Ecologiacal Conversion

Although short I felt this chapter had some really key messages:

• Curriculum units or learning activities which begin with human experience need to provide a background and basis for understanding some aspect of Christian faith.
• Consideration be made to the possibility that, 'there is often too mch emphisis given to the humanity of Jesus without enough attention being paid tohis divinity.'

Staff Formation

The topic of staff formation was very interesting in light of the System Leadership Day. One point that I feel  we must continually revist is the statement in the Educators Guide to Catholic Identity Pg 27 is that'ultimately religious formation is God's work.' If this is true what are the implications for us  - leadership, staff, parents and children. The answer I am sure is not to be passive however the invitational aspect of formation is essential - by this I mean that in providing certain staff formation experiences that we are mindful that the process and transformational potential of the experience is up to the individual. This is further emphasized by the quote from Pope Francis:

"...AN evangelizing community is also supportive, standing by people at every step of the way, not matter how difficult or lengthy this may prove to be."


 I found the graphic on Pg 31 also interesting that there is a sphere of Elective Experiences for staff on a voluntary basis. Another statement int he Guide (pg31) was also thought provoking -

"to be effective across a career in Catholic education it is important that teachers accept some personal responsibilty for their own religious formation".

Curriculum and Pedagogy

When I read any of these chapters I am amazed with the way so many ideas are discussed with such simplicity and direct honesty. We as educators are challenged to present an outstanding curriculum with contemporary pedagogy from a 'Catholic place". How straightforward!
Do we as a school community and as a diocese have a shared understanding of that 'catholic place' ? Have our teachers been given the tools to design and deliver the not only the RE curriculum but all areas of learning with the challenge of finding truth, meaning and hope? These questions made me consider a very different aspect of the learning continuum. Is our curriculum coherent and progressive? I would like to think so but it would be a great discussion point. I do feel we immerse students in the living values and beliefs of Catholicism but do we challenge our students and staff to move beyond the first naivete to that post critical understanding?
 When reading about pedagogy I thought about how much time we have spent over the past years refining this so it is truly focussed on the learning not the teaching and thought perhaps we should have a relook at how our Catholic pedagogy is formally linked with this. As a staff  could we discuss the implications of our roles of being a witness, specialist and moderator to our faith tradition? Are we a Dialogue school? Do we strive to create the space that allows our students to engage in Catholic beliefs and traditions and share their views and understandings?
My favourite part in these chapters was the line was "ultimately, religious formation is God's work".
Our job is encourage and support this "encounter with grace."
  My first blog seems to be a series of questions!!! I'm not sure what that says about my thinking!

Liturgy and Prayer

I'm going to create a new post because the option for replying isn't available.

I completely agree with the idea of prayer and liturgy being a unique and critical role when formulating Catholic identity within schools. Something that came into my mind when I was reading this was when I would gather my Year One class together to form a prayer circle and pray the Rosary . Some children had never seen or heard of the Rosary, others were more exposed to it at home. Just from this beautiful time spent together, It brought so much peace and a sense of unity within our classroom .  My students continued to talk about our prayer time together with their parents and I found that it was a lovely way to end our busy day together, linking to the quote 'Christ being the light of the world, the light that shines in each one of us '.

As I was reading, I really had to read over the two prayer forms that were promoted by Bishops during the Year of Grace.  What resonated with me were the focus questions as part of the concluding moments of the Examen: How have I met Jesus today? What am I being invited to do?

In regards to the liturgy, there was a big focus on the Holy Spirit. I love how the word 'unique' is used when describing Christ being present in liturgical celebrations.  He is truly with us through the Holy Spirit in many ways. This is why with our faith we need to dig deep, ask questions amongst support groups, discuss matters within the church or within our faith because it is then where we learn the most and discover so much more.

I would like to end on this note as stated:
'A Eucharist that does not pass over to the concrete practice of love is intrinsically fragmented'

Would love to further discuss this quote with you all.

Chantal.

Liturgy and Prayer

"God can hardly be at the centre of the school if staff and students do not spend time with God in prayer"
This is such a powerful statement. As a REC I feel I have a big responsibility to ensure moments are woven into our day where students have the time to experience meaningful prayer. Meaningful is so important. As I suggested in my last post - sometimes familiarity blocks meaningful. Sometimes I think the prayer is just a repetition of words without reflecting on the impact this time with our Lord should have on our daily life. How do we ensure prayer is meaningful for our community?

