of the sodalities was extended to include service to others beyond the confines of the school community. Collaboration with the Society of St Vincent de Paul was significant in this context.
Perhaps our missionaries could create similar groups analogous to the sodalities of St John Bosco’s time in a contemporary context.
The Missionaries in formal contexts
Turning to the service of the Missionaries in formal education settings, and again reflecting a sacramental vision, I will conclude by citing a Dominican source. Dr Vivian Boland, the former Vicar to the Master of the Dominican Congregation, suggests that, for Aquinas, love is essential to good teaching: Christ’s love for his disciples is the reason why He is the greatest of teachers. [17]
Jesus provides a model for all teaching in the way he is a teacher. Above all he respects how humans learn and does his teaching taking account of the developmental, affective and social facets of human learning. [18]
Boland goes on to cite the Congregation for Catholic Education’s 1988 document in stating that love enriches both teachers and students and ‘facilitates a shared commitment to the formation process. [19] The notion of commitment is especially significant in the context of the Church’s education ministry, reflecting the reference earlier to love in a Christian context being analogous to the paschal mystery of Christ. In an education context I regard the letter of St Paul to the Ephesians to be of seminal significance since it has applicability to both formal and non-formal contexts:
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant… [20]
The Greek word ‘ekenosen’ is particularly significant in the context of his holistic approach to education. By being familiarly present to young people, as opposed to maintaining an institutional superior-inferior style
of imposition, the teacher reflects the ‘ekenosen,’ the self-emptying, of Christ himself. St John Bosco, then, interprets the entry into young people’s recreation as an act of loving condescension, going beyond mere utilitarianism or paternalism. It involved adults leaving the lofty heights of their power over’ or even ‘power on behalf of’ positions in order to engage in a genuine sharing of the bread of life. This engaging familiarity reflects the “I-Thou” relationship spoken of by the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber:
…every human person looks bashfully yet longingly in the eyes of another for the yes that allows him to be. It is from one human person to another that the heavenly bread of self-being is passed.
[21]
Relationships will, then, be central to your lives as missionaries, relationships which reflect the way in which Christ related to all with whom he came into contact. Such relationships will be built around the principles of reciprocity and mutuality. In relation to all aspects of the educative process, this approach is evocative of the style of discourse between Jesus and the Samaritan woman in which, Jesus’ call to discipleship had a profound respect for the individual’s own discernment and decision making.
[1] See Nardoni, E. (1993) ‘The Concept of Charism in Paul’. In: Begg, C.T., (ed.), The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, January 1993, Issue 1:.68-80, Washington, D.C.: The Catholic Biblical Association of America
[2] Kasemann, E. (1963) Essays on New Testament Themes, London: SCM Press. p. 64 See also Nardoni, op. cit. p.69
[3] See Barrett, C.K. (1987) New Testament Background - Selected Documents, London: SPCK
[4] See, for example, John 13:34; John 15:12-13.
[5] For an explicit reference to this saving love see 15:13
[6] Barrett, C.K. (1978) The Gospel According to St John, London: SPCK: 452 quoting Thomas 25
[7] Mark 10:45
[8] Barrett, op. cit. p.476
[9] Matthew 5:44
[10] Hill, op. cit. p.131
[11] Pope John Paul II (1980) Encyclical Dives in Misericordia,
[13] Bosco, J. (1884) A Letter from Rome. In: P. Braido (2005), Don Bosco Writings and Testimonies, Rome: LAS:384
[14] See Lydon, J. (2011). The Contemporary Catholic Teacher: A Reappraisal of the Concept of Teaching as a Vocation in the Catholic Christian Context, Saarbrucken, Germany: Lambert Academic Publishing: 93
[15] MB VI: 103
[16] Grech, L. (2019) Accompanying Youth in a Quest for Meaning, Bolton: Don Bosco Publications: 96
[17] Boland, V. (2007) St Thomas Aquinas (Continuum Library of Educational Thought: Volume 1). London and New York: Continuum: Chapter 20
[18] Boland, 2007:100
[19] Congregation for Catholic Education (1988) The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, London: CTS :110
[20] Philippians 2: 5-7
[21] Buber M. (1974), To Hallow This Life – An Anthology, Westport CT: Greenwood Publishing Group: 75
Colloquium on Catholic Education for Doctoral Students
At the close of the summer term, postgraduate doctoral students focused on a wide range of topics on Catholic education came together online to share their work during a colloquium on the afternoon of Monday, 28th June 2021. In this international partnership, doctoral students together with their supervisors came together from St Mary’s University, London and Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick.
Prof. Eammon Conway, Head of the Theology and Religious Studies Department, provided the opening remarks and spoke of the wonderful
opportunities for this current generation of researchers on Catholic education to share their work and develop the field as part of the All Hallows Trust and the GRACE Project. Despite the challenges in Catholic education, there were opportunities to provide solutions.
Two students shared their work on religious orders and the challenges of maintaining the charism for the future with the decline of religious leaders co-supervised by Prof. John Lydon and Dr Caroline Healy at St Mary’s University. Br Carlos Do Prado, FMS, a doctoral student currently based in Rome has focused his study on the Marist leadership at the global level and how working in collaboration with lay leaders may provide opportunities for the future of the Marist charism. Paul Bryant has been exploring the emerging visions of leadership in contemporary Benedictine School Chaplaincy and documents how new models are emerging in Benedictine schools in the UK. Continuing with the theme of leadership, international St Mary’s Student and All Hallows Scholar, Joanna (Joey) Oliva, currently based in Manila, is examining the extent to which Catholic education influences the formation of women leaders in the Philippines.
A number of students were researching on Catholic education at the primary and secondary levels, both in Ireland and the UK. Supervised by Prof. Eammon Conway, Dr Máire Campbell, has recently been awarded her doctorate from Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick on the ‘The Role of Christian Faith in the Lives of a Cohort of Catholic Primary School Principals in the Republic of Ireland’ and Thomas Carroll is nearing completion of an evaluation of the compatibility of mindfulness and ethos in the Irish Catholic primary schools. Kerry Macfarlane, a St Mary’s University student and All Hallows Scholar, is focusing on another aspect, Catholic character education and how it contributes to the formation of pupils in Catholic primary schools.
Claire Considine, studying at Mary Immaculate College and another All Hallows Scholar is examining Spiritual Well-being: Its nature and place in Catholic Post Primary Schools – an educator’s views on Spirituality and Spiritual Well-being in Education, while Alex McKillican is focused on older students and Christian Existentialism in the educational theory of Paulo
Freire and its implications for Irish Adult Education. Rev. Sr Carolyn Morrison, A Religious of the Assumption sisters is working on developing a Theological Aesthetic Framework for the Interpretation of Christian Art as a didactic tool in the formation of the faithful within a Catholic Educational setting’.
Closing remarks were provided by Prof. John Lydon who said:
First, I would like to say how wonderful it has been to link with Mary Immaculate College in regard to the All Hallows Scholarships and Catholic education more generally, especially Professor Eamonn Conway, Dr Eugene Duffy and Dr Daniel O’Connell, Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick. It is a developing cordial partnership that has continued to grow over the past couple of years (even during the Covid-pandemic and lockdown!) thanks to Zoom. We look forward to be able to meeting face-toface at some point in the near future.
I would also like to thank colleagues at St Mary’s who have been involved from the very beginning, Rt Hon Ruth Kelly, Professor Philip Booth, Associate Professor Christine Edwards-Leis and Dr Caroline Healy.
The presenters today, have presented on a wide-range of topics of concern to Catholic educators. These include
ecclesiology; spirituality; leadership; charism of two major religious orders; character education, formation and interpretation of Christian art. The contribution these scholars are making to the ever-developing field of Catholic education research is significant globally and I look forward to publishing some work in International Studies in Catholic Education in the near future, as its new editor, as your contributions are very interesting.
The All Hallows Scholarships have provided Kerry Macfarlane and Joey Oliva with the tremendous opportunity to pursue their research and scholarship and this must be widely acknowledged with gratitude to the All Hallows Trust, Dublin and Chair Garry O’Sullivan, as it continues to carry on the mission of the former All Hallows College, Dublin, in this fitting manner.
Being part of the larger Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education (GRACE) the scholars are committed to supporting the aims of GRACE and advancing it around the world and this colloquium is an example of this today.
As Prof. Conway said at the outset, you are the new wave of scholars not only advancing research but also Catholic education which is experiencing a number of challenges. I would also like to add that I am happy to help you in any way.
A special thank you to the colloquium organisers, Kerry Macfarlane and Tom Carroll and Dr Caroline Healy for leading the UK-side of the All Hallows Scholarship Programme. It has been good to see the overlap in doctoral students’ interests.
