In this compelling podcast episode, renowned global Catholic speaker, Jonathan Doyle, delves into the profound importance of Christian anthropology within the context of a Catholic school. Drawing inspiration from the enlightening words of Archbishop Michael Miller, the discussion centers around the idea that a Catholic education must go beyond imparting academic knowledge and instead, focus on nurturing students as images of God, with a supernatural destiny.
At the core of this episode lies the complementary relationship between the natural and supernatural aspects of human life, where grace builds upon nature. Jonathan expounds on the Catholic theological teaching that emphasizes the need for educators to understand the fullness of the human person, catering to both their natural and supernatural dimensions.
The Vatican’s insight on anthropological vision, as presented in “Lay Catholics in Schools: Witnesses to Faith,” becomes the guiding principle for Catholic educators in today’s diverse and pluralistic world. The concept of the human person, rooted in the Christian perspective, defends human rights while also acknowledging every individual’s dignity as a child of God. This perspective encourages the complete development of human potential, recognizing our role as stewards of God’s creation. Most importantly, it proposes Christ as the ultimate model and means of achieving personal and communal perfection.
Jonathan passionately argues that a Catholic school should not be reduced to a mere training ground for academic achievements or vocational skills. Instead, it must stand as a school for the human person, where Christ is at the center of every facet of life. Referring to the words of the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, he highlights that it is in the mystery of the Incarnation that the true essence of humanity is revealed.
Through captivating insights, this episode reminds listeners that the core mission of a Catholic school is not simply to educate but to be a living and provocative embodiment of Christ’s teachings. In this light, the Catholic school becomes a place where Christ’s presence is palpable, shaping the philosophy of education, curriculum, community life, teacher selection, and even the physical environment.
As listeners immerse themselves in Jonathan’s thought-provoking discourse, they will gain a deeper understanding of how embracing Christian anthropology and making Christ the focal point in Catholic education can transform the lives of students and create a school environment that fosters authentic faith, moral character, and true academic excellence. Join us in exploring the profound significance of Christian anthropology in Catholic schools and its impact on shaping the future of generations to come.
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Transcript
Well, hello.
Speaker:My friend will come back to the Catholic teacher daily podcast.
Speaker:Jonathan Doyle with you as always on glad you're here, wherever
Speaker:you're listening in the world.
Speaker:Welcome aboard.
Speaker:We're on a journey together this week, and we're about to jump into the next stage,
Speaker:the next part, the next departure point.
Speaker:Of this journey, but please make sure you subscribe to the podcast.
Speaker:It does make a difference.
Speaker:If you can, uh, grab your phone wherever you're listening and hit
Speaker:that subscribe button so we can make sure we get you episodes.
Speaker:As we go in this little five-part mini series.
Speaker:Well, we are exploring the five marks of identity.
Speaker:Have a great Catholic school from Archbishop, uh, Michael Miller, which
Speaker:I came across in a meeting last week.
Speaker:And I have been going forensically through this today.
Speaker:We're up to 0.2.
Speaker:And I tried to get all fancy and polet all the key bits that I wanted to talk
Speaker:about, but my formatting went haywire.
Speaker:So I'm back on the original document here, trying to remember all of the
Speaker:great things that I wanted to tell you.
Speaker:So let's just trust the holy Spirit's going to make it happen.
Speaker:Yesterday.
Speaker:We talked about a supernatural vision of the human person being the first mark of.
Speaker:Crucial identity.
Speaker:We want to supernatural vision of our students that we are not
Speaker:Marxist scientific materialists.
Speaker:We are Catholic Christians.
Speaker:We are people who.
Speaker:Believe that every young person.
Speaker:Is made in the image and likeness of God and has this supernatural eternal destiny.
Speaker:So our perception of them, how we see them, even if it's difficult
Speaker:and it is difficult, right.
Speaker:Because there's many times when it's very hard to see that supernatural
Speaker:dimension in the student.
Speaker:When they're going out of their way to make it hard to see, but it is
Speaker:then on the list and it is a lens.
