Bold days ahead in vocation of Catholic education

Teaching in Catholic schools is a vocation and not a job, an educational leadership professor at St. Louis University and former Catholic high school superintendent and principal told the 46th annual Catholic Administrators Conference Oct. 18 in Bay St. Louis, Miss.

Dr. John T. James, assistant professor of educational leadership and higher education at St. Louis University, asked two questions of the participants, who were elementary and high school administrators in Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of New Orleans and the Gulf region:

Why did you decide to become a Catholic school teacher and administrator?

Why have you stayed?

“Some times the reasons you started in Catholic education are not the same reasons you stayed,” James said. “This is not a job. This is a vocation. You have been called to do this.”

Golden era? Try again

James said while many are concerned today about the long-term financial viability of Catholic schools because of rising tuition costs and fewer religious vocations, a careful look at church history indicates the so-called “golden age” of Catholic education, where crises and challenges didn’t exist, is a figment of the imagination.

“When was it easy to be a Christian principal,” James said, then smiling and showing a picture of Christians being persecuted for their faith in the lion’s den. “When was this golden era? Was it the first century? The fourth? the 19th or 20th? I can show you some pretty horrific stories. It’s always been a challenge, and every generation, through the grace of God, has risen up some great saints.”

For example, he quoted Peter the Hermit writing in 1274 that “the young people of today think of nothing but themselves.” A Time magazine article in 1969 declared the parochial school system “in serious, even desperate financial trouble.”

“Every age has had seemingly insurmountable challenges,” James said. “But education has been the most powerful evangelization tool of the church.”

Jesus said to ‘teach’

James said the teaching ministry in Catholic schools finds its roots in the final discourse of Jesus with his disciples before he ascended into heaven. The 28th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel commands his followers to make “disciples of all nations … teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

Jesus also said he must return to the Father in order for the Holy Spirit to come and “for you to do his work. God chose you, and only you can do what God needs to be done.”

“Vocations are never easy,” James said. “That’s why you were called to this work.”

Principals have to guard against what James called “functional atheism,” which means the belief “that ultimate responsibility rests with me.”

“We keep taking more and more on our shoulders, and that’s exactly what the evil one wants us to do,” James said. “We will eventually fail.”

Need time to reflect, focus

The more time teachers and principals take to step back from their hectic pace and “sharpen the saw,” the better off students will be. “We have to realize that it’s not all about me,” James said. “We’re doing God’s work.”

Another obstacle to growth is fear – “fear of the natural chaos of life” and “fear of failure and refusing to let things die.” James said for the first five centuries of Christianity, the symbol of the religion was the fish and not the crucifix because of the failure and pain associated with his death.

“But St. Paul said, ‘I preach Christ crucified,’” James said. “A lot of times we are trapped by our own fears.”

“When things get out of control for me, that’s when I say to myself, ‘Jesus, I trust in you,’” James said. “I quiet myself down. Fundamentally, when we get caught up in fear, it’s a lack of trust in God.”

Then James had the administrators turn to each other look around the room.

“You are the best evangelical tools the church has,” he said.

Peter Finney Jr. can be reached at [email protected].