“Catholic
Education”
Luncheon Address by
Bishop Bernard J. Harrington
Chair, the United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops’ Committee on Education
Sept. 14, 2005
CONFERENCE ON CATHOLIC EDUCATION
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA
SEPTEMBER 14, 2005
INTRODUCTION
Father
O’Connell, I want to thank you for your kind invitation to speak about the
Bishops’ recent statement Renewing Our Commitment to Catholic
Elementary and Secondary Schools in the Third Millennium. I am
delighted that I am able to be with you today.
An
additional word of thanks to Mr. Hanna and the Solidarity Association for
sponsoring this symposium on Catholic education.
Finally
a word of welcome to Archbishop Miller, Secretary of the Vatican Congregation
for Catholic Education, who will address this gathering this afternoon.
BACKGROUND
In
the spring of 2001, the Superintendents of the twelve dioceses with the largest
number of Catholic school students submitted a proposal to the USCCB’s
Committee on Education requesting that the Committee begin the process which
would ultimately lead to the development of a new statement by the Bishops of
the United States that would renew their commitment, as well as that of the
entire Catholic community, to the availability, affordability, and
accessibility of Catholic elementary and secondary schools in the third
millennium.
The
rationale for the proposal was based on a number of issues, which include, but
were not limited to:
·
The Bishops last spoke
on this question more than a decade ago
·
New realities,
opportunities, and challenges call us to develop new strategies to maintain and
re-invigorate our Catholic schools
·
The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
the General
Directory for Catechesis, the synodal document on The
Church in America, and the statement The Catholic School on the
Threshold of the Third Millennium significantly revised the context and
challenge of the church’s mission to evangelize and catechize through education
·
The feeling that many
people in our nation and church do not either understand or appreciate the
contributions of our Catholic schools to the growth of our nation and our
church
·
Catholic schools are
facing new and serious challenges in the training, recruitment, and retention
of qualified administrators and teachers, much of which is related to the
financial issues facing our schools
·
The serious concern over
our ability to maintain schools in both urban and rural areas where the poor
and middle class are located and also to provide schools in suburban areas
where they do not exist or are full
·
The need to address the
key issues of our schools maintaining their Catholic identity and our ability
to provide students and teachers with resources based on sound Catholic
doctrine
THE
PROCESS
The Committee on Education considered the request, the
issues to be covered, and the potential audience at its meetings in June 2001
and again in January and June of 2002. An action item to begin drafting a new
statement was approved unanimously at both the September meeting of the USCCB’S
Administrative Committee and the November General Assembly in 2002.
It is important to note that the Bishops made a clear
recommendation that any new statement was to be “brief and focused.”
Consultants, drawn from a variety of USCCB offices and
from practitioners on both the elementary and secondary levels from around the
country, were invited to meet and make recommendations on the structure and
content of the statement.
The Committee reviewed a conceptual outline in June,
2003. A first draft was reviewed in January 2004. A second draft was reviewed
in June 2004. A third draft was circulated to all bishops for comment and
amendment in September 2004. In January 2005, the Committee reviewed all the
suggested revisions submitted by the Bishops. At this same meeting the
Committee approved an action item for the March Administrative Committee
meeting asking approval to put the statement on the agenda of the June 2005
General Assembly in Chicago. All Bishops had the opportunity to submit
additional amendments prior to the meeting in Chicago and again during that
meeting.
After reviewing all the suggested revisions, the body
of Bishops voted 224 to 10 to approve the publication of the statement on
Friday, June 17, 2005.
THE
STATEMENT
In the statement the Bishops state that now is the
time to “revisit and re-affirm” their commitment to our Catholic elementary and
secondary schools and call on the “entire Catholic community to join in this
critical endeavor.”
The Bishops review why these schools are important,
what has happened since their last statement in 1990, and the continuing good
news about these schools.
The Bishops then address four challenges that they
believe need to be addressed and offer a number of specific recommendations in
each of the following areas:
·
The need to face the
reality of the changing face of our church including the spiritual, academic,
social, and cultural needs of our increasingly diverse people
·
The need for preparation
and ongoing formation of new administrators and teachers
·
The need to address the
many critical financial questions that face our schools, administrators,
teachers, and staff
·
The need to intensify
our efforts in advocating for the just and equitable treatment of our students
and teachers in federal and state funded educational programs
The Bishops then proceeded to suggest four future
actions for themselves, their educational leaders, community leaders, leaders
of colleges and universities, and the general Catholic community. These
include:
·
Convening gatherings in
the Episcopal regions or states to address issues such as Catholic identity,
cultural diversity, finances, wages and benefits, academic quality – especially
in religious education, governance and marketing of our schools.
·
Develop programs that
will help the clergy, especially pastors, seminarians and laity to better
understand, appreciate and support our schools.
·
Increase the number of
parent advocacy groups and develop strategies to increase the effectiveness of
advocacy efforts for the equitable treatment of our students and teachers in
government programs.
·
Work with college and
university leaders to address the critical staffing needs of our schools.
The Bishops
also suggest three actions for the USCCB’s Committee on Education and its
staff. All of these are intended to assist the implementation of the statements
on the local and national level and include:
·
Collaboration with
individuals and groups to develop effective procedures to implement the many
recommendations included in the statement.
·
Collaborate with the
National Catholic Educational Association in the development of a strategic
plan growing out of its recent centennial symposium on the future of Catholic
education.
·
Review the status of
these schools and report regularly to the body of Bishops and the Catholic
community starting at the General Assembly in 2007.
The statement concludes with a reminder of the
critical importance of these schools and how essential it is to ensure that
these schools, despite many financial difficulties, are available to the “poor
and marginalized” because the mission of the Catholic school is vital to the
future of all our young people, our nation, and our church.
Now the goal is strategizing how to make this
statement a reality on both the local and national level.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you on this
important statement which has been such a major part of the Committee on
Education’s agenda for some four years.