Westminster Record
Autumn 2019 | 20p
Newman: Saint for our times
Annual Report & Accounts
Lourdes Pilgrimage
Page 9
Pages 11-14
Page 15
Catholic Schools: A Lived Faith by JP Morrison, Director of Education This summer witnessed the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11’s Eagle Lunar Modular landing on the moon. Every aspect of this audacious achievement has been analysed and scrutinised for years; however, one extraordinary action that took place has received relatively little coverage, until now. Buzz Aldrin, part of the lunar team, was also an elder in his Webster Presbyterian Church and, before he went into space, he sought special permission to receive communion whilst on the moon. Aldrin, on the advice of NASA, was asked to keep his religious beliefs general as the world would be listening very carefully and when the time came, he said, ‘I’d like to request a few moments of silence. I’d like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours, and to give thanks in his or her own way.’ In 1994, three Catholic astronauts took Holy Communion on board the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Sid Gutierrez, Kevin Chilton and Dr Thomas D Jones held a short Communion Service whilst orbiting the earth. As Dr Jones went on to explain, ‘The three of us thanked God for the views of his universe, for good companions, and for the success granted our crew so far. Then Kevin shared the Body of Christ with Sid and me, and we floated weightless
on the flight deck, silently reflecting on this moment of peace and true communion with Christ.’ There is something telling about these two events, both good examples of a lived faith. Indeed, the extraordinary achievement of the space programme has plenty of insights to give in regards to the value of Catholic education. When Pope Francis says ‘The world tells us to seek success, power and money; God tells us to seek humility, service and love,’ he is sharing something
the astronauts realised and educators can learn from. As our schools return from their well-earned holiday break, they seek to renew and refresh a compelling vision for the communities they serve and identify with, and as Catholics we have a duty to support them. Our schools cannot be merely seen as culturally Catholic; they should be sacred places serving a valuable civic purpose. They need to be pragmatic, strategic and have more emphasis on collegiality so as to collectively face the challenges of
recruitment and retention issues, falling numbers, tight finances and stretched resources. Our schools continue to equip pupils with the tools of understanding. They strive to present an authentic vision of the Church’s moral and social teaching, so that pupils can make a critique of the underlying trends of contemporary culture and society. Religious Education in Catholic schools is two-fold: it not only educates children in the practice of their own and other faiths but, most crucially,
provides the opportunity for formation in their personal faith. As Pope St John Paul II observed, if the Church’s institutions are genuinely Catholic they ‘need to be Catholic in the selfunderstanding and Catholic in their identity’. Catholic schools should be building on their primary mission by giving students the space to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth.
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