“Catholic education is one of the most important challenges for the Church, which is currently committed to new evangelisation in an historical and cultural context that is undergoing constant transformation” says Pope Francis. Education has to help one to know the truth and prepare oneself to live in the truth. Therefore the primary responsibility of the education is to prompt each one to reach the reality through knowledge. In this respect, the Catholic education has a big role to play. The Catholic education has to be oriented to helping each child to grow in faith and to live in holiness. While the Church is celebrating the ‘Year of Consecrated Life’, it is the duty of each member, who is involved in education, to ask oneself: “how far could I help the others to grow in faith and live in holiness?”
Faith is a growth that has many steps. The first step to grow in faith begins with knowledge. Knowing the truth brings one closer to it. In Gift and Mystery, St. John Paul II remembers the advice of Fr. Karol Kozlowski, his Rector at the Seminary in Krakow. The advice was “Imparare Roma” which translates as Learn Rome itself. Learning the pain of struggles, sacrifices, hard work and history of a generation will make each one to love and to walk through the same path. So, the knowing will lead to love and it will strengthen one to struggle to live in holiness. Therefore, later, St. John Paul II recommended and invited the seminarians and others to “Imparare Roma”
Therefore, how should the Catholic Education be framed? Pope Francis, in his address to participants in the plenary session of the Congregation for Catholic Education (for Educational Institutions) in Feb 2014 in Rome, proposed three aspects: the value of dialogue in education, the qualified preparation of formators and the responsibility of educational institutions to express the living presence of the Gospel in the fields of education, science and culture. Today each one of us are formators and teachers to someone. Can we follow the voice of the Church in helping others to grow in faith and live in Holiness?