SAVE THE DATE
The Institute of Education, St Mary’s University, is delighted to announce that it is hosting:
TWO FORTHCOMING EVENTS
The Network for Researchers in Catholic Education (NfRCE) / The Catholic Association of Teachers, Schools and Colleges (CATSC)
WEBINAR
23rd September 2021, 4.30-6pm
Professor Stephen McKinney
University of Glasgow
Topic: Catholic Education and Social Justice post-COVID
ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2022
20th-21st May 2022
St Mary’s University, London Conference Theme: The Contribution of Catholic Schools to the Common Good and Social Justice
We will be warmly welcoming research into all aspects of Catholic Education, in particular about Catholic school leadership. A call for papers will follow shortly and registration details will soon appear at www.stmarys.ac.uk/ conferences.
Conference organisers and direct contacts:
Dr Sean Whittle – sean.whittle@stmarys.ac.uk
Dr Caroline Healy – caroline.healy@stmarys.ac.uk
CAFOD’s hopes for COP26
by Sinead Callaghan, CAFOD Education Team
This year, the UK will host the largest gathering of world leaders ever to take place on British soil: the ‘COP26’ climate talks.
It’s a crucial moment for getting on track to keeping global temperature rises below 1.5 degrees – the point at which the impacts of the climate crisis could cause even greater devastation to communities in low-income countries who have done least to cause the problem.
That’s why CAFOD supporters including children and young people are demanding that the Prime Minister and the Chancellor show leadership in the run-up to the summit to make sure countries commit to rapidly cut their emissions, provide financial support to the countries hardest hit by the crisis and stop supporting the fossil fuels driving the climate crisis.
What is a COP and why is it important?
COP means ‘conference of parties’ and is an annual climate conference organised by the UN. Governments and negotiators from across the world will travel to the meeting to discuss how to keep temperature rises below dangerous levels and prevent the climate crisis from causing even worse catastrophes for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.
COP26 is critical because it is the first COP since the coronavirus pandemic began. Governments are in the midst of planning how to rebuild from the pandemic and it is vital that these plans are based around the need for a global green and just transition. Pope Francis warned that it would be “a scandal” if the money governments are spending to rebuild economies and save businesses “were to focus on rescuing those industries that do not contribute to the inclusion of the excluded, the promotion of the least, the common good or the care of creation”.
Liam Finn, Campaigns Manager at CAFOD, said:
“All our lives have been turned upside down in the past year and we all want to go back to normal as soon as possible. But the last thing we want to do is to go back to the injustices and inequalities of the ‘old’ normal which have made the crisis even worse. We in the UK have a massive part to play in building a better normal, calling on Boris Johnson to show the leadership we desperately need in the months remaining before the COP.”
Why do we need urgent action on climate change?
The climate emergency is affecting us all – and is having the greatest impacts on the world’s poorest countries and communities, who are the least responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions and can least afford its impacts. Increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events like droughts (East and Southern Africa), hurricanes (Central America) and floods (Bangladesh), have sadly become common events the world over, as well as increased extremes in temperatures, such as the recent heatwave experienced in North America. The resulting failed harvests as seen in Zambia, Zimbabwe and parts of East Africa, destruction of land, displacement of people and animals has already destroyed the livelihoods of millions of people and caused devastation to our common home.
We need to act now to support those whose lives are already impacted by climate change and help them to adapt to the new realities and new challenges. We need to make urgent and ambitious emissions cuts right now to prevent potential devastating future impacts. The sooner we act, the more chance we have of limiting temperature rises and limiting the worst impacts of climate change.
Acting now gives the best chance of preventing future hunger crises and food shortages. Acting now can prevent places becoming uninhabitable for people and wildlife. Acting now is in the interests of all of us and our common home.
As part of the Paris Agreement, the world has set the target of limiting temperature rises to 1.5 degrees, which is seen as a relatively ‘safe’ level of warming. Beyond this level, natural systems that sustain life on Earth –ice, forests, ocean, the atmosphere – become dangerously unstable and ‘tipping points’ such as the melting of ice caps can cause irreversible damage and threaten to speed further temperature rises.
The COP26 Climate Change Summit in Glasgow in November 2021 will be the largest gathering of world leaders the UK has ever seen and needs to focus on how to meet this target. Current plans do not go nearly far enough and do not adequately consider the reality of the millions of people already affected and vulnerable to even the slightest increase in temperature rises.
In Glasgow, leaders must agree a deal to move faster on their commitments to tackle climate change. They need to show collective leadership to ‘keep 1.5 alive’.
What do we want to see from COP26?
The UK has a role as a participating government and as COP President to galvanise ambition and commitments from other governments. UK government action matters in itself for the impacts it will have in tackling climate change, so we need specific commitments, finance and changes in policy. It also matters as a signal to build trust and ambition among other governments and to support the UK’s role as COP President to achieve the collective ambition necessary.
Our hopes for COP26 are three-fold. First, we’d like to see ambitious shortterm action on climate change before 2030 to cut emissions in line with a 1.5-degree world. This can be achieved through more policies and investment in greener transport, infrastructure, agriculture and jobs. Second, we want the government to plug the climate finance gap to support the countries and communities most vulnerable to the climate crisis so they can respond and adapt to climate impacts like floods,
droughts and other extreme weather events. Finally, we urge the government to drop all support for fossil fuels, both at home and overseas.
Catholic parishes, individuals and schools across the UK are joining CAFOD on this journey towards COP26. They have been speaking up and meeting with MPs urging them to demand Boris Johnson show leadership in the run-up to the meeting in Glasgow. CAFOD supporters have also been
urging Chancellor Rishi Sunak to act and show the UK can be a credible host for the summit, by setting out a strategy for the UK to cut its emissions and by working with fellow finance ministers to provide financial support to countries being hardest hit by the crisis.
Call for the Prime Minister and Chancellor to show leadership at COP26 at cafod.org.uk/reclaim
In Praise of Laudato Si’
by Susan Kambalu, CPD Coordinator, CAFOD Education Team
“Laudato Si’ is living, it is organic, and it permeates through all our teaching... I now find it hard to think of areas in our curriculum that do not fit into this encyclical.” [This quote is taken from an example further down].
As an RE teacher, I’ve always been partial to a little bit of “awe and wonder”. If a rainbow is spotted outside, or an unexpected bird of prey appears, it’s good practice to stop the lesson and appreciate it. “Through the greatness and the beauty of creatures one comes to know by analogy their maker” (Wis 13:5, Laudato Si’ 12)
It’s clear that the pandemic has revealed our communal appreciation of nature, as well as revealing some of the injustices in our world. Taking care of our planet, our common home, is one of the ways many schools around the country have been responding to Laudato Si’. Since it was written by Pope Francis six years ago, schools have been more conscious of the need to protect the environment, use less single-use plastic, and consider their carbon footprint.
However, as Pope Francis says, our response to Laudato Si’ as Catholic schools goes beyond our initiatives to become more sustainable for the sake of the animals, plants and climate. We do this because of the effects our actions have on our sisters and brothers. As Pope Francis wrote, “Everything is connected. Concern for the environment thus needs to be joined to a sincere
love for our fellow human beings and an unwavering commitment to resolving the problems of society.” (LS 91).
When writing a new course for primary and secondary school teachers we took this as our title. With support from the British Council, our course, “Everything is connected: Enrich school life through global learning”, has developed the CPD that we started as soon as we read Laudato Si’ in 2015.
What a joy it has been to open up the pages and teaching of Laudato Si’ to teachers over these past six years. When Pope Francis published his letter on care for our common home in 2015, we knew that it would not only make a
difference to the way that CAFOD works as an organisation, but also that schools would want to respond to this teaching. We therefore began to offer schools CPD unpacking the message of Laudato Si,’ as well as providing resources for teachers to explore this encyclical with their pupils. (These resources are available for free on the CAFOD website.)
Perhaps the most important message to come out of Laudato Si’ is the sense that “the cry of the earth” and “the cry of the poor” are the same cry: “Today, however, we have to realise that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment,
so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” (LS 49) In our CPD, we have supported teachers with the resources and strategies to make the links between how we treat the earth and how we treat our sisters and brothers.
In Laudato Si’ 164, Pope Francis writes, “Interdependence obliges us to think of one world with a common plan.” His letter was published only a few months before the United Nations published their 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In our teacher training, we introduce the 2030 Agenda, in particular looking at the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (the SDGs), as being part of that “common plan” for the world.
