2. kali9 / Getty Images. Marks of the Church A chart that students are asked to fill in with at least two examples of ways the Church models the four marks of the Church, and at least two examples of ways they model the four marks of the Church. The second principle is that students should learn to transform culture through the Gospel. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, “These four characteristics, inseparably linked with each other, indicate essential features of the Church and her mission. When we imbue Catholic education with a Catholic worldview throughout the curriculum, schools are places of faith. Catholic schools are obligated to evangelize simply because that is the core and mission of the Catholic Church, according to Thomas Burnford, president and CEO of the NCEA. Catholic schools excel in offering high quality education, particularly to those most in need. They should learn to be critical and evaluative. Five Essential Marks of Catholic Schools http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/education/catholic-contributions/fiv... 5 of 12 10/28/2014 8:53 AM INSPIRED BY A SUPERNATURAL VISION STEVEVIRGADAMO.COM 3. During the upcoming school year, we invite you and your child(ren) to Five Essential Marks of Catholic Schools. Does this mean that each and every Catholic is holy? This communal dimension is rooted both in the social nature of the human person and in the reality of the Church as "the home and the school of communion." Consequently the Holy See's documents pay a great deal of attention to the vocation of teachers and their participation in the Church's evangelizing mission. His responsibility for Catholic schools derives from the munus docendi, the office of teaching, he received at ordination. Trust is fostered by listening to one another, by respecting the different gifts of each, and by recognizing one another's specific responsibilities. Personal relationships marked by mutual trust, close cooperation, and continuing dialogue are required for a genuine spirit of communion. The catholicity of American schools also depends largely on the bonds of ecclesial communion between bishops and Catholic educators. As their children grow, most parents share the responsibility to educate their sons and daughters with teachers and schools. The second has to do with ensuring that our students understand that faith, culture and life are harmonious. the pressing challenge of clearly identifying the aims of Catholic education, and applying proper methods in Catholic elementary and secondary education. A chapel, classroom crucifixes and statues, liturgical celebrations, and other sacramental reminders of Catholic life, including good art that is not explicitly religious in its subject matter, should be evident. Archbishop Miller is a specialist on the papacy and modern papal teaching, he has published seven books and more than 100 articles, scholarly, popular and journalistic. Task for each mark: The bishop's particular responsibilities include ensuring that teachers are sound in their doctrine and outstanding in their integrity of life. Children will pick up far more by the example of their educators than by masterful pedagogical techniques, especially in the practice of Christian virtues. This conviction about the nature of truth is too important for Catholics to be confused about. . The more profound foundation for such trust is shared adherence to the person of Jesus Christ. Ensuring their genuinely Catholic identity is the Church's greatest educational challenge. If you’ve appreciated, Lay Catholics in Schools: Witnesses to Faith, Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium, The Current Situation of America's Catholic Schools, The Shepherd and the Rock: Origins, Development, and Mission of the Papacy. The Church is a holy institution made up of sinners. At ST. MARK Catholic School, our students grow in faith, knowledge and service. In the measure in which subjects are taught by someone who knowingly and without restraint seeks the truth, they are to that extent Christian. This concern ensures that the student is seen as a person whose intellectual growth is harmonized with spiritual, religious, emotional, and social growth. 1-Inspired by a Supernatural Vision As an institution, Catholic education is the formation of young individuals to be good … . Rather, the Catholic school must embody its genuine catholicity even apart from such programs and projects. Being founded on Christian anthropology means there must be an emphasis on the supernatural destiny of students to perfect, in them, all images of God to prepare them to enter heaven. Pope John Paul II reminded a group of American bishops during their 2004 ad limina visit: It is of utmost importance, therefore, that the Church's institutions be genuinely Catholic: Catholic in their self-understanding and Catholic in their identity. Catholic educators recognize that the bishop's pastoral leadership is pivotal in supporting the establishment and ensuring the catholicity of the schools in his pastoral care. Baptism, the rite of becoming a Christian, is necessary for salvation — whether […] The gospel of Jesus Christ and his very