The Mission Continues: Providing Catholic Education Despite the Pandemic

used to have before the pandemic. Despite the unprecedented difficulties, the mission to provide “Catholic education” (by instilling the Catholic Church doctrine, moral and worship aspects in different practices) remains and is still being fulfilled.

BR. JAYMAR D. GODALLE, OP

AMIDST THE EFFECTS of the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions (both basic and collegiate levels) in our society today continue their quest to provide quality services for our young learners. Due to the various restrictions implemented by the government, schools grappled with converting onsite learning activities into online platforms or modular set-ups. Thus, teaching-learning experiences, grading systems, policy making, training, etc. were offered quite differently from what we

As Dominicans, we are always reminded of our fundamental role to preach the Gospel. One way of proclaiming the Word of God is through education or teaching, most specifically Theology or Religious Education courses in the different Dominican-run educational institutions. Since we are still practicing remote teaching modality, we were able to reach out even to the educational institutions run by the different Dominican Congregations outside Metro Manila.

Teaching Catholic values and heritage in an academic forum is indeed fulfilling and a joyous ministry. When students show their enthusiasm and active involvement during discussion albeit virtual and prompt submission of requirements, the teaching-learning journey becomes easier. However, challenges and struggles are also inevitable. Because we are in the online world, most of the time

Grateful @ 30

THE YEAR 2022 is a breather for many as humanity triumphs in its fight against COVID. This year is also very special for me as I celebrate my thirtieth year of proclaiming the Word of God in Santo Domingo Church, Quezon City. I vividly remember my “moment of grace” decades ago while I was serving both as lector/commentator at the altar of Our Lady of the Rosary La Naval de Manila. While the priest was raising the Body of Christ during the Consecration, I felt His real presence. I felt very blessed that I was very near Him. There and then, this young doctor made a pact to God that she will serve Him throughout her life.

I always tell others that being a lector saved my soul and my being. I focused less on the material aspects of life and focused more on my relationship with God and others. I studied about the lectorate ministry, the Catholic faith, and the Bible. I always brought along my daughter with me whenever I attended activities in Sto. Domingo Church as I wanted to inspire her. I became the happiest mother when recently, I heard her say, “Mama, I want to be a lector.” She is now sixteen years old, and I await the day that we will be able to serve God together at the altar. #Grateful@30 students attend the online class late (and even worst absent even without any notifications given).

The learning modality system also has very limited features in order to make the discussion more attractive to the students. The number of students per class is quite big (for example, one class has more than fifty [50] students) as well. Late submission of requirements and low-quality outputs being submitted have also become the sad norm. Therefore, we can say that there are good things that we gain and at the same time, we also saw that many things need to be improved in our educational services as we face the current pandemic.

As the government gradually removes some of the restrictions, we hope that our Catholic educational institutions, most especially those that bear the Dominican charism, may continue their efforts to share the fruits of their contemplation by providing quality education while promoting the values of evangelization and ecclesial experience to all our stakeholders.