Participants who joined our course all had varied roles within both primary and secondary schools, from classroom teachers and teaching assistants to senior leaders, governors and chaplains. Having had time dedicated to rediscovering the uplifting message of Laudato Si’, their feedback on the course was overwhelmingly positive:
“It was inspirational and motivational. I’m ready to take action with the children to improve our interconnected common home.” (Teacher from Arundel and Brighton Diocese)
“It was a must have, personally and professionally.” (Teacher from East Anglia Diocese)
We have been pleased to see Pope Francis’ letter and message being embraced by school communities. Some teachers who hadn’t yet had
the opportunity to deepen their own understanding of Laudato Si’, or perhaps were new to this letter, were able to see clear links to their values and ethos. Many spoke about planning units of work around an exploration of this rich and life-giving letter. However, for many teachers, particularly those in primary schools, Laudato Si’ has been
an important part of their curriculum and school life for a number of years. Following our training, many expressed their desire to revisit Laudato Si’ and to explore it in a new or fresh way:
“I plan to make Laudato Si’ key to all school life, not just the eco and faith teams”. (Teacher from London)
“I have learnt the importance of sharing Laudato Si’ again, with action, in school.” (Teacher from Blackpool)
Sophie Kerswell from St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Buckfast, Devon shared her experience of reflecting on Laudato Si’ during a course that her diocesan schools’ trust invited us to run.
“What struck me most, was the overwhelming feeling of connectivity with the course tutors and members themselves, achieved through the powerful process of sharing ideas and collaboration. What this course has given me, is a ‘shared language’ that I now feel confident to share with my children. Laudato Si’ is living, it is organic, and it permeates through all our teaching... I now find it hard to think of areas in our curriculum that do not fit into this encyclical.
What has been most helpful, is knowing that what we teach has not had to change. All that I have done as educator, is thread ‘connectivity’ through our curriculum, made Laudato Si’ explicit. Whereas previously my science lessons on food chains would have considered the impact of removing one animal from the chain, now the children are able to talk about Laudato Si’ and its meaning for us all globally, as well as the science understanding that still needs to remain steadfast.
Global thinking is everyone’s responsibility. As educators, we need to be teaching our children to think and feel globally. Our global issues are shared, and our children need to feel as though they can be agents of change in our shared world.”
And as for “awe and wonder”, many schools have been inspired to make the link to Laudato Si’ during a “Week of wonder”, for example Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School in Seaforth, Liverpool diocese. The children and staff at this school have made lots of ecological pledges, learning about composting and recycling, have had workshops with a CAFOD volunteer that inspired them to take part in our “Eyes of the world” climate campaign.
I’m certainly in awe of their week of wonder! In addition to our course for teachers, we have also developed a number of resources to help schools explore Laudato Si’, and these are all available from our website. They include animations for children and young people, guides with activity ideas, a poster and a collective worship liturgy.
I have read Laudato Si’ closely a number of times and I keep going back to it. I recognise Pope Francis’ call to action in so many of the schools we have explored Laudato Si’ with: “Young people demand change. They wonder how anyone can claim to be building a better future without thinking of the environmental crisis and the sufferings of the excluded.” (LS 13) I greatly look forward to hearing how more schools will respond to the challenge.
cafod.org.uk/Education/Laudato-Si-forschools
On Care for our Common Home
Mobilising our churches and schools through environmental education
Eleanor Margetts writes from The Ecological Conversion Group, an organisation helping to mobilise our Catholic Church into action on our ecological and social crises through The Journey to 2030 campaign. To explore our sixth form syllabus on Laudato Si’, visit https://theecg.org/resources/6form-syllabus/ or www.journeyto2030. org for resources to help get you and your community involved.
In Pope Francis’ latest book Let us Dream, he calls upon all of us to “be pulled along, shaken up, challenged” by the injustice we see around us and the people we encounter. I remember that exact feeling 6 years ago when I read his encyclical Laudato Si’; I was in the middle of studying for my Human Rights MA and was struggling to see how the Church’s response to ecological and social injustice fitted in with what I was reading about. The encyclical was a huge lightbulb moment, I was enamoured with how our Pope so eloquently related our behaviours as individuals, a Church and society, with its impact on the planet and its most vulnerable people. Suddenly, it all made sense and I was so sure that this encyclical was the answer to all of our problems. I sat back and waited for the Church’s response.
So, I waited, and fast-forward 2 years, had grown frustrated with what I perceived as inaction. At this time, I
connected with John Paul and Edward de Quay – two brothers who shared my view, and we enjoyed a passionate conversation of how to get the Church moving! Consequently, the Ecological Conversion Group was born. We made it our mission to get out and share the message of Laudato Si’ with anyone and everyone – delivering talks and workshops to youth groups, schools and parish groups, explaining the principal tenet of the encyclical that everything is connected in an integral ecology; that as people, we are a part of nature and a global family, and therefore have responsibilities to ensure that these are protected and nurtured. These initial resources, and the conversations they inspired, were the starting points for our later projects, such as the development of our 12-week sixth form course. We aimed to bring about an ‘ecological conversion’ in all the people we spoke to, so that people would experience that lightbulb moment in understanding that their everyday actions as Christians should reflect their faith. In following Jesus’ teachings to love your neighbour, in an interconnected world, to live our faith with integrity is to really acknowledge the consequences that our actions are having across the world – even through seemingly innocuous actions like ordering a t-shirt online or using weedkiller on our lawns.
It’s no simple task, changing hearts and minds, as our Church knows well! But with such a complicated topic as Laudato Si’, this is made all the more difficult. How do you communicate to someone with no knowledge of global supply chains that the “locally sourced” meat they buy is contributing to deforestation in the Amazon? Learning all this takes time, and importantly patience, and we quickly realised, as Ecological Conversion Group, that the important part that we could play in this journey, rather than delivering science or economic lectures, is to simply inspire the listener to take the next step: to give people and communities a taster of what Pope Francis is suggesting, with the hope that they will be curious and want to learn more. We discovered the
importance of attractive, visual materials and positive messages (with a good dose of humour!) – deciding to leave behind our frustrations of inaction and instead coming up with new ways to influence our Church and its body.
We launched ‘The Journey to 2030’ campaign in 2018 exactly for this purpose; to be a visible sign of the Catholic Church’s commitment to addressing our ecological and social crises. The movement is one that seeks to engage with churches and communities, to inspire them into action by sharing resources and building partnerships that help us to “prepare the future” in the run up to the year 2030 (the year by which the IPCC report says we must have cut our global emissions by 40% in order to keep global warming within the critical 1.5degrees temperature rise).
The journey so far has shown us the value in inspiring positive action, rather than sitting and feeling frustrated that people aren’t engaging enough. We’ve made it our mission over the last 3 years to talk to as many people and groups as possible, to gain an understanding of exactly what barriers they are facing in implementing Laudato Si’. Over the last year of lockdown, in partnership with Boarbank Hall, we have been running online retreats to do exactly this – to listen to parishioners from around the country to learn from them about what they need to inspire action in their communities. These retreats have served as a kind of discernment process for our journey – echoed in the words of Pope Francis in Let us Dream:
“This breakthrough [discernment/ engagement] comes about as a gift in dialogue, when people trust each other and humbly seek the good together, and are willing to learn from each other in a mutual exchange of gifts. At such moments, the solution to an intractable problem comes in ways that are unexpected and unforeseen, the result of a new and greater creativity released, as it were, from the outside.” (p. 80)
In opening up to dialogue and learning from others, great things happen! The value of listening is paramount to experiencing what Pope Francis describes as God’s gift of “overflow”; divine love so powerful that it transcends what we thought was possible and opens us up to “a new imagination of the possible” (p.81). Since running those retreats, we have met so many new people with whom we have worked to build our online Parish Guide to Laudato Si’ (to be launched autumn 2021) and have made many great friendships in the process.
Friendship and partnership open the doors to great projects and are the catalysts to much of our work. One such moment happened in 2019 when, after a conversation with a teacher, we were inspired to develop a sixth form syllabus. In our mission to bring ecological conversion to all levels of our church, we realised that we needed something bespoke for schools that enabled them to use Pope Francis’ messages in Laudato Si’ to inspire young people. We discovered that there was a real need for a structured, attractive, and engaging way to bring that ecological conversion to a wider audience.
It was that conversation with a member of the Diocese of Westminster’s Education Team, who suggested that we write a resource for schools, that inspired us to get started. We set about building a 12-lesson syllabus that could be used to contribute to Core RE for Sixth Form. We quickly discovered that this was no simple task and thought carefully about exactly what content was needed to ensure that this course was not just another tick-box, and something that could truly be used to bring about conversion of hearts and minds. Working with a team of teachers, friends, and partners, we set about to build something inspiring!
The syllabus took us over a year to craft, where we carefully considered how to break down Laudato Si’ in a way that both engaged and invited young people to be a part of the solution. The course intends to take the participant on a journey of profound conversion, beginning with understanding the problem and how we contribute to it, and ending in practical action. It is an opportunity for young people to explore the themes of Laudato Si’ outside of the science and geography lessons about ‘global warming’ (complete with polar
bears sat on ice rafts), instead asking them to think about the personal and spiritual relevance of the ecological and social crises in their own lives.
