Page 102 - The Gonzaga Record 1986
P. 102
OUR GRADUATES: CHRISTIAN OR NOT?-
PASTORAL CARE IN GONZAGA
When the students have completed Sixth year and leave Gonzaga, are
they more committed Christians than when they came to us? Or are they
just well-educated agnostics, not noticeably influenced by the radical
values of the Gospel? When Gonzaga graduates enter business or studies
or the professions, does their moral and religious stance make a signifi-
cant impact on the people with whom they live and work, or would one
not notice that they had been to a Catholic, Jesuit school? Are our stud-
ents known for their simplicity and lack of affectation, are they charact-
erised by a sense of service, by a keen concern for justice in Dublin and
Ireland, and in the world? These are some of the questions to be faced
by staff, by parents, by students and by the past when we assess the con-
tribution the school is making to society.
Pastoral care
A good education is concerned with the development of the whole
person. Pastoral care is specifically concerned with the human and relig-
ious growth of the students. Needless to say, all teachers are pastorally
involved with their students and are not simply concerned with their
progress in a particular subject. But because of teaching demands this
involvement is necessarily limited. Specifically concerned with the
pastoral care and formation of the students is the Director of Pastoral
Care, whose work may need some explanation.
Our central tasks as educators in a Christian, Catholic and Jesuit
school is to open the students to the challenge of the Gospel. And the
Gospel is concerned with dignity - as found in themselves, in their
relationship with others and in their relationship with God. The whole
life of the school is meant to be geared towards the recognition and
development of gifts an.d talents, and towards the discovery of one's own
dignity and the dignity of others: through study, through games, through
drama, through involvement in such societies as the St Vincent de Paul
society, indeed through all extra- or eo-curricular activities.
As Director of Pastoral Care (Chaplain/Spiritual Father) I am respons-
ible for (a) the organisation of Liturgical Worship - year and class
Masses; penance services and confessions; retreats; (b) organising chap-
lains, where available, for different year; for helping, through interviews,
students of Fourth, Fifth and Sixth years who seek advice - giving to
each student an opportunity of at least an annual interview; above all for
challenging individuals to live more human, moral and religious lives; (c)
developing the Religious Education (RK) programme, conscious of the
dimension of social justice and awareness, increasingly central to the
100
PASTORAL CARE IN GONZAGA
When the students have completed Sixth year and leave Gonzaga, are
they more committed Christians than when they came to us? Or are they
just well-educated agnostics, not noticeably influenced by the radical
values of the Gospel? When Gonzaga graduates enter business or studies
or the professions, does their moral and religious stance make a signifi-
cant impact on the people with whom they live and work, or would one
not notice that they had been to a Catholic, Jesuit school? Are our stud-
ents known for their simplicity and lack of affectation, are they charact-
erised by a sense of service, by a keen concern for justice in Dublin and
Ireland, and in the world? These are some of the questions to be faced
by staff, by parents, by students and by the past when we assess the con-
tribution the school is making to society.
Pastoral care
A good education is concerned with the development of the whole
person. Pastoral care is specifically concerned with the human and relig-
ious growth of the students. Needless to say, all teachers are pastorally
involved with their students and are not simply concerned with their
progress in a particular subject. But because of teaching demands this
involvement is necessarily limited. Specifically concerned with the
pastoral care and formation of the students is the Director of Pastoral
Care, whose work may need some explanation.
Our central tasks as educators in a Christian, Catholic and Jesuit
school is to open the students to the challenge of the Gospel. And the
Gospel is concerned with dignity - as found in themselves, in their
relationship with others and in their relationship with God. The whole
life of the school is meant to be geared towards the recognition and
development of gifts an.d talents, and towards the discovery of one's own
dignity and the dignity of others: through study, through games, through
drama, through involvement in such societies as the St Vincent de Paul
society, indeed through all extra- or eo-curricular activities.
As Director of Pastoral Care (Chaplain/Spiritual Father) I am respons-
ible for (a) the organisation of Liturgical Worship - year and class
Masses; penance services and confessions; retreats; (b) organising chap-
lains, where available, for different year; for helping, through interviews,
students of Fourth, Fifth and Sixth years who seek advice - giving to
each student an opportunity of at least an annual interview; above all for
challenging individuals to live more human, moral and religious lives; (c)
developing the Religious Education (RK) programme, conscious of the
dimension of social justice and awareness, increasingly central to the
100
