In this compelling podcast episode, renowned global Catholic speaker, Jonathan Doyle, embarks on an enlightening exploration of the core identity of a Catholic school. Drawing from his wealth of experience and profound understanding of Catholic education, Jonathan takes listeners on a transformative journey to uncover the essence and purpose of these educational institutions.
At the heart of this episode lies the central question: What truly defines a Catholic school? Jonathan skillfully reveals that the core identity of a Catholic school is not confined to mere institutional labels or external appearances. Rather, it is a profound commitment to a sacred mission that encompasses the formation of the whole person – mind, body, and spirit.
With passion and clarity, Jonathan delves into the key elements that make a Catholic school unique and irreplaceable. The episode explores the role of faith, as the heartbeat of the school, intertwining every aspect of its life and activities. Listeners will gain insights into how Catholic schools create an environment that nurtures the growth of students in the light of Gospel values, cultivating virtues that prepare them for a life of service and love.
Throughout the episode, Jonathan emphasizes the transformative power of Catholic education in shaping not just well-educated individuals, but true disciples of Christ. A Catholic school is a community that radiates love, respect, and compassion, fostering a culture where each person is cherished as a child of God.
Furthermore, the podcast unravels the critical importance of the partnership between educators, parents, and the wider Church community in fulfilling the mission of Catholic schools. Together, they form a cohesive unit that guides students towards their ultimate destiny – becoming saints who impact the world with their faith-driven actions.
As Jonathan shares personal anecdotes, illuminating examples, and profound reflections, listeners will be inspired to reevaluate the profound impact of Catholic schools on their lives and the broader society. The episode beckons educators, parents, and students alike to embrace the fullness of the Catholic school’s identity and immerse themselves in the transformative journey it offers.
Join us on this riveting episode as Jonathan Doyle unveils the core identity of a Catholic school – a beacon of faith, love, and academic excellence. Discover the unparalleled value of Catholic education as a force that shapes hearts, minds, and souls, leaving an indelible mark on generations to come. Prepare to be moved, challenged, and inspired as we delve into the heart of Catholic education and its profound role in shaping a brighter and more purposeful future.
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Transcript
Well, hello there.
Speaker:My friend, Jonathan Doyle with you, once again, welcome back to the
Speaker:Catholic teacher daily podcast.
Speaker:I'm glad you here.
Speaker:For another short burst of inspiration and encouragement for
Speaker:your incredibly important vocation.
Speaker:I hope you got to listen to yesterday's episode.
Speaker:There were three great themes.
Speaker:Uh, it really worth going back to yesterday's if you haven't
Speaker:heard it, that was July 24.
Speaker:But just this idea of the.
Speaker:Seamless nature of Catholic education.
Speaker:That, what we are doing is not doing education to students.
Speaker:We are.
Speaker:Creating an experience.
Speaker:I curated experience.
Speaker:I've only used that fancy language.
Speaker:Where there is no separation between time for learning and time for
Speaker:formation, where all the interactions that take place in that school.
Speaker:Our leading to the integral formation of the human person made in the image of God.
Speaker:The second great theme was of course, that we need to be convinced.
Speaker:Competent.
Speaker:And coherent as Catholic educators convinced competent and coherent.
Speaker:As Catholic educators and the third grade theme from yesterday
Speaker:was that we are witnesses.
Speaker:We are reflections, the church documents.
Speaker:So reflections, albeit imperfect yet still vivid.
Speaker:Of the one great teacher himself.
Speaker:So there those three great themes.
Speaker:There's themes.
Speaker:From yesterday.
Speaker:I hope you got to listen to them.
Speaker:Today.
Speaker:I want to share with you a really good quote.
Speaker:We're going to go a little journey of the next few days.
Speaker:Into the five essential marks of Catholic schools.
Speaker:This comes from.
Speaker:A small book written by Archbishop.
Speaker:Uh, Michael Miller.
Speaker:And this had quite a bit of influence.
Speaker:I want to thank a friend of mine who recently put this on my radar.
Speaker:We're going to start them off tomorrow.
Speaker:But the first thing I wanted to share with you was a quote from, uh, Archbishop
Speaker:Miller that kind of introduces these.
Speaker:And it's a quote that he references back to Michael Guerra, who was
Speaker:the president of the national Catholic education association.
Speaker:In the U S um, for whom I've done, uh, I did their keynote way back in 2017.
Speaker:And just had the most wonderful time.
Speaker:So always good to be hearing from, and, uh, sharing the insights of the
Speaker:national Catholic education association.
Speaker:But let me share with you this quote from Michael Guerra.
Speaker:He said the first and most important task for Catholic schools.
Speaker:Drum roll, please.
Speaker:What could possibly be.
Speaker:The first and most important task, is it building new buildings?
Speaker:Is it hiring more people?
Speaker:Is it getting 21st century pedagogy in place?
Speaker:You can hear my.
Speaker:Barely conceived humor.
Speaker:Because, uh, it is very common.
Speaker:Depending on where you are in the world for these things, to be confused.
Speaker:And for people to believe that the most important things that we can do.
Speaker:Uh, buildings and processes and systems.
Speaker:And, but there's going to be something that comes first.
Speaker:And according to Michael, where it's this one more time, the
Speaker:first and most important task for Catholic schools is what.
Speaker:Is to maintain.
Speaker:And continually strengthen.
Speaker:They're Catholic.
Speaker:Identity.
Speaker:The first and most important task for Catholic schools is to
Speaker:maintain and continually strengthen.
Speaker:They're Catholic identity.
Speaker:How do we even talk about this?
Speaker:It's so straightforward.
Speaker:How do I embellish this in any way?
Speaker:That's going to make the precious gift of your time worthwhile.
Speaker:Uh, I think that I've been trying to say the same thing for 20 years, which is.