The idea that Laudato Si’ is a crosscurricular document is key to the syllabus’ aims. It is our hope that elements of the course will be used across all subjects. The concept of integral ecology highlights for us the interconnectedness of ourselves (physically, spiritually, and environmentally) to our world and all that inhabit it. The teachings of the syllabus, therefore, should not be siloed into specific subjects but integrated across the whole curriculum.
The syllabus also serves as a tool to engage young people in an aspect of their faith that they may not have otherwise encountered – that to be Catholic is not just about going to Mass but that our faith is something that should influence our whole lives. In this way, we see it as a resource that serves to contextualise young people’s faith in the world they see around them. Many young people are already actively engaged in social and environmental justice issues, as we saw in the student climate strikes of 2019, but have not necessarily linked this to our responsibilities as Christians. We need ways to enable young people to better make that connection and realise the relevance of their personal faith in our modern world – that it can and should be used as a force for the good in wider society. This is why the syllabus places such a focus not only on engaging students with the conceptual messages of Laudato Si’, but on equipping them with skills to campaign for their own futures – for example through debate and project planning – as they are the ones who will be most affected by the ecological crisis.
“The focus on Laudato Si’ brings to life current Catholic thought on caring for the planet and ultimately presents “caring for our common home” as a way to build a relationship with God. The graphic design gives the syllabus its own unique stamp and identity. I would recommend this syllabus to any school.” John Watts, RE Teacher.
Through our resources like parish toolkits and school syllabuses we hope to bring about the change and ecological conversion of our society that we hoped to see when the Ecological Conversion
Group was formed. We’ve learnt to be guided by the communities around us, listening and responding to that ‘overflow’ moment that God offers us when we create dialogue with others. Our sincere hope is that the part we have to play in this story of societal conversion is one of creativity and community; no longer pointing fingers and getting angry at ‘the Church’ for not doing enough – we are the Church! In engaging people through creative resources, we have seen that movement of ecological conversion in individuals, communities and in partnerships – and that movement is only growing. We hope that the resources we create will be shared by many and used creatively in different contexts where they are most needed.
Key facts!
What are the aims of the course?
• To acknowledge that we are facing an ecological crisis through recognising it’s symptoms.
• To look past the symptom to the root causes of the crisis.
• To be familiar with the idea of ecological conversion and what it means to be a Christian in light of this crisis.
• To understand that each of us can make a difference.
• To grow in appreciation of nature and neighbour.
Is the course accredited?
The course can be used as a part of your school’s provision of Core RE – a full scheme of learning is provided.
Who is it for?
The course is targeted for use by teachers for sixth formers but can be used by any community group wanting to deepen their knowledge of Laudato Si’!
How much is it?
Free! Although donations are very much appreciated.
Where can I get it?
You can download the full syllabus, including teachers’ notes and workbook files at: https://theecg.org/resources/6form-syllabus
Open Our Eyes to See
“The eyes of the world” were on the G7 Summit in Cornwall this June and again they will be on the COP26 in Glasgow this November. Some might say, they daren’t blink. Campaigners have been striving to keep the plans of the powerful under the watchful gaze of people who will bear the consequences of environmental destruction.
The imagery of the eyes of the world is powerful. It brings to mind those whose gaze holds us to account - those who are poor, or whose future is uncertain, or whose dignity has been forgotten. Is this not Jesus looking at us?
Yet, if we believe in ecological conversion, we want those in power not only to be seen, but to see. To see “what is happening to our common home” (Laudato Si’, chapter 1). To see how the costs of globalisation have been disproportionately borne by the poor. To see the dignity and hope of those people and places that have been forgotten. With such a gaze, would we not be looking with the eyes of Jesus?
To overcome what Pope Francis calls the “myopia of power politics”, to enable a seeing, there needs to be a showing.
The stories of CAFOD’s partners, of droughts and failed harvests in Southern and Eastern Africa, hurricanes in Central America and floods in Bangladesh, show forth what “power politics” would rather not see.
Throughout this year, CAFOD supporters in England and Wales have been inviting their Members of Parliament into their parishes and schools to share with them these stories. As well as showing painful realities, they have also shown that they share “hopes and dreams, griefs and anxieties” (Gaudium et Spes, 1965, 1) with those who face climate change around the world.
The rich diversity of our school communities in particular often brings a perspective that challenges the narrowness of power politics. There is then a space of possibility for responding boldly to the global challenge of climate change. It is a wonderful paradox that raising the voices of local communities in England and Wales can open up a more universal horizon, when those communities have been touched by the stories of ordinary people like themselves facing the devastation of climate change.
The importance of local voices is also central to Pope Francis’ vision for renewal within the Church. The gathering of the Synod of Bishops in 2023 may seem like a distant event, but the “synodal path” is ongoing. This October, each diocese is called to facilitate a time of discernment for each local Catholic group, including both schools and parishes, so that leaders can hear the reflections of the people of God on the meaning of mission, participation and communion. The hope is that each group will add its local flavour and build-up
a richly diverse picture of the universal church, reflected in a working document that will guide the discernment process of the Bishops in 2023.
When Pope Francis speaks of “synodality” this is a reaffirmation that it is we, the people of God, who are the Church. If we are true to our desire for ecological conversion and we respond to Pope Francis’ call to recognise all people as our brothers and sisters, then we must be a synodal church, making space to listen to each other and to allow the Holy Spirit to move us.
As Pope Francis tells us in Fratelli Tutti, the increasing interconnectedness of the world means we have a common destiny. Walking together with the most vulnerable in our world, both at home and in the countries where CAFOD works, to protect our common home, is our destiny and our responsibility as the people of God. We can do this by asking our leaders to take much more radical action this year to prevent catastrophic global warming as well as by participating in the synodal journey in our parishes.
No one group of people can solve the climate crisis. It is by working together, by listening to and respecting each other, that we can embrace our ecological conversion and start to heal our earth.
By Francis Stewart and Jenny Hayward-Jones, CAFOD
News from Scotland
Blairs Museum
launches new interactive virtual museum
Blairs Museum, Scotland’s National Catholic Museum has launched a brand-new website featuring an interactive virtual museum and shop, thanks to funding from the Scottish Government’s “Museum Recovery and Resilience Fund” established to protect Scotland’s culture and heritage sectors from the impacts of Covid-19.
The new website unites all the collections of the Scottish Catholic Heritage Collections Trust Museum, and the historic Library and Archive (both of which are on loan to the University of Aberdeen).
The website also provides a link to the Scottish Catholic Archives at Columba House in Edinburgh.
This project was funded through a significant Recovery and Resilience Grant from Museums Galleries Scotland
YouTube Channel to host our new series of web videos about our collections and the amazing stories they tell. We are still adding new videos so it is well worth checking the channel regularly.”
The new website also features learning resources for school pupils to use in conjunction with the virtual museum so learning can take place with or without a physical visit.
Schools will also have the option to “Contact a Curator”, where museums staff can lead learning sessions through videoconferencing software.
Lucy Casot, CEO of Museums Galleries Scotland said: “We are pleased to support Blairs Museum through the Recovery and Resilience Fund.
Museum curator and project lead Amy Miller said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has prevented many visitors from coming in person to view our collections at Blairs.
“This new website and suite of online resources allows anyone with an internet connection to see our museum and treasures safely.
“We have 3D scanned a selection of our artefacts and users can interact with the object by zooming and rotating it to see all the details.”
She added: “We have also created a
The museum has faced loss of income and a multitude of challenges caused by the pandemic.”
“They have responded to these difficulties with forward thinking plans to expand their online activities and support visitors and school children to explore this important cultural collection from afar.”
ATCRE Continues to Grow
by Matthew Dell, Chair of ATCRE
ATCRE continues to grow as an association, going from strength to strength. We had a successful run of free CPD for RE teachers during the last academic year, and looking ahead we have a face to face conference planned for Saturday 2nd October 2021 (there is still time to book!). The executive has grown, and real progress is being made by the association in representing the views of Catholic RE teachers in various national consultations, such as the revision to the RE Curriculum Directory. Given the great disruption that Covid-19 has caused many associations, it has been a blessing to see ATCRE grow in membership numbers as well as in ATCRE activities.
Free Monthly CPD – A review
We decided after our popular virtual conference in October last year, to run online monthly free CPD online for our members. We wanted to support members during the year and with the effects of Covid-19 making meeting face to face difficult, if not impossible, the monthly zoom CPD was a selected.
Looking back over the seven CPD events, we think they were very successful! We had over 800 people register for the events (of course some would have been the same people registering for different events) and we had attendance figures that ranged from 40 – 95.
