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!