Mass for Education Week in the St. Benedict’s High School Cluster

1. My dear brothers and sisters, young people and children! I have just returned from Rome where, along with the other Bishops of Scotland, I was presenting my 5-Yearly Report to the Holy Father and to the Roman Curia, the central administration of the Catholic Church. It was immediately apparent that Catholic education was considered a special strength of the Catholic community in Scotland. We bishops were encouraged at every turn to safeguard, promote and defend Catholic education.

2. In my own personal conversation with the Holy Father, I told him that Catholic schools in Scotland had never been more successful educationally than they are now. Catholic schools are good schools, and that is why parents consistently choose them for their children. And the schools of this cluster are good schools and deserve to be supported by the Catholic community of this area. One of the most important choices a parent can make is their choice of a school for their children. I believe that a Catholic school is in normal circumstances the right choice for Catholic children and young people, and I encourage parents to make that choice and to go on making that choice.

3. I also told the Holy Father that Catholic schools were especially valued for their distinctive ethos. We often hear that term “distinctive ethos” used positively of Catholic schools. That ethos is essentially connected to a person, to the person of Jesus Christ. He is present there through the living faith of teachers, staff and pupils. He is present there in religious education which aims to inform and deepen both knowledge and faith. He is present there in prayer and in acts of worship where pupils and staff are nourished and strengthened with the Word of God and the real presence of Christ. He is present there in the commandment of love which must become real and active in Catholic schools in the way that every member of the school community treats one another, and learns to help the poor and needy and make a positive contribution to the common good of society. Christ is present there in the way the school community is consciously part of Christ’s Church and understands itself as participating in the life and mission of the Church which is about engaging with and spreading the Gospel of Christ. All of this is what is meant when Catholic schools are said to be communities of faith and learning. Just because a school is designated Catholic will it not make it so. The more Christ is a living presence in the school, together with his Church, to that extent will the school be Catholic and radiate that positive and distinctive ethos that is so good for the integral education of children and young people.

4. The distinctive ethos of the Catholic school is so good for education in fact that increasingly Catholic schools are proving attractive also to people of other faith traditions and none who want to give their children the chance to enjoy the benefits of Catholic education. This development is a measure of the success of Catholic schools in the present moment, and we should view this with favour, always providing that admissions policy recognises the priority right of Catholic pupils in the catchment area. We have always been convinced that Catholic schools are good not just for the Catholic community but for society as a whole, and it seems that this message is beginning to get across. I was so pleased when the Holy Father, in his address to the Bishops Conference just last Friday, said this: “You can be proud of the contribution made by Scotland’s Catholic schools in overcoming sectarianism and building good relations between communities.” “Faith schools”, he said emphatically, “are a powerful force for social cohesion.

5. I wish to greet the teachers and staff of local Catholic schools who are here this evening. I thank you for being teachers in our Catholic schools and for being committed to the Catholic ethos of the school. I encourage you to support, uphold and develop the distinctive nature of Catholic schools for the benefit of the young people for whom you have responsibility. I encourage you to witness to your faith in Christ in your teaching and in the human contact you have with your pupils. I encourage you to make your school a community in which the faith is professed, celebrated, prayed and lived.

6. Among teachers’ duties is the teaching of Religious Education and, in Primary Schools, preparation for the Sacraments. Here is what the Holy Father said to the bishops in his address: “As you encourage Catholic teachers in their work, place special emphasis on the quality and depth of religious education, so as to prepare an articulate and well-informed Catholic laity, able and willing to carry out its mission.” This – the quality of religious education – is something that is very dear to my heart, and I hope that the new Religious Education syllabus based on the Catechism of the Church, currently in preparation, will help teachers to deliver religious education with, to use the Pope’s words, quality and depth.

7. Last, but certainly not least, I greet the pupils and young people of local Catholic schools who are here this evening. You are the most important people in Catholic schools. These schools are above all for you. From visiting Catholic schools, I have every impression that you are enjoying school. I am sure you will look back and see them as some of the best days of your life! It is my impression too that you appreciate and value the distinctive nature of the Catholic school for helping you to know and understand your faith in Christ more deeply through your learning; for giving you many opportunities to celebrate your faith in prayer, in sacrament and in worship; and for helping you to make your faith real and effective in activities which build up your school community, which serve the wider community, and which proclaim, promote and defend the uniqueness and the full human dignity of every person. So, my dear boys and girls and young people, enjoy your school days, and may they bring you many blessings from God!

St. Margaret’s, Johnstone

9^th February 2010