December 2020 Fr Eamonn MulcahyFratelli Tutti
January 2021 Dr Margaret CarswellHermeneutical Pedagogy
February 2021 Daisy ChristodoulouComparative Judgement
March 2021 Sr Judith Russi - Big Picture RE
April 2021 James Trewby - Beyond Charity
May 2021 Jo Boyce - Teach us to pray
June 2021 Trevor CoolingWorldviews
We also posted the zoom meeting (after converting it to a YouTube clip) on our website where members were able to watch it if they missed it. We had reports from our members that some used these clips in secondary schools for whole RE department CPD, and some primary schools used them as part of staff meetings.
Some feedback on the talks:
‘Please pass on my sincere thanks to Sr Judith. I cannot put into words how inspired I felt afterwards and thank you to all those who worked to put the meeting together. I look forward to the next one.’
‘Thank you, James for the inspiring talk - really useful and very timely for us at our school.’
‘Thank you Fr Eamonn, an inspiring presentation, you brought the encyclical alive.’
‘Thank you Trevor, you made me reassess the notions of worldviews for Catholic RE.’
We were very grateful to all our speakers, especially Margaret Carswell who spoke from Australia and woke up in the middle of the night to zoom with us. ATCRE is also grateful to St Mary’s University who supported the events on the technical side. All the resources from the monthly CPD events are available on the ATCRE website: https://www.atcre.co.uk/cpdmonthly-zoom-2020
Matthew Dell Chair of ATCRE
ATCRE National RE Conference
Saturday 2nd October 2021 - Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College
A thought-provoking and practical day designed to support you in your classroom:
• Stimulating keynote speakers
• Choice of 12 seminars to choose from
• A range of exhibitors
Keynote speakers:
David Wells - A Hidden Presence: Why RE does a bigger thing than most people realise! Lessons from the Life of St Joseph to enlighten and encourage us.
Seminar speakers:
• Networking and connections
• Lunch and refreshments included
Philip Robinson - What do we think we’re doing? Reflections on how the Religious Education Curriculum Directory should frame the intent for our subject.
Julie Rourke - RE at the heart of the Early Years Foundation Stage.
Raymond Friel - The social mission of the Church in a post-Covid society and what it might mean for the Catholic school
Sr Gemma Simmonds - Listening with our eyes - contemplating Scripture through image
Richard Kueh - Religious Education and Ofsted’s Education Inspection Framework
Dawn Cox - Making every RE lesson count
Paul McHugh - Aquinas: The Missing Metaphysics
Andy Lewis - 100 Ideas for Secondary RE Teachers: An Overview
Bob Bowie - A Scripture led curriculum: Catholic Scripture Scholarship and the traditions of Religious Reading
Sinéad Valente - ‘More than a Picture’
Marie Fahy - Aid to the Church in Need (ACN): Connecting the classroom with the faithful round the world
Gareth Rein - To lead as Jesus led
Nancy Conoboy - The new National Inspection Framework
Venue: Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College, Urban Road, Altrincham, Greater Manchester, WA15 8HT (A five-minute car journey from Junction 7 on M56.)
Reflections for making the most of the new year following the pandemic.
by
During the pandemic teachers have been learning to adapt to new challenges, new ways of teaching, and new ways of assessing and grading students. It has undoubtedly been a tiring and busy time. Now that we hope for a ‘normal’ year (if such a thing exists!), we might feel pressure or confusion about how best to approach this ‘new normal’. I want to propose ten things that will help you make the most of the opportunities this year.
1 “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” It can be very tempting to get swept up with initiatives and ideas floating around the staff room and on social media about what we need to do after covid. My advice is to remember the core message and values of your department and school. I tell my department every year that we are aiming to create ‘happy and successful’ students in RE. This helps us keep a sense of perspective; if something will not make RE more enjoyable or improve the outcomes of students then why are we doing it? I would encourage you to do the same thing. With every new idea ask yourself: 1) Does this make my working life more efficient? 2) Does it improve the experience of students? If not, then reject it, because what was good teaching before covid will still be good teaching after it!
2 Don’t panic about ‘catch up’. We may feel overwhelmed about the amount that has been ‘missed’ by our students or how ‘far behind’ they are. My advice, ban the use of these words from your department and classroom. Instead, break content learnt in lockdown into manageable chunks and set it as homework. For example, our exam classes are doing revision of previous content in homework tasks that will self-mark (Google Classroom, Kahoot!, Show My Homework, and Microsoft Forms all offer ways to do this). This allows you to: spot gaps in knowledge, to intervene, to reinforce, and to build confidence, all without creating too much extra work or keeping students for ‘catch-up’ sessions. This also frees lesson time for facilitating discussions and exam technique that students cannot do on their own.
3 Reflect on student assessments. Whilst CAGs were undoubtedly stressful, I would encourage you to use them as a learning opportunity. You probably set your students assessments at the end of the course that you marked yourself, and this ought to be seen as a great opportunity to see how well you are preparing your students for their exams. This is a unique opportunity to look at how all our students performed in the test we prepared them for at the end of the course when in a normal year we just receive data and ask to see only a handful of the papers. I would suggest getting your marking team together and asking for reflections and comments on how the students performed. For instance, my team noticed that there was not a lot of consistency in how students were answering 12-mark GCSE questions.
Dave Legrand, head of RE at Salesian Chertsey
Additionally, where we had taught alternative views alongside Catholic views, we had taught the Catholic view well, but seriously underdeveloped the alternative view. For example, when asked for 4 marks about family planning, students wrote competently about Natural Family Planning, but offered little development to alternative views such as ‘some might use artificial contraception to stop the spread of STIs.’ Upon reflection we have realised that our lessons assume some prior knowledge that clearly is not there. These two observations would not have been picked up in the ‘normal’ analysis of the exam data, and so is hugely valuable to begin embedding into our lessons. So, whilst we might want to put CAGs behind us, do take a thorough look over the papers to shape your teaching.
4 Build in subject literacy.
We cannot escape the fact that RE is a literacy-heavy subject that has a lot of subject-specific vocabulary. Much of this vocabulary is picked up by students as they verbalise it in lessons or from hearing you modelling it. Covid-era teaching, especially any online-learning, has undoubtedly reduced both these opportunities. Therefore, I would encourage you, especially with Key Stage 3, to think about how you engage with key terms in lessons. For example, rather than giving a list of key terms, ask students to engage with these words using something like the ‘Frayer Model’. Alternately build opportunities for etymology into your lessons, for example when teaching about a ‘nuclear’ family, encourage your students to suggest why this type of family might be labelled as ‘nuclear’, and what inferences they can make from other meanings and uses of the word ‘nuclear’ that they are aware of.
5 Build in opportunities for exam technique. You will probably find that your students returned from periods of home learning out-of-practice with writing and low on confidence about exam skills. I would advise having regular exam technique tasks built into your lessons, especially if you have Year 13s who will not have sat formal GCSE exam papers. Confidence needs to be built in
with regular practice. For example, I think that doing parts of a question will help build that practice and confidence before the stress of the mock exams. Therefore, consider offering students the chance to write parts of answers (such as a paragraph or a conclusion) in lessons rather than expecting them to complete full answers from September.
6 Don’t forget all the resources you made during lockdown. I am sure we all made worksheets, videos, and quizzes and that we all developed new ways to assess, use ICT, and provide feedback during lockdown. Don’t let all that good work go to waste. Could you use that revision video or worksheet for: a cover lesson, homework, or as extra revision for those who need intervention? For example, videos and quizzes we made to teach are now being embedded as homework tasks for our students.
7 Run a field trip. Students have missed ‘experiencing’ RE. Religion is not something in a textbook but something that people practice, live-out, and that informs the way they behave. Now would be a great time to finally run that trip to the local place of worship, the theatre (Les Mis anyone?), or to get in that guest speaker.
8 Remind yourself why you love your job.
During covid much of our day-today work changed. It is easy to be demotivated, but let’s remind ourselves what we love about teaching RE.
9 Take a moment to enjoy the ‘firsts’ after the pandemic. Many things we were used to in the school year are coming back especially moments of unity and community. When you have your first school mass, assembly, sports’ day, and fund-raising events, enjoy the sense of community. Whatever you look forward to in the school year, remember to take a moment to take it in and enjoy it when it comes around.
10 ‘Throw positivity around’
One member of my department has a sign up in their classroom reminding people to ‘throw kindness around like confetti.’ I would encourage you to do the same with positivity amongst your colleagues and students. We all know that positivity makes us feel good and spreads more positivity. Whilst it is easy to get bogged down in ‘catch up’ and ‘missed learning’, let’s be positive about the opportunities ahead.
By Dave Legrand dlegrand@salesian.surrey.sch.uk
News Roundup
Middlesbrough: Schools Trust placed on global Earth Day map
St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Academy Trust, which covers 17 schools in North Yorkshire - two secondary and 15 primary - has been officially placed on the global ‘Earth Day’ map due to their continued commitment to protecting the environment.