person are to inspire and guide the Catholic school in every dimension of its life and activity – its philosophy of education, its curriculum, its community life, its selection of teachers, and even its physical environment. If a Catholic school is to deliver on its promise to provide students with an integral education, it must foster love for wisdom and truth, and must integrate faith, culture, and life. Papal interventions and Roman documents repeatedly emphasize that certain characteristics must be present for a school to be considered authentically Catholic. It is Catholic because it prepares for a fully human life at the service of others and for the life of the world to come. Should not Catholic schools, precisely insofar as they claim to be specified by their catholicity, do something along the same lines? The Congregation's Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School sums up this new emphasis: The declaration Gravissimum Educationis notes an important advance in the way a Catholic school is thought of: the transition from the school as an institution to the school as a community. Five Essential Marks of Catholic Schools. vision . MARK Catholic School 9972 Vale Road Telephone 703-281-9103 Vienna, VA 22181 Fax 703-766-3430 Dear Prospective ST. MARK School Parent: Thank you for your interest in our Kindergarten program. Teachers and administrators must see their jobs as a vocation from God that requires them to participate in the evangelization of the Church. STEVEN VIRGADAMO ARTICULATES 5 ESSENTIAL MARKS OF AN AUTHENTICALLY CATHOLIC SCHOOL STEVEVIRGADAMO.COM 2. Such a position would foster the misunderstanding that faith and life can be divorced, that religion is a merely private affair without doctrinal content or moral obligations. In the United States, various accrediting agencies monitor the institutional effectiveness of schools' educational activities. If Catholic schools are to be true to their identity, they will suffuse their environment with a delight in the sacramental. . Taught by priests and lay people from around the Diocese, Essentials seeks to: Facilitate conversion to Christ through the Church. If Catholic Online School has given you $5.00 worth of knowledge this year, take a minute to donate. Know teaching, learning, and best practices. A second principle that derives from communicating a Catholic worldview to children is the notion that they should learn to transform culture in light of the gospel. The theme for Catholic Schools Week is Learn, Serve, Lead, and Succeed, as represented by the logo. 3. animated by communion and community. This means that educators should develop a willingness to collaborate among themselves. . Repeatedly the Holy See's documents emphasize the need for an educational philosophy built on a correct understanding of who the human person is. Principals, pastors, school-board members, parents, and bishops share in the serious duty of hiring teachers who meet the standards of doctrine and integrity of life essential to a flourishing Catholic school. If you donate just $5.00, or whatever you can, Catholic Online School could keep thriving for years. Teachers, both religious and lay, together with parents and school-board members, are to work as a team for the school's common good. founded . While interaction, teamwork and cooperation among individuals are easy to understand, what requires clarification is what is meant by the school’s physical environment. … 2. . In an ad limina address to a group of American bishops in June 2004, Pope John Paul II summed up this point: "The Church's presence in elementary and secondary education must . They aspire to teach love for wisdom, habituating each student "to desire learning so much that he or she will delight in becoming a self-learner. The hard part comes from revealing the Gospel by actions and not just words. Mass should be celebrated regularly, with the students and teachers participating appropriately. As well as fostering a Catholic worldview across the curriculum, even in so-called secular subjects, "if students in Catholic schools are to gain a genuine experience of the Church, the example of teachers and others responsible for their formation is crucial: the witness of adults in the school community is a vital part of the school's identity.". The same can be said about a failure to give clear witness to the Church's teaching on the sanctity of marriage and the inviolability of human life. A Catholic school should be: inspired . . Because, as St. John Bosco said, "education is a thing of the heart," authentic formation of young people requires the personalized accompanying of a teacher. Five Essential Marks of a Catholic School. They too could engage in quality assurance – that is, assurance of their Catholic identity. Traditional Catholic devotions should also have their place: praying the Rosary, decorating May altars, singing hymns, reading from the Bible, recounting the lives of the saints, and celebrating the Church's liturgical year. Assist at Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation, doing no unnecessary work on those days. One; Holy; Catholic; Apostolic; Precepts of the Church. Does this mean