Province Leader Administration
“Combining Faith and the Future” Reflections of the Leader of the Christian Brothers in South Australia and Western Australia
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t the time I write this article there is much controversy and debate in some parts of Australia about ‘outcomes based education’. There is also strong discussion in some educational circles about the ability of school leavers to read and write properly. Br Kevin P. Ryan Similarly there is debate Province Leader about what literature (novels, drama, poetry) is read and studied in our primary and secondary schools in Australia and even how students are taught to read and respond to literature. It is good that these matters are being talked about. Perhaps also there is a need in Catholic Education circles to continue a deeper conversation about Catholic Schools and what kind of education is needed in Australia and in our part of the world in 2006 and the years ahead. For over forty years the Catholic Church has often talked about the fact that it needs to ‘respond to the signs of the times’. In other words, the Church (and therefore Catholic schools) need to be aware of the context in which it is endeavouring to work. Why does it need to do this? Simply because its ‘work’ is to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ into reality in the world in which we live. Different people will use different parts of the Gospel to illustrate what they believe to be the heart of the Gospel. However, one section that clearly suggests itself is from the Gospel of Luke (4:16-20) when Jesus says of himself: “The spirit of the Lord is on me for he has anointed me to bring the good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord” Another key passage of course is the last judgement story in the Gospel of Matthew (25:31-46) which asks us: Did we feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger and visit those in prison? These are Jesus’ criteria for judging whether we have lived a good life, whether we have made the ‘Kingdom of God’ a reality in the world around us. If that is the Gospel we need to teach, what is the context in which we work, what is happening in Australia today, what are the ‘signs of the times’?
The document, ‘Charter for Catholic Schools in the Edmund Rice Tradition’, highlights several issues in which there seems to be polarisation or tension in Australian society at this time. It suggests that there is: • The proclamation of a ‘fair go’ alongside an inclination to exclude people in need and a growing gap between rich and poor. • A growing sense of environmental degradation alongside a growing consumerism which creates greater degradation. • An explosion of technological advances which has improved the quality of life of some but for others has increased hours of work and/or social isolation. • A wish to rid the world of terrorism while some advocate an increase in aggressive actions against individuals and countries. • An interest and search for spirituality among many young people and yet a decline in a communal religious involvement. With the last point mentioned comes a tendency to ‘pick and choose’ what aspects of morality are absorbed or lived. Within Catholic Schools in the Edmund Rice tradition we work with creativity and energy to provide the opportunity for our students to develop and live a relationship with God, to learn about the Gospel within the Catholic Church context, and to assist them to ‘practise’ certain behaviours to express the Gospel in their lives by love and service of others. As we assist the students to learn about God, to have a living relationship with God and to celebrate God’s presence among us in the sacraments, we are helping them to have the love, energy and skills to be Jesus Christ present in the world and To To To To
bring the good news to the afflicted, proclaim liberty to the captives, give sight to the blind, help the oppressed go free
In other words we are helping them to be young people who create a more just world – to help the ‘Kingdom of God’ or the ‘Dream of God’ to come true, to become a reality in our world. It is a dream – and I still believe in dreams coming true!
Br Kevin P Ryan Province Leader
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