The Trust is the only academy group in Yorkshire to feature on the worldwide map, which details how the schools marked Earth Day (22 April) this year. An impressive lineup of speakers - including people from the government, The Woodland Trust, food waste charity ‘Too Good to Go’, The University of York, climate action solutions company, Ashden, and The Bishop of Middlesbroughare just a small selection of the organisations who answered questions from the children as part of a special, virtual event.
Margaret Land, Sustainability Officer, for St Margaret Clitherow Catholic Academy Trust, said: “Without any prompting, the children delivered some fantastic questions for our speakers to answer. ‘Is moving to Mars a realistic solution?’ and ‘how can we make sure our voices are heard?’ are just a couple of the wonderful examples. Our students are passionate about how their daily actions impact on the environment around them and the speakers really inspired this further.
Westminster: Pupil wins International Maths Olympiad Elitist title
By Willie Slavin
Anna Davletshina, in Year 9, received the accolade thanks to her hard work, resilience and diligent effort participating in the International Maths Olympiad Challenge. She qualified for all three rounds of the online International Maths Olympiad Challenge and came out with excellent scores.
Speaking about her achievement, Anna said: “I found participating in the International Maths Olympiad Challenge a great and useful experience. It has helped me to be more organised and I challenged myself throughout the three rounds of the competition. Though the tasks were difficult and challenging, I managed to push myself harder and worked out the solution to most of the questions. Thanks to my amazing Maths teacher, Ms Akinrinlola, for teaching me and helping me succeed in the challenge.”
Head of School, Michelle Henderson, said: “Anna’s achievement speaks volumes about her capability and her commitment to learning, which have indeed paid off. Please keep it up!”
Leeds Trinity secures Turing Scheme funding for international mobility
Leeds Trinity University has been granted £86,400 from the UK government’s new
A student from Bishop Douglass Catholic School, in East Finchley, has won the title of International Maths Olympiad Elitist.
student mobility programme to support international study, work and volunteering opportunities for the 2021-22 academic year.
The new government programme, named the Turing Scheme after mathematician Alan Turing, was launched following Brexit and the UK’s withdrawal from the EU Erasmus+ programme. It is designed to support the government’s Global Britain agenda to address the gap in student mobility funding for studying and working abroad.
St Mary’s University Vice-Chancellor appointed to Vatican agency
Pope Francis has appointed Anthony McClaran, Vice Chancellor of St Mary’s University Twickenham, to the Governing Council of the Holy See’s Agency for the Evaluation and Promotion of the Quality of Ecclesiastical Universities and Faculties.
Mr McClaran is one of three new members whose appointment was announced in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s daily paper, yesterday (28th July).
AVEPRO’s duty is to promote and develop a culture of quality within the academic institutions around the world that offer pontifical degree qualifications and ensure they possess internationally valid quality criteria.
Cardiff: School remember lost loved ones with Forever Flowers
A high school in Cardiff is creating a memorial garden to help their school community remember lost loved ones while supporting City Hospice’s Forever Flowers campaign.
Mary Immaculate High School in the west of Cardiff has purchased a number of Forever Flowers to feature in the central display of a garden of remembrance within the school grounds.
Forever Flowers is a new campaign by City Hospice which invites supporters to purchase limited-edition flowers to remember cherished family members, friends and loved ones. The unique and lasting tributes will feature in a striking display at Cardiff Castle from Saturday July 24 to Sunday August 8, after which the flowers can be collected or delivered.
The school originally got involved with the campaign by purchasing a flower in memory of popular colleague and Head of Design Technology Dawn Wilson, an inspiration to staff and pupils during her time at the school, who sadly passed away with cancer.
Manchester: St Paul’s pupils take university module
A cohort of Year 10 students from Saint Paul’s Catholic High School in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester were given an incredible opportunity to study a module at degree level, on the Scholar’s Programme through The Brilliant Club.
They attended their virtual graduation ceremony hosted by the University of Manchester to receive their awards virtually accompanied by their families. Mrs Erin Rudd, Careers Lead at Saint Paul’s, said, “It has been an amazing process with our students tenaciously working hard and striving for excellence; for which they were accordingly rewarded. A special thanks to their families who have supported their children with this momentous achievement”.
Leeds Trinity joins Student Minds’ University mental health programme
Leeds Trinity University has become one of the first institutions to join the Student Minds’ University Mental Health Charter Programme, which will support its approach towards student and staff mental health.
The Charter Programme, led by Student Minds, the UK’s student mental health charity, brings together universities committed to making mental health and wellbeing an institution-wide priority, sharing best practice and creating cultural change.
By joining the Charter Programme, Leeds Trinity has committed to working towards a set of evidence-informed principles of good practice. This includes a commitment to working with staff and students to provide well-resourced and effective support services, as well as creating an environment and culture that reduces poor mental health and promotes good mental health for the whole University community
Centre for Marian Studies welcomed to St Mary’s University
St Mary’s University, Twickenham has announced that the Centre for Marian Studies (CMS) is to become a part of the Institute of Theology and Liberal Arts at the University and will host a conference from 8-10th July.
The CMS, a registered charity founded in 1995 by Dr Sarah Jane Boss, is concerned with the advancement of the education of the public in all matters relating to the Virgin Mary. The charity runs educational courses, supports research, holds lectures for outside organisations, helps to supervise students, and provides information on Marian issues to the mass media and general public. The CMS has no religious affiliation and is open to members of any religious belief.
The CMS also has a book collection which has been curated over the past 26 years. Students will be able to access the collection from the University library and it may be of particular interest to students taking one of the modules in Mariology run by the Institute of Theology and Liberal Arts, which are included in the BA (Hons) Theological Studies, the STB programme run with Mater Ecclesiae College, and the MA Christian Spirituality.
Book&Media Review
CATHOLIC EDUCATION IN THE LIGHT OF VATICAN II AND LAUDATO SI’
By: Dermot A. Lane
Publisher: Veritas Books
Publication Date: April 2016
Veritas: ISBN 978 1 84730 662 3 - £7.99
My immediate reactions to finding this book, while looking for something else in the Veritas catalogue, were to question why I was only now discovering such a treasure that was published in 2015 and, how could any author condense so much insightful scholarship into fewer than 80 pages on such an important and powerful reflection?
Without a hint of pretension or presumption, I can only conclude that the Holy Spirit has ordained that this is a book that has found its time. Set in the major themes of recent and the current issues of Networking, linking the
profound influence of Laudato Si’ in our focus on COP26 and our demands for a re-evaluation of the purpose of Catholic education, this study couldn’t possibly be more apposite.
Dermot Lane, a priest of the Dublin Archdiocese and a past President of Mater Dei Institute of Education, Dublin City University is a respected thinker with an enviable list of publications to his name. He has established himself as one of the more insightful voices within the Church in these islands, notable for his grasp of complex topics allied to an ability to reach beyond an academic audience without sacrificing the rigour or clarity of his argument.
In his introduction, Lane speaks of ‘a theology of education, more often than not unspoken’ and sets out to begin to articulate the theology implicit in developments that have their roots in the influence of Vatican II. He traces the theological shifts since Vatican II in four parts; first, the direct influence of the Council; second, a reading of the signs of the times as articulated by a number of theologians and critiqued by the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor; third, the educational implications of Laudato Si’; fourth, the shaping of a renewed anthropology in the service of education and theology. He is at pains to emphasise that a renewed anthropology is critically important to the future of Catholic education.
Recommending an aerial view of the council he seeks out its seminal ideas, its larger patterns and paradigm shifts. He emphasises the importance of examining individual documents only in the context of the entirety of the body of work of the Council, this being especially true of the Declaration on Christian Education which postponed critical decision making until the post-conciliar years. He does however highlight significant structural shifts emanating from the Council:
By Willie Slavin
• A new relationship of openness requiring dialogue and mutuality.
• A move from a propositional view of revelation to a more personal and dialogical understanding.
• A recommendation that a reading of the signs of the times should inform the presentation of the Gospel.
• A new awareness of anthropology as central to the proclamation of the Gospel.
• A recognition that the substance of the ancient doctrine is one thing and the way it is presented is another.
• An explicit awareness that an intimate relationship exists between faith and culture.
The real paradigm shift lies in the change in the Church’s selfunderstanding from one rooted in Christendom to one in dialogue with the world. A Church committed to a process of teaching and learning in a new relationship of mutuality with the modern world.
Leaning heavily on Gaudium et Spes, his consideration of the way the Church needs to engage with the world by reading the signs of the times lies in the requirement to be able to answer the critical questions pertinent to any age, to discern the presence and action of God in the world today; and to acknowledge that the Spirit of God directs the course of time and renews the face of the earth. The secular world is a graced reality, a sacred space and a holy place where God is to be found. That said, the ensuing fifty or so years have revealed the many tensions inherent in this seminal document, not least the continuing development of the theological thinking that informed the Council but, also in the practical reality of bringing it to life within a Church faced with a society and culture that, in its own way, was changing at a much faster pace than the Church could match.