that each and every Catholic is holy? His books include The Shepherd and the Rock: Origins, Development, and Mission of the Papacy the Encyclicals of John Paul II, and The Holy See's Teaching on Catholic Schools. ", A Catholic school, therefore, cannot be a factory for the learning of various skills and competencies designed to fill the echelons of business and industry. sustained by gospel witness. STEVEN VIRGADAMO ARTICULATES 5 ESSENTIAL MARKS OF AN AUTHENTICALLY CATHOLIC SCHOOL STEVEVIRGADAMO.COM 2. So, Catholic educators must have a sound understanding of the human person and correct doctrine. The Church sees education as a process that, in light of man's transcendent destiny, forms the whole child and seeks to fix his or her eyes on heaven. The inspiration of Jesus must be translated from the ideal into the real. Because of the gospel's guiding role in a Catholic school, one might be tempted to think that the school's distinctiveness lies only in the quality of its religious instruction, catechesis, and pastoral activities. Catholic educators do not want their students to say, "We had the experience but missed the meaning. To foster love for wisdom and truth, authentically Catholic schools must restore the belief that human beings can grasp the truth and know their duties to God and neighbor by casting aside cultural relativism (nothing absolute). With trust comes dialogue. ", With regard to Catholic schools, episcopal responsibility is twofold. Catholic schools are the responsibility of the entire Catholic community. One component of communion and community is the school’s physical environment, which should display images, symbols, icons and other objects of worship that convey its Catholic identity. While their demands are high, perhaps sometimes even unreasonably so, if teachers fail to model fidelity to the truth and virtuous behavior, then even the best of curricula cannot successfully embody a Catholic school's distinctive ethos. Teachers, administrators, bishops, parents, and school-board members would all take part in the review. It is especially important that this "school-home" be immediately recognizable as Catholic: From the first moment that a student sets foot in a Catholic school, he or she ought to have the impression of entering a new environment, one illumined by the light of faith, and having its own unique characteristics. They look at outcomes that can be measured, using a wide variety of means, and ask the schools to show that they use the results of their assessment to improve their mission effectiveness. John 1:9). Five Essential Marks of Catholic schools. Receive Holy Communion frequently and, at a minimum, during the Easter Season. © 1996-2019 Catholic Education Resource Center | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer | Sitemap, CERC is an entirely reader-supported web site and non-profit charity. The Most Reverend J. Michael Miller, CSB, "Five Essential Marks of Catholic Schools." At the same time, they often have a lot to learn about classroom management and the workings of the school system. vision . Hypocrisy turns off today's students. Know and love children and can inspire faculty and families with their passion and sense of purpose. It is Catholic because it provides an education in the intellectual and moral virtues. Such a partnership is directed not just toward dealing with academic problems but also toward planning and evaluating the effectiveness of the school's mission. Nowhere is this more important than the blending of roles that parents and teachers must do to ensure our schools are places of faith. "The nobility of the task to which teachers are called demands that, in imitation of Christ, the only Teacher, they reveal the Christian message not only by word but also by every gesture of their behavior.". It strives to develop virtue "by the integration of culture with faith and of faith with living." . Those responsible for these schools will, therefore, do everything they can to promote a common spirit of trust and spontaneity." Education is not a commodity, even if Catholic schools equip their graduates with enviable skills. First, trust. It is the Catholic faith that provides young people with the essential principles for critique and evaluation. All too many Catholic schools fall into the trap of a secular academic success culture, putting their Christological focus and its accompanying understanding of the human person in second place. founded . For a school to become authentically Catholic, those five essential marks I mentioned must be present, which leads us to the first essential mark. This goes beyond the personal relationships of those involved. We cannot say enough about this quality! According to Archbishop Miller, the communal dimension has to do with the Church at the center of our faith. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. If boys and girls are to experience the splendor of the Church, the Christian example of teachers and others responsible for their formation is indispensable, and no effort should be spared in guaranteeing the presence of such witness in every Catholic school. 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