Speaker:It is a filter, which permeates Catholic education.
Speaker:And really helps us to bring about the success of its aims.
Speaker:Today's second principle.
Speaker:Is it a great Catholic school is going to be founded on a Christian anthropology.
Speaker:So yesterday we talked about having the supernatural vision of the person.
Speaker:So I'm going to go a bit deeper today.
Speaker:And look into this idea of a Christian anthropology.
Speaker:Now a quote here from Archbishop Miller, it's pretty direct.
Speaker:He says all too many Catholic schools.
Speaker:Full into the trap of a secular academic success, six success culture.
Speaker:He that again, ultimately, Catholic schools fall into the trap of a secular
Speaker:academic success, success culture.
Speaker:Putting their Christological focus and its accompanying understanding
Speaker:of the human person in second place.
Speaker:Christ is fitted in.
Speaker:Rather than being the school's vital principle.
Speaker:Crossed is fitted in.
Speaker:Rather than being the school's vital principle.
Speaker:So this anthropological essence, this Christological vision, there was another
Speaker:cool quote where it talks about, uh, Now, this is a quote from lay Catholics
Speaker:in schools, witnesses to faith.
Speaker:One of the crucial church documents where it says that the Catholic
Speaker:school sets us to be a school for the human person and of human persons.
Speaker:I actually liked how that resonates.
Speaker:That, um, it is a school of the human person and for the human person.
Speaker:So in an established our schools.
Speaker:For goldfish, we noticed establish our schools.
Speaker:For aliens, we establish our schools for human persons.
Speaker:And not just some generic human person, but a human person made
Speaker:in the image and likeness of God.
Speaker:So, let me take you a little deeper into this.
Speaker:Anthropological is Christological vision.
Speaker:Where the church document again, the Catholic schools, witnesses to faith says
Speaker:it like this in today's pluralistic world.
Speaker:The Catholic educator must conscious consciously.
Speaker:Inspire his or activity.
Speaker:With the Christian concept of the person.
Speaker:In communion with the magisterium of the church.
Speaker:It is a concept which includes a defense of human rights.
Speaker:But also attributes to the human person.
Speaker:This is crucial, the dignity of a child of God.
Speaker:It calls for the fullest development of all that is human, because we have been
Speaker:made masters of the world by its creator.
Speaker:Finally it proposes Christ incarnate, son of God and perfect man.
Speaker:As both model and means.
Speaker:To imitate him is for all men and women, the inexhaustible
Speaker:source of personal and communal.
Speaker:Perfection.
Speaker:There is a lot in that.
Speaker:I love how it says that Christ is proposed as both model and means.
Speaker:So in a Catholic school where we're presenting Christ both as the model
Speaker:that we want to aspire toward, but also the means by which we aspire.
Speaker:It's a really deep.
Speaker:Principal here.
Speaker:As Christ as the inexhaustible source of all personal and communal perfection.
Speaker:And this goes back to of course.
Speaker:The second Vatican council, the pastoral constitution on the church
Speaker:in the modern world get even space.
Speaker:The famous GNS 22, which I talked about the other day with John Paul,
Speaker:two said it is only in the mystery.
Speaker:Of the word made flesh.
Speaker:That the mystery of man truly becomes clear.
Speaker:Truly becomes clear.
Speaker:So that's Bishop Miller says here that a Catholic school cannot
Speaker:be a factory for the learning of various skills and competencies.
Speaker:Designed to fill the echelons of business and industry.
Speaker:Nor is it for clients and consumers in a competitive marketplace
Speaker:that values academic achievement.
Speaker:Education is not a commodity.
Speaker:Even if Catholic schools equipped their graduates with enviable skills.