In his consideration of Laudato Si’ the author highlights three challenges to Catholic education:
• The encyclical’s critique of anthropocentrism that has compromised the intrinsic dignity of the natural world.
• Its direct challenge to education around origins, human belonging and a shared future.
• Its call for ecological conversion only attainable through ecological education. Protection of God’s creation starts with a sense of gratitude for God’s loving gift.
Just as an excessive anthropocentrism is one of the causes of the ecological crisis so, a renewed anthropomorphism based around an understanding of the relationship between God, the human and the earth. Ecological conversion is not an option. It is intrinsic to Christian experience; it enriches our Christian faith and must become a vital part of evangelisation.
While acknowledging the value of the anthropological understanding of Gaudium et Spes, Lane emphasises the radically different 21st century challenges being addressed by Laudato Si’. Our understanding of the dignity of the human person is assailed on many sides by radical individualism, pornography, rampant consumerism, market capitalism and globalisation. In Laudato Si’ Pope Francis talks of the human being sanctified in relationships, going out from themselves to live in communion with God, with others and with all creatures. In effect we seek an anthropology that, defying Descartes, insists that “we are, therefore I am”. We need to move towards an understanding of self in terms of relational autonomy. The emergence in Gaudium et Spes of an understanding of revelation as a dialogical exchange between God and humanity has been further developed in Laudato Si, where Pope Francis calls for an intense and fruitful dialogue on the relationship between religion and science, between ecology and spirituality and between politics and economics, as well as dialogue among religions; all in the service of the environment and its well-being.
The encyclical carries a cautionary note around the dualism that traditionally and erroneously distinguished between body and soul, spirit and matter, self and
flesh which has haunted the recovery of a renewed and contemporary anthropology. Pope Francis calls for a ‘Human Ecology’ which sees the body as the vehicle for direct relationship with the environment and other human beings. Valuing one’s body is critically important to developing an ‘Integral Ecology’ built around our respect for our sexuality, for the sacredness and the sacramentality of the human body and the relationships between human body and the body of the earth, and for the body of the earth and the cosmos, all as part of God’s creation.
The role of language is recognised as integral to our human identity, to developing dialogical relationships that open up the world of meaning and is essential for human agency and enlarging our freedom. The role of education is to open up the many layers of language from the literal to the poetic. The poetic is closer to the language of revelation in its capacity to find the highest possibilities of meaning and understanding.
The encyclical demands a move away from a destructive anthropocentrism that has led to an exaggerated sense of the importance of the human and its assumption of a licence to exploit the earth, in which Christianity has been anthropologically and theologically complicit. While Gaudium et Spes was signalled the beginning of a renewed thinking, much of its explicit language still talked about human control over creation, described by Pope Francis as a distorted relationship between the human and natural worlds.
Lane concludes that the answer lies in the search for an account of the human that recognises the place of the human, not within the earth, but within the larger and the longer story of the cosmos, by revisiting a Jewish theology of creation, by the recovery of creation centred Christologies of the New Testament and by embracing contemporary cosmologies which describe the human within the perspective of a delicately balanced relationship of dependence. Scientists have variously described the human as ‘cosmic dust in a state of consciousness, freedom and responsibility’ and ‘made of the ashes of dead stars.’
The Jewish understanding of creation has ‘the breath, or Spirit, of God
bringing order out of chaos and life out of the dust of the earth and continues to sustain that gift in existence. It is an understanding that stresses the intimate relationship between the human and the earth. The New Testament Christology of the link between incarnation and creation, between nature and grace offers the basis of a new anthropology informing Catholic education and theology. An anthropology that sees the human as relational, dialogical, embodied, linguistic and creation centred has the potential to become the hallmark of Catholic education in the 21st century.
Author of the review: Willie Slavin
Catholic EducationA Lifelong Journey
By: Gareth Byrne & Sean Whittle
Publisher: Veritas Books
Publication Date: August 2021
As an avid reader of newspapers and a predilection for starting on the back pages traditionally reserved for sport, I have, for the first time started a book by reading the final paper.
Gerry O’Connell’s memoir Fifty Years in Catholic Education: Formal, Informal and Lifelong, spent in Ireland, was immediately appealing because my
own, contemporaneous time in Catholic education in England had the added attraction of being similarly devoted largely to the Primary sector with an acute interest in Religious Education. Turning the first page and finding this revelatory statement about the nature of the task of teaching drew me in like a salmon to a colourfully tied lure:
All that we can ever teach another is our own story. In conversation, our story turns our listeners to reflect on their own story, and so the dialogue begins. This dialogue in turn leads to learning in the silence of the heart, a form of prayer.
Why would any reader not wish to engage with this insightful teacher’s story of a life well lived in the service of his students, from first to third level education., especially when he admits that sometimes teaching is like a high jump competition which always ends in failure, you keep going higher until you fail. He captures something of the relentless nature of the job and cautions against developing a sense of never being good enough. His own sense of self worth was rescued by a steely resolve to keep trying until the reward comes and by inspirational teachers in his post graduate studies who opened up new horizons of learning. Learning to listen to his life and passing on that gifted insight to student teachers to help them understand their vocation as ‘the place where your deep gladness and the world’s great hunger meet’ (Buechner, 1993, p119) is a pearl of great price.
Having described himself as having been ‘marinated in Catholic education for fifty-five years,’ his parting shot is of luxuriating in the thought of having spent all those years ‘nourished in the sanctuary of Catholic education.’ I think I understand what he means by being drawn into reflecting on one’s own story. It is gratifying to read that Professor Gerald Grace in his Foreword has been similarly drawn into this impressive collection. Indeed, sufficiently impressed to describe it thus:
This text is ground-breaking because it addresses themes which the conventional literature largely ignores, such as adult learning and adult religious education, primary school pupils talking about their faith in the home, lifelong learning in the Church, the place and role of small groups and the question of faith development itself. It breathes
a fresh spirit of inquiry and imagination into the whole mission.
A feature of the book that strikes this reader is that many of the contributors, from an academic background, have broken free of the straight jacket of ‘these are the findings of my latest research’ to move beyond the dry bones and, in a series of personal testaments, have allowed the breath of their living faith to lift their work onto a different plane. And isn’t that what Catholic education, at whatever level, is all about? Isn’t this the exponential factor that lifts teachers over the highest bar, when they discover the power of the Holy Spirit in the depths of the ‘never being good enough’ despair.
In many ways, the first paper, from Ros Stuart-Buttle, caught my eye for a not dissimilar reason as the O’Connell paper, in that its detailed consideration of the author’s research into the Catholic Certificate of Religious Studies (CCRS) on behalf of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, deals with a programme with which I, as a headteacher, assiduously promoted among my teaching and non-teaching staff. What lifted this paper to the level I have just tried to describe is the compelling personal statements of faith elicited from students by a piece of research that went impressively beyond the quantitative. As an indication of what I would describe as reflective scholarship at its best, I offer this telling quote from the text:
Hauerwas asserted that, ‘We know who we are only when we can place ourselves – locate our stories within God’s story.’ To do this with authenticity for adult learners requires both theological curriculum and pedagogy to invite critical reflection and dialogue to enable them to find real meaning in the Christian narrative and their own and others’ personal and cultural experiences.
Bernadette Sweetman, in a paper entitled ‘Adult Education in Ireland: Pushing the boat out’ balances the UK/Ireland picture by reporting on work going on in Dublin City University (DCU) into the current and planned future provision of adult education in Ireland. The research is responding to a perceived need for an approach to adult religious education that responds to the genuine search for answers to the questions being raised by potential participants. A contemporary
approach that is seeking to read the signs of the times that indicates the presence of a growing number of adults seeking spiritual answers to their questions outside of formal religious institutions. There is a recognised thirst and a hunger to find new ways to deal with new questions as they emerge. This is an on-going piece of work that so far has demonstrated that the complexity of the matter is deserving of the planned further qualitative research. There are no easy answers.
John Sullivan contributes a characteristically searching examination of the complexity of the challenge facing the Church as a teaching community and, having established that we must be able to put on the mind of Christ, freely confesses ‘to find and follow the will of God, requires a lifetime to learn and can never be adequately mastered.’ However, much of what we learn is about ‘worshipping together, encountering the Bible, sharing experiences, welcoming, celebrating, listening, healing, forgiving … and (only) sometimes learning explicitly.’ Quoting from Huebner, the author draws attention to three key points about learning in the Church. First, we have to be able to tell our story with joy and to hear the story of others. Second, we need to be open to the stranger who has the potential to inject new life into the community. Third, education is part of community life and is a function of the vitality of the community.
