Page 55 - The Gonzaga Record 1986
P. 55
homogeneity of its pupils' background may lead, on the one hand, to an
insensitive bias to their group or class, on the other, to a romantic
rejection of it?
However one answers this question, it is clearly imperative that schools
and other institutions of society earnestly seek the means to prepare
young people to take their place in society and to serve society as agents
of reconciliation and social harmony. This school will have to continue
to develop a curriculum, structure and composition that will best give its
pupils a social experience to develop their willingness to share the
burdens of society, a compassion to motivate them to do so and a charity
to enable them to be a force for social unity.
The religious context: I think that the school as a religious institution is
in a state of crisis in Ireland. A symptom of this is the fact that so many
now send their children to schools that are hardly committed to a
religious view of life and certainly not to a Catholic one. Those who do
so give good educational and social reasons for so doing and imply that
in religious matters the school does not make all that difference. This
implication presents the religious school with a serious challenge. I do
not see the school serving a worthwhile religious purpose in society today
except in close association with the family, its senior partner in
education. Only if the school and home seriously and together address
themselves to the religious education of our young people can the school
fulfil its role in religious formation.
The school is a secluded place; frequently it is on the periphery of its
student's life, at times its relevance to their lives is obscure. We look to
the parents of the family to give us a sense of living a Christian life in
business, in commerce, in the professions, we look to the parents to give
what the school cannot give - the individual witness of Christian Living
in a secular context. It is only by seeing that religion counts in secular
life, that it will have any deep meaning for the young person. Only in so
far as we hear the parents, how it in fact does count in their live s can we
then educate their children for Christian life in a post-Christian age. We
must listen to, and learn from the parents, if we are to carry out our task
as Christian educators.
Finally, I am deeply aware that splendid examination results, success
on the sport's field and the production of cultivated young men will
profit the school little if it does not form young men with a deep personal
loyalty to Christ, the Church and Christian values. For that we were
founded, for that we exist and by that we will be judged.
Rev. Noel Barber, SJ
Sunday, 6 March 1983
The Third of Lent
53
insensitive bias to their group or class, on the other, to a romantic
rejection of it?
However one answers this question, it is clearly imperative that schools
and other institutions of society earnestly seek the means to prepare
young people to take their place in society and to serve society as agents
of reconciliation and social harmony. This school will have to continue
to develop a curriculum, structure and composition that will best give its
pupils a social experience to develop their willingness to share the
burdens of society, a compassion to motivate them to do so and a charity
to enable them to be a force for social unity.
The religious context: I think that the school as a religious institution is
in a state of crisis in Ireland. A symptom of this is the fact that so many
now send their children to schools that are hardly committed to a
religious view of life and certainly not to a Catholic one. Those who do
so give good educational and social reasons for so doing and imply that
in religious matters the school does not make all that difference. This
implication presents the religious school with a serious challenge. I do
not see the school serving a worthwhile religious purpose in society today
except in close association with the family, its senior partner in
education. Only if the school and home seriously and together address
themselves to the religious education of our young people can the school
fulfil its role in religious formation.
The school is a secluded place; frequently it is on the periphery of its
student's life, at times its relevance to their lives is obscure. We look to
the parents of the family to give us a sense of living a Christian life in
business, in commerce, in the professions, we look to the parents to give
what the school cannot give - the individual witness of Christian Living
in a secular context. It is only by seeing that religion counts in secular
life, that it will have any deep meaning for the young person. Only in so
far as we hear the parents, how it in fact does count in their live s can we
then educate their children for Christian life in a post-Christian age. We
must listen to, and learn from the parents, if we are to carry out our task
as Christian educators.
Finally, I am deeply aware that splendid examination results, success
on the sport's field and the production of cultivated young men will
profit the school little if it does not form young men with a deep personal
loyalty to Christ, the Church and Christian values. For that we were
founded, for that we exist and by that we will be judged.
Rev. Noel Barber, SJ
Sunday, 6 March 1983
The Third of Lent
53