Last year at the Year Six camp I remember how awe struck I was when the girls asked if they could pray before they went to bed. Most girls had packed a set of rosary beads and we sat in pray. Such a beautiful and powerful moment. It is moments like these that I realise that young people have a burning desire to be connected to our deep traditions and we need to reinforce the opportunities so they can spread the Good News too.

The form of Examen:
Thank you God for ...
Help me to understand why ...
I  look at my day/week and ...
Next time I will ...
Keep with me Jesus as I ....

would be a wonderful way to have the students reflect on their week but I can also see it fitting in with the 'stones' from the beginning of the year Mass.

Liturgy
Such an important aspect to our faith life. It pleased me to read that we need to 'prepare liturgies that engage students and provide them with life-giving celebrations'. Over my years of being an REC i feel honoured and lucky to work closely with priests that challenged and also allowed me to creatively present liturgies that held true to our Catholic traditions but also engaged students.
Every time I prepare, participate in liturgy my understanding is deepened. Last year's input by Fr also furthered my understanding and reinforced my love of liturgy and the deep mystery within it.
Hopefully this year we can continue to develop the staff's understanding through our Professional Learning.

The phrase 'in communion' is so important when we discuss liturgy as was so clearly illustrated throughout the second half of the chapter. With out the 'community' there is no liturgy. Do we successfully educate our students of the value of this during liturgical experiences? How can we continue to provide students with the opportunity to 'befriend a liturgical tradition'?

One of our aims this year is to develop the capabilities  of staff so we can all lead the students into deeper liturgical understandings. This is so important so liturgy is not seen as the REC's job but a way of sharing our faith and proclaiming the word of the Lord.

Looking forward to discussing this chapter.

The Importance of Liturgy and Prayer in Catholic Schools

One of the key points of this chapter is in the first paragraph I believe. Starkey says that " If God is at the centre of the Catholic School, then prayer and liturgy play a unique and critical role int he formation of the school's Catholic Identity. God can hardly be at the centre of teh school if staff and students do not spend time with God in prayer.   I think this aspect of our faith is becoming more important as time goes on. We all acknowledge that we are living in a very busy noisy world and the act of stilling the mind and refecting on our day, on our lives is both life giving and healing. This morning Iistened to a leading neurologist and he was commenting on his theory that we need to spend more and more time stilling our minds, [Praying] for our mental well being. I agree with this hypothesis not only for our mental well being only but also for our spiritual well being. Our personal encouneter with Christ through prayer is paramount to our image of God and thus our Theology - in my opinion.

I particulary like the Ignation structure of prayer. I find this is a very practical and authentic way to engage our soul within a spirit of gratitude. Father at mass one day said that he felt Gratitude is the cure of all evils. I think there is something profoundly true about this statement. When we commence prayer with gratitude it transports us to a place that allows us to see beauty first and in that light  we are better positioned to understand  - the other - ourselves .

Thank you God for...
Help me to understand why ...
I look at my day and ....
Next time I will ...
Keep with me Jesus as I .....

" Catholic schools teach their students something powerful for life when... they lead them into the inner world and when they teach them about sacred times and places."

It provokes me to ask if we are teaching our students enough, to access this inner world in regular sacred times and places throughout the day.

Jesus and the Frontier

Jesus...

This chapter poses a very thought provoking question: 'Who do you say I am?'

As primary educators, we are only with our students for a fraction of their faith journey. How do we ensure our students know Jesus beyond the "nice guy" reductionist approach? By nurturing the Kingdom of God within the school community, we encourage true and meaningful encounters with Jesus and allow students to be active participants in His mission. Starkey goes on to say that "the kingdom of God that Jesus proclaimed in the gospel is built whenever God's grace is present in loving relationships...whenever truth and freedom are promoted and healing, social justice and ecological harmony and peace are fostered in our world." Where better than a Catholic primary school? I think that if you were to ask the children how we show we care for each other and our world, they could rattle off a whole 'to do' list of actions and phrases. I wonder whether they would be able to link their actions to Jesus and our Eucharistic promise to "do this in memory" of Christ.

Acknowledging and articulating 'Jesus moments' is key to maintaining the integrity of our Faith. I think it is about looking, seeking and acting upon such moments and modelling this for students; whether it be something otherwise trivial or a major school initiative. This brings Jesus to life, so that students are experiencing Jesus, rather than just learning about Jesus. It is in teaching about Jesus that we get the "share, care, love" style responses without the substance that exemplify such values. What do these actually look/sound/feel like? Students need to anchor these values to personal experiences, and meaningful contexts in order to begin making sense of Christ and His mission.