Perhaps, in this searching for the holy grail of adult education, we are overlooking, or God forbid, have already lost the power of the Sabbath assembly to form and inform our adult communities.
Raymond Friel offers an eye-catching insight into the See, Judge, Act mantra of Cardinal Cardijn’s inspired Young Christian Worker movement which was taken on board by John XXIII in his 1961 encyclical Mater et Magistra to mark the seventieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum, the great social encyclical of 1891. Cardijn in 1951 saw the need for transformation of life and developed the See Judge Act process as an ‘apostolic dialectic’ by which lay people would bridge the gap between what God willed to be the case and what was the case between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world. The author traces the influence of this innovation through Vatican II, liberation theology,
a less than supportive John Paul II, to its resurrection in the thinking of Pope Francis. A narrative that summarises the post Vatican II story perfectly.
While choosing to focus on the adult education sections of this diverse collection at the expense of some important chapters on schooling, a title like Why Are Catholic Schools Afraid to Be Catholic Schools? - by Aiveen Mullally, has an irresistible attraction and it offers an insight into the strains and tensions with the Irish Church’s researching for a role in a society whose socio-religious make-up has changed more dramatically that we in the UK perhaps realise, or perhaps choose to overlook in our own context.
The diversity of students and families’ religious affiliation, conviction and expectations of schools that remain Catholic are indicative of how that ‘provision has not caught up with Irish society’. The resulting challenge for schools is formidable. The challenge of moving from a catechetical model of religious education to one of learning about religion in its various manifestations, is just one of the challenges, alongside prayer and ritual. At the risk of oversimplifying the impressive response to these and other challenges, a sense that, re-imagining the role and purpose of the school along the lines of the most insightful thinking within Catholic circles is bearing fruit. Taking heart from the work of Lieven Boave, Belgian Catholic educationalist: It is precisely through the process of dialogue between people of differing beliefs that one’s own identity is deepened. Crucially, dialogue opens up the room to introduce once again the Christian voice within the conversation. The author’s conclusion that:
Catholic schools need not fear the credibility of their own identity or their voice in a landscape of unbelief and religious diversity. The Catholic voice has as valid a position in the public square as any other voice.
The Catholic school invites everyone in the school community into dialogue with the vision and mission of the school. It invites all the partners in the Catholic school to reflect, to listen, to discuss and to be open to deepening their own spiritual lives.
This leaves little more that can be said about how this important collection of
insightful papers has much to offer a Church in transition, let alone its schools.
Author
of the review:
Willie Slavin
Books worthy of further study on the theme of this issue
Theology And Ecology In Dialogue
The Wisdom Of Lau
By: Dermot A. Lane
Publisher: Messenger Publications
Publication Date: May 2021 - £18.95
This book builds bridges between theology and ecology. It challenges theology to re-imagine who we are, who the Spirit is, who Christ is, where creation is going, and what is the role of liturgy in society all in the glare of the climate crisis. Up to now climate change was left to scientists, politicians, and activists. It is now time for religion to enter the debate. Climate change is not just one more problem to be addressed; it is the challenge facing humanity in the 21st century. This thought-provoking text will be of interest to activists, policymakers, educators, priests, and theologians.
Climate Generation:
Awakening To Our Children’s Future
By: Lorna Gold
Publisher: Veritas Books
Publication Date: June 2018 - £11.99
Lorna Gold has given all of herself to this small book. She takes us on an anguished, unflinching journey into the heart of the climate crisis, and emerges emboldened
— with a radical, utterly convincing hope that we can spring into action to protect the future of everything, and everyone, we love most.’Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything: Capitalism Vs. the Climate
Creation and the Cross: The Mercy of God for a Planet in Peril
By: Elizabeth A. Johnson
Publisher: Orbis Books
Publication Date: March 2018 - £13.99
Confronting the woeful legacy of a centuries’-old theology, Johnson shows how the beauty of our faith tradition is deepened by being rooted in ecological reality. She lays out the foundations in scripture, the teachings of Jesus, and the early Church for an understanding that emphasizes the love and mercy of God, showing how this approach can help us respond to a planet in peril.
CRY OF THE EARTH (Ecology & Justice)
By:
Leonardo Boff
Publisher: Orbis Books
Publication Date: October 1997 - £20.00
“Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor” represents Leonardo Boff’s most systematic effort to date to link the spirit of liberation theology with the urgent challenge of ecology. Focusing on the threatened Amazon of his native Brazil, Boff traces the ties that bind the fate of the rain forests with the fate of the Indians and the poor of the land. In this book, readers will find the keys to a new, liberating faith.
MISSION TOGETHER
As we begin a new school year, we’re all praying for more stable foundations on which to build. Yet there are many positives to be taken from the last 18 months, as schools responded with ingenuity and creativity to ongoing uncertainties.
Mission Together has long benefited from the creativity of teachers. Constructive feedback and suggestions from schools across the country have helped us to develop our classroom and worship resources, notably over recent months. Consequently, this year’s annual Together in… campaign resource has new elements to better support the mission of Catholic education.
Every year Mission Together produces an assembly focusing on one of our children’s projects overseas. The assembly enables pupils in England and Wales to discover more about the children supported by the project, the countries and cultures in which they live, and the world we all share.
This year we’re getting to know Moses who attends the Mua School for the Deaf in Malawi, the fifth poorest country in the world. The Mua School for the Deaf was built by the Catholic Church
in 1984, and though now state run, the Church still oversees the residential care of Mua’s 170 pupils. This important service is undertaken by a small community of Religious Sisters.
The Sisters work selflessly to ensure the pupils’ physical, spiritual, and medical needs are met. But with inadequate and sporadic government funding, the Sisters and pupils of the school need our help.
Our Together in Malawi assembly and film, cross-curriculum pupil workbook, country poster, and Catholic Social Teaching campaign guide, encourages children in England and Wales to be mini-missionaries by supporting Mua’s pupils and Sisters through their prayers and acts of charity.
Our Together in Malawi resources inspire children in England and Wales to recognise themselves as members of God’s Global Family, working together for the benefit of all God’s children. Our Together in… resources, like all Mission Together materials, also cover key aspects of the RE Curriculum Directory, support global learning, evidence Catholic Social Teaching, and provide novel opportunities for teaching and learning.
One such avenue was explored by Mr Dan Jones, Class 5 Teacher at St Wilfrid’s Primary, York. Dan devised an ingenious literacy project, setting his pupils the task of writing and recording persuasive letters to encourage new Mission Together supporters. Dan explained: ‘When we saw the Mission Together website and the plight of children around the world, we wanted to do something. We always
Moses and his teacher, Patricia.
try to make our writing have a purpose, and this really engaged and captured the imagination and attention of our caring and compassionate Year 5 and 6 children.’
Dan’s pupils used the Mission Together website to gather information, then used Flipgrid to record their persuasive reports. With their understanding of Mission Together greatly improved, Dan’s pupils then helped to raise over £1,000 to support our overseas children’s projects.
Inspired by the efforts of St Wilfrid’s Pupils, we’ve revised our website to include new Pupil Pages, specifically designed for younger supporters: We are Mission Together, The History of Mission Together, Where we work Our Pupils pages’ link with the Mission Together Virtual Map, an interactive tool that encourages pupils to explore the globe whilst also discovering the many ways children around the world live out and share their Catholic faith. Our country profiles also contain geographical and cultural facts, to develop pupils’ awareness and appreciation of the common home we share and steward together.
In addition to changes to our website, we’ve also been developing our pupil prayer and worship resources, creating a bank of liturgical prayers that optimise pupil involvement. Our new Liturgical Prayer Pupil Planner, has been carefully designed to assist children as they develop their understanding and creation of Liturgical Prayer.
Our Liturgical Prayer Pupil Planner includes key aspects of collective worship e.g. Scripture, symbols, and liturgical music. To assist in the latter, we’re producing a bank of recorded mission hymns and worship songs. These can be viewed on our new Sing with Mission Together webpage.
If a focus was needed to make best use of our new resources, October’s Mission Month, provides a great opportunity. In the Catholic Church, October has long been associated with mission, with established feasts (Little Way Week, World Mission Sunday), that underscore the universal call to be missionaries of Christ’s love to everyone, everywhere. Visit our Mission Month webpage for assemblies, liturgies, and activities.
A great introduction to Mission Month is Little Way Week (Sept 27-Oct 1st). This week presents an opportunity to celebrate the patron of mission, St Thérèse of Lisieux, former supporter of Holy Childhood aka Mission Together, and advocate of the little way – that through small, loving actions we too can
deliver God’s love to the world.
If you are interested in supporting Mission Together in your school, please visit our website or contact Claire at missiontogether@missio.org.uk We’re always grateful for feedback on our materials and ideas on how we can better support the mission of Catholic education.
