Professional Reading 1 Stirring the Soul of Catholic Education - Formation for Mission by Vaughan

The first article on ECSI form the 2017 publication Stirring the Soul  of Catholic Education - Formation for Mission by Vaughan, gave yet again another way of describing the context of the ECSI surveys and descriptions. I liked the descriptions of the monologue to the colourless school using easy to relate to images:Air raid shelter, Oasis, Action centre, meeting place. The idea that our Catholic schools can serve to be oasis' of  knowledge, nourishment, healing, wisdom and a place to inspire the continuation of the journey with clarity in directon and renewed energy is a powerful one. After some investigation of the language used I also found the concept of Hermeneutic communicative pedagogy interesting. I feel in a way that this is something we do already.I found the graphics below helped me to interpret what was said further.

At the end of the chapter  Vaughan quotes Pope Francis who confrms this idea of interpretation and inferring. It is a beautiful quote worth reading again:
'Our life is not given to us like an opera libretto, in which all is written down; but it means going , walking , doing, searching, seeing ... We must enter into the adventure of the quest for meeting God. '

Last Few Chapters

What a wonderful start for our Leadership Team Blogging Experience. Reflecting on the book - Educators Guide to Catholic Identity has helped develop my understanding of the 'where to next' with the ESCI surveys.
 The chapter ' Befriending Difference' was moving and reinforced our need to look through the Catholic lenses of faith, love and hope. I found it especially important when it described the movement parents journey through as they "shift our vision of our sons and daughters from impaired versions of us to fulfilled versions of themselves." I think as teacher we can all learn so much from that quote - especially when we befriend students that don't fit the normal - 'our normal'.

The data and planning - starting from the right hand side and working backwards will be interesting to follow through when we receive the data from the survey. The organised way of presenting the inputs, Outputs and Outcomes make sense and will be interesting to work through it as a community. Including the parents, students and staff will be rewarding - I see visions of our final product being hung as we enter the school gates as a sign of our Catholic Identity.

Doing Theology - Using the different actions as a way of working through an issue or problem had similar characteristics as round table discussions and was interesting to see the same rigour being applied to issues of our faith and theology. Drawing on our knowledge of scripture and relevant theories also reinforced the importance of continued development in our own knowledge of our faith, scriptures and church teachings and traditions.

Doing Theology

'Doing Theology' was a chapter I thought would definitely get  me out of my comfort zone. That was until I read the words "an activity which might be undertaken by lay people as they make sense of and respond to the ordinary issues of life. That made me think of the way we handle, at times, challenging situations. We do this as a team supporting each other in supporting the student or parent who is crying out for help. Bern's words "What is he/she trying to tell us?" are stuck in my head and this is a great way to start 'analysing the context'. The easy way for us to deal with these situations is to say 'he/she is just naughty' or 'that parent is  always complaining' but it does not get to the crux of the issue and does not show respect to the people we are dealing with.

Family, Parish and School

The partnership between school and family has always been at the forefront of the minds of educators for as long as I can remember. So many meetings over the years have I quotes - " you are your child's first educator' and we are 'working together'. Both important points and still have an impact on the schooling of students today, yet after reading this chapter the difficulties of moving the students into the third form really hits home.
The quote 'You can't be Catholic on your own' struck a chord with me when I was reading the chapter - the sense of being in communion / in community with others is so important to our faith and was very much reinforced within this chapter.
The diagram on page 38 that described the three models is very easy to understand - model 2 being the one I feel many students (my own children included) may have of the church. It is within school that the church comes alive for them in the form of outreach programs, or programs that allow them to live out their faith. Maybe the missing element is seen in the second chapter 'Charity and Justice'. I wonder if time for reflection directed and connected them to the 'Catholic traditions and theology ' of why we are asked to complete acts of outreach. I wonder how many opportunities are lost where we can guide the students to a deeper understanding of the 'why', especially in the busyness of our lives when we feel pressured to move on to the next event. How important is it to stop and allow the students the space to make those connections and question the why.
Both chapters also highlighted the need for all teachers to be living witnesses of our faith and have a deep understanding of the traditions and beliefs within our faith.
The third model - Growing Church out of school is so important to achieve. The journey towards this model presents many challenges especially with the way schools (primary) are organised presently. I wonder how this will evolve as we move forward.

Is there a Fourth Model

I found this chapter very interesting. I have often heard say that the school is a Church unto itself as it provides religious experiences to an often unchurched community. I think Sharkey really clarifies this assumption and cautions the readers in this Model 2 of Church EQUALS school. He explains that,"On a theological level, it is impossible to be Catholic on one's own. One can only be Catholic when one is joined to the broader communion of the Church." This reminds me of a comment a past dean of the Cathedral once said, which I think has great merit, and that is if the families' connection to their faith is only that which is found at the school, then there is the danger that when the student takes off their uniform they take off their faith. Sharkey makes a similar point on Pg 38 of the text.

A question at this point could be how are we at St Patrick's Parramatta supporting the development of a sustainable Church beyond the school fence for your communtiy. Are we delivering inititiatives that matter to our community or ones that we feel they need?

I also like the idea that their could be a Fourth model that has not been suggested by the author.