This week has been designated as 'Education Week' by the government of Ontario. In addition, it is being observed as Catholic Education Week by teachers, students, parents, guardians - all those who recognize the gift that Catholic Education is to us today and the promise it holds for our future.
Various activities are being planned in the Catholic schools of the province. At the local elementary school, there is room for all the children to take part in some activity or other, and every one of these is focused at helping them to better appreciate the faith that we all share. Most of the information that has been shared with various Catholic school boards across the province about Catholic Education Week can be found on the website of the Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association.
Based on the wisdom of the prophet Micah (6:8), the theme for this year's Catholic Education Week is We are called. Various materials have been prepared in order to assist teachers, catechists and clergy to use this teachable moment to the greatest possible effect.
Perhaps CEW calls us all to examine our own commitment. We might begin by giving thanks for those who have shared the gift of faith with us throughout the years. Teaching is a profession, but teaching faith is a vocation, so perhaps we should identify those who are instrumental in the formation of our children and take the time to thank them for all that they do. A few boquets every now and then don't hurt anyone ... and the potential for doing good is beyond measure.
1 comment:
Have you ever stopped to think that the loss of public funding for Ontario Catholic schools might be a blessing to the Catholic community in the province?
Seriously, with only a tiny minority of Catholics (~10%?)bothering to attend Church every week, but with most relying on the state to educate their children in the faith, what sort of message is being passed to the children? "Do as we say, not as we do?" "You kids go off to Catholic school, but hush your mouth on Sunday morning so you don't disturb us when we are sleeping in".
Don't get me wrong, I think many Catholics genuinely want to impart knowledge of the faith to their children, but without modeling their own commitment to the faith through action, what message is it sending? How likely are their kids going to be to attend Church when they have kids? They'll likely do exactly as Mom and Dad did -- or perhaps less.
And what of the hypocrisy of saying "we love our neighbours as ourselves" while actually doing precious little to resolve the discrimination that sees Ontario Catholics having more choice in education and education related employment than those of any other faith? Only a tiny percentage (15%) of Ontarians - Catholic or otherwise, favoured extended faith based school funding in the last election -- less even than the proportion of Catholics in the population (34%). Do the rest want one school system? Do they think it is OK that Catholics sit at the top of the social heap? I hope the former.
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