Education Sunday

Yesterday was "Education Sunday" and Bishop Regan wrote this Pastoral Letter on the subject of Catholic Education:


My Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ

In his first five years as our Holy Father, Pope Benedict has named as special, the Year of St Paul and the Year of Priests. These years have given fresh impetus and zest to our following of the Lord Jesus. When the Holy Father came to Britain we were given the inspiration for another Year, the Year of Catholic Education. It began last September, when Bishop Malcolm McMahon launched the Year at the Big Assembly in Twickenham. Pope Benedict had just spoken to 4000 children gathered around him, and to an audience of many thousands who were following the Big Assembly in schools right across Britain. The Year of Catholic Education seeks to distil the beauty of that encounter in faith, in every school and parish.

So there are some special events planned but mainly we want to celebrate the great work that continues in Catholic education on behalf of the young and in service of the common good.

We are proud when Catholic schools are praised for their achievement and indeed we expect our schools to reach the highest possible standards. However, we know that our educational aims are much wider and deeper than this. As Pope Benedict said to the children,

“In your Catholic schools, there is always a bigger picture over and above the individual subjects that you study, the different skills that you learn. All the work you do is placed in the context of growing in friendship with God, and all that flows from that friendship. So you learn not just to be good students, but good citizens, good people. .....never allow yourselves to become narrow. The world needs good scientists, but a scientific outlook becomes dangerously narrow if it ignores the religious or ethical dimension of life, just as religion becomes if it rejects the legitimate contribution of science to our understanding of the world......

A good school provides a rounded education for the whole person. And a good Catholic school, over and above this, should help all its students to become saints.” (Address at the Big Assembly, Twickenham 17.9.10).

Pope Benedict was echoing the challenge of the reading from Leviticus – ‘Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.’ The horizon of a good education also stretches further than preparing young people for the work place, important as that is. Catholic education puts the whole person at the centre, encouraging in that call to the fullness of life, to become whom God intends. This is continued in our life-long call to learn, to wonder, and to grow in virtue. Catholic education has something important to say in today’s fierce debate about education, about its hopes and its purpose for our society. This is a good time for us to contribute to that debate.

We are never too old to learn! We might reflect on what we can learn today from the scriptures. For instance, when we hear Jesus’ words on loving our enemies, and about respect for the dignity of every human being, including ourselves, do we see how subtle is the teaching of the Lord Jesus on offering the other cheek? He did not offer the other cheek when the High Priest’s servant hit him. Rather, He challenged him, ‘If I have done no wrong, why did you hit me?’ (John 18, 23)

Have you thought about this before? - If you are right-handed, what is entailed in hitting someone on the right cheek? If you intend to really hurt someone, you would hit them on the left cheek – a right-handed person would land a blow on their opponent’s right cheek either without much force, or as a slap, a sign of contempt and disdain. That is the point – if someone treats you without respect for your human dignity, then you must challenge them. Do not become a doormat.

That is a reason too why we must defend our Catholic schools robustly. When they are attacked, the Church must be ready to defend the rights of parents to choose an education based on Gospel values, the teaching of the Lord Jesus.

Similarly, when parents choose a school for their children, the Catholic school must be high on their list of priorities. In many parts of this Diocese, parents who wish to send their children to a Catholic school are thwarted because of geography, and I appreciate the pastoral care of clergy and catechists in those parishes who help families to grow in the Faith.

I also wish to applaud our teachers who devote themselves unstintingly to the work of the Catholic school. In their dedicated service, we do have something great to celebrate! Our headteachers give inspiring leadership in many difficult situations; they are enabled by governors, who are the unsung heroes of our education system. My deep gratitude extends also to the clergy for their indispensable support of the Catholic school. The Catholic school is at the interface between the values of the Gospel and what is considered important in secular society, and the priest is an outstanding witness to the absolute necessity of the spiritual in human life.

I also thank those who work in the Diocesan Education Service, who have to cope with many new challenges in the course of their work. The collection today is for the Catholic Education Service of England and Wales, which gives us sterling support and defends and promotes the values of Catholic education in dealing with Government, both in the Welsh Assembly Government and the Parliament in Westminster.

I give the last words to Pope Benedict as he spoke to the schools at the Big Assembly:

“Happiness is something we all want, but one of the great tragedies in this world is that so many people never find it, because they look for it in the wrong places. The key to it is very simple – true happiness is to be found in God. We need to have the courage to place our deepest hopes in God alone, not in money, in a career, in worldly success, or in our relationships with others, but in God. Only God can satisfy the deepest needs of our hearts. In the meantime, may God bless you all!”

+ Edwin

Bishop of Wrexham

Given at Wrexham on 17^th February 2011 and appointed to be read and made available at all Masses in all Churches and Chapels in the Diocese of Wrexham on Education Sunday,

the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, 20 February 2011.

This pastoral letter will also be available on the diocesan website http://www.wrexhamdiocese.org.uk/