Before heading back to their classrooms for the upcoming academic year, Catholic school educators were reminded that the mission of Catholic schools is to form disciples.
Catholic school teachers and administrators from across the Archdiocese of Louisville gathered at St. Albert the Great Church on Aug. 5 for a back-to-school Mass and keynote address. This year, the address was given by Dr. F. DeKarlos Blackmon, vice chancellor for pastoral services.
“Catholic education is an integral component of the apostolic mission to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to build the kingdom of God.”
— Dr. F. DeKarlos Blackmon
In his address, Dr. Blackmon reminded the educators gathered that the “primary mission” of Catholic schools is “to form disciples.”
“Catholic education is an integral component of the apostolic mission to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to build the kingdom of God,” he said. “Our objective is integral human development, particularly addressing the intellectual, the spiritual, the moral and the social dimensions of young people, all grounded within the context of faith.”
Dr. Blackmon also offered the educators six points for consideration.
Educators are called to be “pilgrims of hope.”
The Jubilee Year of Hope “has much to say to the world of education,” he said. The theological virtue of hope “is the motive that sustains you in your daily efforts” to promote human dignity in the classroom, he told them.
Catholic education should be “centered on Christ” and “defined by its unique Catholic identity.”
A school’s Catholic identity “extends beyond a nominal label to express and encompass a dedicated adherence to a worldview centered on Jesus Christ,” he said.
The Catholic identity of teachers should extend beyond the school boundaries, he noted.
“The way we are in the Catholic school car line should be the way we are on the Watterson (Expressway),” he said, evoking laughter from the crowd.
Catholic schools set themselves apart by being “animated by communion and community.”
The community life of a school “remains essential,” he said.
Catholic schools are “founded on a Christian anthropology.”
In a Catholic school, educators know that academic disciplines and spiritual growth are “interconnected,” he said. Their classroom reflect “the principle that grace builds upon nature.”
Teachers must model Christ the Teacher.
The influence educators have on students will be shaped by their own authentically Christian lives, Dr. Blackmon said.
Educators are called to “co-responsibility.”
Every educator must strengthen the Catholic identity of a school, from the principal to the most recently hired teacher, he told them. This requires fostering relationships of open dialogue with one another and avoiding the temptation to gossip, he noted.
Concluding his keynote, Dr. Blackmon assured the educators that their “mission is vital in the life of the church, in the life of the world,” then shouted out, “Let’s go make disciples!”