Speaker:Ravi and he's where he quotes like ethics And school's about to conduct cement The
Speaker:catholic school sets out to be a school for the human person and of human persons
Speaker:And it's just can you get your head around this this It's subtle isn't it because
Speaker:it's like well is this something that we shouldn't You know really pursue academic
Speaker:excellence no it's not saying that It's saying academic excellence is a byproduct
Speaker:Of our vision of the person that we care so deeply about the person and want them
Speaker:to fulfill their christological potential their potential in christ that we teach
Speaker:the best we possibly can and we hold them to high standards and we push them when
Speaker:necessary Out of the love for christ Yeah that was mother teresa's whole thing she
Speaker:said that she never served the poor she served Ah, Christ hidden in the poor That
Speaker:she was always trying to find christ in the people that she worked with every
Speaker:single day So this is the second point then in summary this is this christian
Speaker:and for apology this Um yesterday we talked about the supernatural dimension
Speaker:but today it's this really human dimension That the person is the person made in the
Speaker:image of christ All right let me give you this final quote here from john paul two.
Speaker:it's a really really good one
Speaker:He goes on to say.
Speaker:And this is a quote from his letter back in 1979 to the national cattle.
Speaker:The lake educational association, where he says in a Catholic school.
Speaker:Everyone should.
Speaker:Be aware of the living presence of Jesus, the master.
Speaker:Who today as always is with us in our journey through life
Speaker:as the one genuine teacher.
Speaker:The perfect man in whom all human values find their fullest perfection.
Speaker:The inspiration of Jesus.
Speaker:Must be translated from the ideal into the real, the gospel spirit should be evident
Speaker:in a Christian way of thought and life.
Speaker:Wait for it, which permeates all facets.
Speaker:Of the educational climate.
Speaker:What a great line from John Paul two, he says the inspiration of Jesus must be
Speaker:translated from the ideal into the real.
Speaker:So it's one thing to have a mess at the start of the year and have a few
Speaker:Christian images around the school.
Speaker:But to move Jesus from this.
Speaker:You know, Idealized wisdom teacher.
Speaker:Which he was not.
Speaker:Into a real.
Speaker:And imitable.
Speaker:God for our lives.
Speaker:Imitable meaning that he is somebody that we can imitate.
Speaker:That our students can imitate.
Speaker:And if you think about how we do that, it's this daily presentation of Christ.
Speaker:Both through our personal actions.
Speaker:But often through explicit teaching and showing young people, you can fall across
Speaker:sharing the gospel slightly with my kids.
Speaker:My two youngest ones are still really pretty young.
Speaker:So I read the gospel to them each night when I tuck them into bed.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:It's that ability to read the gospel and then explain it a little bit.
Speaker:And help them understand how we can seek to try and imitate Christ.
Speaker:And I think we can do that as well in our classrooms.
Speaker:You know, just starting a lesson with, Hey, I want to read a
Speaker:tiny bit of the gospel here.
Speaker:We're going to talk about.
Speaker:You know, Who Jesus is and how we can apply it to our life here in the school.
Speaker:I've been doing some, uh, little scripture study Mark's gospel lately.
Speaker:Just spending time each day, going a little bit deeper into Mark's gospel.
Speaker:And it's by studying the gospels, literally studying them or just
Speaker:reading them, but studying them.
Speaker:That we learn more about Christ his life, his thinking his mission is.
Speaker:He's relationship with the father, his attitude, to people and
Speaker:teaching and healing and driving out demons, all the different things
Speaker:that characterized his ministry.
Speaker:We can begin to understand them and learn them.
Speaker:So, I guess this means that in a Catholic school, it's this constant presentation
Speaker:of Christ that is building this Christian anthropology, this Christian vision
Speaker:of reality in life and being human.
Speaker:So look really practically what it means is just that Christ is at the forefront
Speaker:of the whole educational enterprise.
Speaker:Not test scores, not, you know, where we rank against anybody
Speaker:else, but just this relentless.
Speaker:Deep relationship with Christ in our own lives that we
Speaker:then share with young people.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:I'm not going to get to further down the rabbit hole on that today tomorrow
Speaker:We're going to talk about communion and community so make sure you've subscribed
Speaker:to the podcast i'm going to talk briefly tomorrow about the third mark Have a
Speaker:great catholic school communion and community so check back in tomorrow my
Speaker:name is jonathan doyle this has been the catholic teacher daily podcast and you
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