Speaker:We are not meant to be.
Speaker:The same as every other educational option in the neighborhood with a thin
Speaker:Catholic veneer pasted over the top.
Speaker:To be a Catholic school is to be fundamentally different.
Speaker:And it is that core Catholic identity, which you know, is going to have,
Speaker:it's going to be multifaceted, right?
Speaker:We're not going to say that Catholic identity is this one thing.
Speaker:Off the top of my head.
Speaker:Just free flow.
Speaker:It is a deep immersion in the mystery of Christ.
Speaker:That's the Gaddy emit.
Speaker:Spares paragraph 22, it's only in the mystery of the word made flesh that the.
Speaker:Mystery of man really makes any sense.
Speaker:So this crucial idea that it's only in the mystery of Christ, that
Speaker:we come to understand ourselves.
Speaker:So Catholic schools, Catholic education, Catholic identity.
Speaker:Is utterly irredeemably Christological.
Speaker:That is.
Speaker:The absolute central thing at all times you want to keep
Speaker:pointing to christ all the time
Speaker:Other aspects of Catholic identity would be.
Speaker:A.
Speaker:Radical sensitivity to the value and dignity of every single person made
Speaker:in the image and likeness of God.
Speaker:This is one of the crucial Catholic things about.
Speaker:You know, the, the centrality of personhood.
Speaker:It would be a sacramental community.
Speaker:That identity would be deeply sacramental and it would be rooted
Speaker:in the soil of the church herself.
Speaker:So it wouldn't be a place that was swayed back and forth by the
Speaker:ideologies of the current time or by the ideologies of key staff.
Speaker:It would be a place that drew its sense of identity from our chest.
Speaker:And it always called the democracy of the dead.
Speaker:That the men and women that have gone before us who still get a vote.
Speaker:I always liked that idea.
Speaker:So maybe you think there's other crucial things about Catholic identity
Speaker:that we could add, but really, I would say that it's Christological.
Speaker:It's humanist in the sense that it is a focus that is
Speaker:focused upon the human person.
Speaker:Made in the image of God and the dignity that derives there off.
Speaker:And that it is rooted in a.
Speaker:Historical reality, which is the Catholic church in history,
Speaker:including the magisterium itself.
Speaker:The doctors of the church, the apostolic tradition.
Speaker:Those sorts of things.
Speaker:Isn't it.
Speaker:Great.
Speaker:That at this moment in history, we don't have to reinvent anything.
Speaker:I am.
Speaker:Very very conservative in case you didn't know that.
Speaker:And as I teach my kids, if you ever come for dinner at my house,
Speaker:you can ask any of my kids, what does it mean to be conservative?
Speaker:And every single one of them is going to know the exact answer.
Speaker:And to be conservative, to be a conservative is simply to be
Speaker:somebody who believes that there are some things worth conserving.
Speaker:All progress is not good progress.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:To be a Catholic school is to believe that there are some things worth conserving.
Speaker:So I, current historical moment is a moment of great upheaval
Speaker:and turbulence and change.
Speaker:And so much that was once held.
Speaker:To be true, to be sacred, to be important is being.
Speaker:Placed under great strain.
Speaker:So I like what Paul Kingsnorth my favorite philosopher talks about the three PS.
Speaker:Uh, people place and prayer.
Speaker:That what modernity is doing is uprooting almost all of us from a sense of people,
Speaker:a sense of belonging, a sense of place.
Speaker:Uh, belonging to a place.
Speaker:And a sense of prayer since of the transcendent.
Speaker:So I think one of the great things that Catholic schools can do in this
Speaker:moment in history is to be an anchor.
Speaker:Is to be an embedded place, a place embedded in history in a 2000 year story.
Speaker:To be a place that is not just radically shifting and changing with the winds.
Speaker:Of history at any given moment.
Speaker:So there's three things for you.
Speaker:So to come back at.
Speaker:Cause as we wrap up to that, Michael Guerra quote, let's hear it one more time.
Speaker:The first and most important task for Catholic schools.
Speaker:Is to maintain and continually strengthen their Catholic identity.
Speaker:Really great language.
Speaker:I really love that.
Speaker:So friends, wherever you're working in a Catholic school, ask yourself
Speaker:that question is the Catholic identity of your school being strengthened.
Speaker:Or is it weakening?
Speaker:What do you think?
Speaker:What do you, what's your experience at the moment and what can we do to change it?
Speaker:I think the most important thing to do is to practice a faith.
Speaker:So I got up this morning as I always do and pray the divine
Speaker:office prayed the rosary.
Speaker:And did I do that because I wanted to impress you with my piety.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:I did it because I've been praying seriously for, I
Speaker:guess, close to 30 years now.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:Being embedded.
Speaker:In the practice of the ancient things of the, of the practices that have
Speaker:sustained men and women in the faith throughout the century sustains me.
Speaker:So I think to have a great Catholic identity.
Speaker:That's good.
Speaker:We need to practice Catholic things.
Speaker:We need to do Catholic things in terms of our Sacramento.
Speaker:Our ritual.
Speaker:And I'm I rhythm of life.
Speaker:I rhythm of celebration.
Speaker:I think those things are really important.
Speaker:What do you think.
Speaker:Just let me know, try and post a comment, or you can, you can
Speaker:find it's a course on YouTube.
Speaker:I'm doing these daily on YouTube as well.
Speaker:So you can find us there.
Speaker:But, um, for now, please make sure you subscribe to go check out all the other
Speaker:links you can book me to speak live.
Speaker:You can find copies of my book and all the other stuff we are doing.
Speaker:There should be links here.
Speaker:But for now that's it for today god bless you my friend my name's jonathan
Speaker:doyle this has been the catholic teacher daily podcast and you and
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