As a leadership team, and as educators, how do we articulate these 'Jesus moments' to our parents, staff and broader community? Is He truely present in all we say and do? How are these integrated through other KLA's?

Pope Benedict articulated the importance of a true, Catholic encounter thats brings faith to life. Our students experience multiple 'encounters' every day, but do they recognise these as daily happenings or true encounters with Jesus and the Kingdom we continue to nurture at St Patrick's?

Frontier:

The frontier: a dividing line between "us" and "them." The idea of the Catholic frontier has significant implications for our ever changing social paradigm and the changing role of the Catholic school. A frontier is not inclusive: it's keeping what we have for ourselves and whilst we may participate in a superficial face to face encounter, it comes from a separation paradigm, rather one of inclusion and acceptance. Catholic Identity needs to be maintained, and leaders need to find contemporary contexts to ensure the meaning and value of that identity continue to be relevant.

I think one powerful thought in this chapter describes the world beyond the frontier as unknown territory, and moving beyond the frontier as mysterious and strange. What better way to describe the current social context. Our school community who are very traditional in their faith, have already begun to ask these 'beyond the frontier' questions. How do we, as Catholic leaders address these concerns in a way which both reflects our faith and enhances the understanding and "encounter" for our parents?

As a Catholic school, we must find ways to bring together the traditional faith and the new world we find ourselves in. We must recognise that we ourselves may perpetuate the frontier by our words and actions, and maybe there are frontiers that we don't even know about yet! We must seek to understand that the Kingdom of God also exists beyond the frontier and it us up to us to knock down the wall and brave the proverbial dragon!

Catholic Identity

I read this chapter in light of my newest Masters unit. Our lecturer could not understand the discussion around Catholic Identity being a "thing;" an area of our vocation that had turned into something that required professional development, leaders and a budget.

Catholic Identity means different things to different people. In many schools, it has been lost to many of the prime stakeholders; the parents. It's evident when people are asked why they want to enrol their children at a Catholic school. Disciple? Academic results? How often is the mission of Jesus brought into this decision? How often is our Eucharistic mission a part of the decision?

We are living in times when the Catholic Church in Australia is at a crossroads, with an increasing number of people identifying as having no religion at all. With the social landscape changing, what are the implications on Catholic Identity? Can we preach the inclusiveness of Christ, yet still oppose gay marriage? This pull is typical of our "not either/or, but both" paradigm (Blackwell Companion to Catholicism) which even now, is hotly debated, even by Pope Francis himself!

Catholic Identity are stable, but they shouldn't be fixed. In Gravissimum Educationis, Catholic schools are urged to take different forms in order to 'keep up' with local circumstances.  Starkey  supports this by stating that "groups survive by adapting to changes in their environment." Does this dilute our Catholic identity? Or is the language and instruments we use during this shift exemplary of our Eucharistic promise of maintaining the memory of Christ?

At St Patrick's, I think we have a strong Catholic identity which can be further enhanced by making explicit links between our faith and our actions. Why are we restorative? Why do we give everyone a voice? Why do we pray the Angelus? How are we linking our every day occurrences to a Catholic identity? Within our context, I feel this is a very easy thing to shift.

What is Catholic Identity?

Reflections 

Whilst reading and discussing this chapter many elements became clearer and their importance became more obvious. Reflecting on the diagram expressing the author's view on Catholic Identity within a school, my first instincts would also be to place the students at the centre, however after reading the explanation and recognising that in all we do as leaders is with God at the centre the diagram made sense and reaffirmed my position.

Another challenge for me was the section analysing Catholic identity and distinguishing between myth and narrative. The definition of myth as the 'deep founding stories handed down to us from the past that explain how the world is and how we relate ourselves to that world and all the people in it.' (Sharkey, 2015, p 4) challenged my thinking, as my understanding of myth hinged on it not being real which is definitely not inline with my thinking around some of our Catholic stories. However, after making connections to the pilgrimage where they spoke about "traditionally" and "historically" I could see how the term 'myth' could be substituted for 'traditionally'.

Thinking about narrative as the way we create identity emphasised the importance of sharing the narratives with the community so we can strengthen our Catholic Identity and keep it relevant for all.

A challenge for our leadership team would be keeping the balance between the needs of our community and the traditions and beliefs that are so important to our faith in order to develop a narrative that remains true to our Catholic Faith but gives life and acceptance to our school culture.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts.